Brymen BM869s - Display error message

[psysc0rpi0n]

Hello everyone.

I have this BM869s and today I was taking some measurements, namely resistances and some conductivity tests and all of a sudden I got this "InErr" message on screen and a constant beep. It just stops if I turn it off for a few seconds. However if I try again to turn it on and start taking measurements, the same happens!

I have google for this error message and the multimeter model but nothing significant came up!

Any suggestions?

Thanks
Psy

[Jon.C]

hi psysc0rpi0n

have you attached any images to this message?

[psysc0rpi0n]

No I haven't.

Should I delete the message?

[IanB]

It will say InErr and beep if you plug a test lead into the mA or A socket while not measuring current. If you are not doing this, maybe there is an accidental short in one of those sockets? You could disassemble the meter and take a look. Any debris fallen in there? Something bent out of alignment?

[IanB]

No I haven't.

Should I delete the message?

No, I see nothing wrong with your message. I do not understand Jon.C's comment or the picture he posted.

[Jon.C]

No I haven't.

Should I delete the message?

No, I see nothing wrong with your message. I do not understand Jon.C's comment or the picture he posted.

no is only an antivirus warning when entering this thread   

[psysc0rpi0n]

It will say InErr and beep if you plug a test lead into the mA or A socket while not measuring current. If you are not doing this, maybe there is an accidental short in one of those sockets? You could disassemble the meter and take a look. Any debris fallen in there? Something bent out of alignment?

I checked from outside, I shaked the multimeter and turned it upside down and saw nothing coming out. Probably I shouldn't disassemble it because it's still in warranty and it will void.

I have it turned off for a while and I tried again the conductivity test and it's not beeping constantly and showing that error. Now it only shows the error and beep while I'm with the probes testing conductivity. When I stop the conductivity testings, the beep stops (as it should) and message also goes away. But it was not like this until now. I never seen this message before.

Might it have anything to do with low battery?

[Jon.C]

https://brymen.eu/wp-content/uploads/biall/102092/102092.INSTRUKCJA_EN..2014-11-04.1.pdf


page 13

Beep-Jack™ Input Warning
The meter beeps as well as displays “InEr” to warn the user against possible damage to
the meter due to improper connections to the A, mA, or A input jacks when other
function (like voltage function) is selected.


page 16

Low Battery: Below approx. 7V

[IanB]

I have it turned off for a while and I tried again the conductivity test and it's not beeping constantly and showing that error. Now it only shows the error and beep while I'm with the probes testing conductivity. When I stop the conductivity testings, the beep stops (as it should) and message also goes away. But it was not like this until now. I never seen this message before.

Might it have anything to do with low battery?

You should always try to a fresh battery before doing any other checks. Does the meter have a low battery indication on the screen?

Can you clarify exactly what you are measuring? I am not clear from your language what you are doing.

Which position have you turned the dial to? Which sockets have you plugged the test leads into? What mode have you selected with the SELECT button? What are you measuring and how are you conducting the measurement? When exactly does the InErr message start and stop?

If I understand your last message correctly, the problem has gone away now?

[Terry01]

I have the 867s and it displays this message when that lead is in the wrong jack as others have said. If it's gone away that's great. If not try cycling the lead through all the jacks just in case something has gotten inside one of the jacks.

Hope you get it fixed!

[Jon.C]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/brymen-bm869s-rejecting-fresh-9v-batteries/

[psysc0rpi0n]

I have it turned off for a while and I tried again the conductivity test and it's not beeping constantly and showing that error. Now it only shows the error and beep while I'm with the probes testing conductivity. When I stop the conductivity testings, the beep stops (as it should) and message also goes away. But it was not like this until now. I never seen this message before.

Might it have anything to do with low battery?

You should always try to a fresh battery before doing any other checks. Does the meter have a low battery indication on the screen?

Can you clarify exactly what you are measuring? I am not clear from your language what you are doing.

Which position have you turned the dial to? Which sockets have you plugged the test leads into? What mode have you selected with the SELECT button? What are you measuring and how are you conducting the measurement? When exactly does the InErr message start and stop?

If I understand your last message correctly, the problem has gone away now?

I'm sorry for my English.

There is a low battery symbol on the screen. Otherwise I wouldn't know the battery might be low.

I'm measuring conductivity/resistance on a circuit I built on a stripboard to check connections are correct and that I made no mistakes (I'm a noob, in fact this is my first attempt on a stripboard, so I already faced a couple of challenges I was not aware of).

I'm using both Ohm meter and the other one that comes when I press twice the Select button which have a small sound level symbol if you know what I mean. It's the conductivity test mode that is supposed to beep when between both meter probes is a short.

The constant "InError" message and the constant beep were happening when I was doing the conductivity test. When there was a short, the multmeter started beeping (constant beep) and showing the "InErr" message also constantly. I mean the message appeared and stayed there until I turn off the multmeter. So did the beep.

Then I turned off the meter for some seconds (or 1 minute or 2 or so) and in the meantime I started this thread. Then I tried again to do some more resistance/conductivity testing and this time, the message and the beep were only there while I had the probes on the circuit. As soon as I removed any of the probes from the circuit, message and beep stops.

Did I explained better now? Or did I made it even more complicated?

[psysc0rpi0n]

I'm sorry for the late reply.

I have the probes correctly connected. I can take a picture of it and also make a small video if needed. Gimme some minutes.

[psysc0rpi0n]

Ok, due to the fact that I only have 2 hands and I'm not experienced, I just tested the multmeter conductivity by touching both probes each other. And behaviour is a bit different now. Multmeter beeps while probes are in touch and after I split them apart, it beeps like 3x or 4x quite fast and stops beeping and message goes away!
Check the video

[IanB]

OK, I understand what you are doing. (By the way, the correct word for this measurement is "continuity".)

I think if there is a low battery symbol the first thing you should do is put a fresh battery in the meter. The meter might be complaining that the battery is too low. Then try your test again.

Also you might wish to remove the plastic caps from the end of the probes. The probes will then be much more convenient to use.

[psysc0rpi0n]

Ok, I used the 9V battery from my other multimeter and in fact the problem is over. Anyway, this shouldn't work this way in my opinion.

Anyway, problem solved.

However I have another question. Not sure if I should start a new thread or just change the title of this one. Anyway, I'll ask here.

Anyone knows the purpose of that kind of mount (or whatever that can be called) on top of the back side of the multimeter?

[SG-1]

For continuity testing the meter has to use an internal power supply, the battery.  If the battery cannot supply the required energy the reading will be in error.  The meter is warning you that it cannot make a correct measurement.

The mount might be for a magnetic hanger ?

[psysc0rpi0n]

For continuity testing the meter has to use an internal power supply, the battery.  If the battery cannot supply the required energy the reading will be in error.  The meter is warning you that it cannot make a correct measurement.

I understand that but in that case, manual should be more specific and account for that explanation too. Not only say that that error is due to uA and mA input probelms, imo!

The mount might be for a magnetic hanger ?

Yeah, no idea. I was just curious.

[tsman]

No I haven't.

It is your profile/avatar photo. NOD32 AV thinks the server it is hosted on is malicious.

[psysc0rpi0n]

No I haven't.

It is your profile/avatar photo. NOD32 AV thinks the server it is hosted on is malicious.

Ok, I just uploaded the picture from my own laptop!

Thanks

[HKJ]

Anyone knows the purpose of that kind of mount (or whatever that can be called) on top of the back side of the multimeter?

Are you talking about the IR interface?

[psysc0rpi0n]

Anyone knows the purpose of that kind of mount (or whatever that can be called) on top of the back side of the multimeter?

Are you talking about the IR interface?

Yeah, that's it. Nice. Thank you!

[joeqsmith]

Ok, I used the 9V battery from my other multimeter and in fact the problem is over. Anyway, this shouldn't work this way in my opinion.

I have these meters.  One gets very cheap batteries that I seem to accumulate.   I see this error often with this meter.   There have been cases where I put a brand new battery in and still get the error but checking the voltage with it attached to the meter and it's always really low.  Some of these cheap batteries have been sitting for a few years.    I agree that they should change the low battery indicator limits or at least make a note of it in the manual.   

In the second Brymen I am using a rechargeable lithium ion.  This meter gets used a fair amount and so far, I have not had to swap the battery.  I will switch to these in the other meter once I run out of cheap batteries. 

[Dawe]

Hi guys. I have got the Input Warning issue too.
It started out of the blue one day without apparent reason. I checked PCB and banana sockets and there is no shortage there. But the meter still believes there is another probe inserted in [mA uA] socket.
Any ideas what to try? It makes the meter literally unusable now.

Check out my video showing how the issue behaves:

[coromonadalix]

do they have optical leads detection an ir led ??

[HKJ]

do they have optical leads detection an ir led ??

No, split terminals and a couple of megaohms resistor to the sense input.

[Dawe]

Exactly, only split terminals. And the issue is there even if they are open (res.>10kOhm measured in circuit on PCB).
I guess the root cause may lie not in the terminals but in the MCU sensing mechanism (GPIO or ADC?, no idea). An alternative fw for the meter which would completely disable this warning feature would be perfect.
Is Brymen aware of the issue? Does anyone know a contact at Brymen who could do something about it? Any other thoughts?

[HKJ]

And the issue is there even if they are open (res.>10kOhm measured in circuit on PCB).

10kOhm is not open when measured through a couple of megaohms, it is nearly a short.

[IanB]

Is Brymen aware of the issue? Does anyone know a contact at Brymen who could do something about it?

You should look up the Brymen customer support contact for the region you are in. If your meter is still under warranty you should be good, but even if it is out of warranty they should be able to give you repair options.

[2N3055]

Did you change the battery like people said ?

[ercapoccia]

In my experience this error can be caused from umidity or water that goes into the leads socket. I work with commercial washing machines and it happened to me few times on both the BM257S and the BM869S
i opened the meter cleaned the pcb truly with 99%IPA cleaned the socket with ipa and compress air and it fixed the problem.

[PA4TIM]

Mine does give this error too. Swapping the battery always solves it. I use rechargeable batteries, most times they last a few weeks (I use it every day for my job)

[MathWizard]

Ok, I used the 9V battery from my other multimeter and in fact the problem is over. Anyway, this shouldn't work this way in my opinion.

Anyway, problem solved.

However I have another question. Not sure if I should start a new thread or just change the title of this one. Anyway, I'll ask here.

Anyone knows the purpose of that kind of mount (or whatever that can be called) on top of the back side of the multimeter?

Well thats good.

I have 1 too, and AC and Freq readings stopped working, and I thought I damaged it by overloading the mVDC or mVAC mode. But it just drains the battery. I took it completely apart, and started mapping out the circuit (I'll finish it some day) . But it was just the low battery. And when I powered it off the PSU, I somehow missed it was working, because I had a hard time with the dial, when it was apart, and sometimes w/o the display, upper PCB/etc.

There's also a trick to starting it when it's in pieces, related to the sleep mode, and where the dail was or is or something.

[Dawe]

In my case using a new battery didn't help (that was the 1st thing I tried). Powering up by a lab PSU did not help neither. At the beginning I also believed it is due to humidity or pollution of some sort inside sockets or PCB. So I cleaned up all banana plugs and both PCBs with IPA using 10bar compressed air with no help. Later I also used a gun cleaning set and cleaned the internal of the sockets mechanically with brass and nylon brushes. Didn't help. The issue persists over months even after all the cleaning I did so I don't believe in humidity or pollution root cause any more. When I measured all sense contacts (if I remember well there are three at both current sockets and voltage socket) all of them showed similar resistance to the measuring contact. Honestly I dont remember the exact value (it has been a while) it may have been 20kOhm or 60kOhm or more not really sure - but was "way above" true short and  "the same" value didn't seem suspicious as the issue appears to be triggered only at [mA,uA] socket... that's why I believe problem is rather in MCU.
I'm screwed because my meter is about 5 years old, out of warranty and now basically useless. I quite like it so will try to ask Brymen custmer support, but I  wanted to know if someone has started to talk to Brymen about the topic already. It seems not to be the case.

[ercapoccia]

Did you try to clean the whole pcb and the range switch? You need just few cue tips and some ipa. You could also check the solder joins of the of the socket for the probes.

[Dawe]

ercapoccia> The PCB solder joints to banana sockets look all fine, I will try to find some pictures I may have done. Also I did clean whole PCB surface including the selector pads. Couldn't do more here.
btw> For all keen on cleaning it: after the two PCBs separation first of all note down position of the selector contacts in the knob. Contacts are not fixed in place and without knowing their original position you will have problem putting it back together because there are many possible variants. 

[Hydrawerk]

do they have optical leads detection an ir led ??

No, I think that there is no optical detection.

[mrlicho]

In my experience this error can be caused from umidity or water that goes into the leads socket. I work with commercial washing machines and it happened to me few times on both the BM257S and the BM869S
i opened the meter cleaned the pcb truly with 99%IPA cleaned the socket with ipa and compress air and it fixed the problem.

Dude that solved my problem! I have a BM817 at my job and couldn't make it work until I read your comment. I registered the forum to say  thanks!

[radiolistener]

I have this BM869s and today I was taking some measurements, namely resistances and some conductivity tests and all of a sudden I got this "InErr" message on screen and a constant beep. It just stops if I turn it off for a few seconds. However if I try again to turn it on and start taking measurements, the same happens!

I have google for this error message and the multimeter model but nothing significant came up!

Any suggestions?

This happens when battery voltage is too low. It show Err message when DMM cannot keep precise measurement due to low battery voltage.

I'm using Li-Ion battery and got such InErr message with beeping when battery is dischaged. Sometimes just after these beeps with InErr message it just power off, because battery protection cutoff output to protect battery from overdischarge. I just charge it from li-ion charger and put back into DMM and it works again.

Try to replace battery with a fresh one.


Also I got this InErr beeping after cleaning banana connectors with 96% ethanol. It beeps for 10-20 seconds until the alcohol evaporates. Check that you have no dirt or liquids in the connectors.

[Lomax]

This confused me as well; suddenly my Brymen BM257s would show "InErr" and beep no matter what setting or how the leads are plugged in (or not). Bizarre that this can be caused by low battery - would make a lot more sense if the display read "bot" or "8At". I suspect the reason for it happening is that the lead sense method stops working when battery voltage gets too low. But it should still be possible to detect the low battery condition and let that take priority. I'm not that keen on the input lead detection anyway, wouldn't mind losing that functionality! FWIW I use a lithium primary battery and haven't needed to replace it since I bought the meter some five years ago - and it's seen a lot of use in that time! Not that surprised it's finally running out of juice 

[Fungus]

I'm not that keen on the input lead detection anyway, wouldn't mind losing that functionality!

Have you seen this page? https://brymen.eu/shop/fuse-0-44a-1000v-10x38-mm/

[Lomax]

Have you seen this page?

Crikey. Still, I cannot recall ever having blown a fuse in a meter. That's not to say I haven't done a lot of other stupid things...

[Fungus]

Have you seen this page?

Crikey. Still, I cannot recall ever having blown a fuse in a meter. That's not to say I haven't done a lot of other stupid things...

I think I've blown two in my life. Once on a 5V supply and once on AA batteries. Both times it was measuring volts right after measuring mA and forgetting to swap the leads. They were only cheapo/Aneng fuses though so no biggie (apart from waiting for the bag of Aneng fuses to arrive from China).

Most of my meters with expensive fuses have input jack alert so hopefully it won't ever happen there.