My First Fluke, the Fluke 289 purchase decision and tear down photos

[Scottjd]

Hello, I just received my first fluke no more then 48 hours ago. I decided to get the Fluke 289/FVF Kit.

This was an unplanned tear down late at night or I would have broke out the Nikon DSLR and also did a video. But instead you will have to settle for pictures from my phone, but still good quality pictures.

If you want to see close up macro shots of the chips being run on board ID 3 build July 2015, you can see them and full resolution pictures on my photo bucket.
http://s1068.photobucket.com/user/scott-jd/library/Public%20Pics/Fluke%20289%20build%20July%202015%20FW%201-16

Explanation of why I did the tear down and how I came about deciding to buy the Fluke 289 at the bottom of the post, I know you want to jump into seeing the pictures.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: I removed the photobucket links in the pictures and just posted full quality pictures since tear down are all about details.You can still click the URL above for more pictures like marrows of the IC chips in the board.

This was my first post on EEVBlog with photos, so it was a learning experience since the blog limits size of photos.

















And finally, the confirmation that the super cap is still present in the newer builds, but mine looks ok being new. I'll check it an a couple or few years and hope to catch it before it does damage to the board. The good news I guess, if it does fail in a few years I'll get any updates to the hardware and a free calibration and see how much it drifted over a few years.



This is how I came about deciding to buy the 289 from  Tequipment.net

It was cheaper after the EEVBlog discount to buy e kit since I was also planning on buying the TPAK, a case, and wanted a way to remotely monitor the logging. I've almost ran out of space on my main bench and wanted something I could hang (TPAK) and had good accuracy but didn't have the room for a bench DMM. So my compromise was to get the 289 and I can take it with me when needed.

I have a RIGOL D1054Z and a triple power supply from Korad with version three hardware updates. I know RIGOL makes quality, but I thought I should have something on the bench that I absolutely trust to test other equipment that I think may be acting up. So I bought a Fluke.

Ordering from Tequiptment I was able to get the free bore scope that is better then I thought it would be for a free item, and qualified for the second class of the $1000 in free tools fluke rebate program that allowed me to get a 32GB Apple iPod touch.
So $571 for the 289/FVF Kit, no tax in my state for online purchases yet and free shipping.

Plus the bound free bore scope claimed to be worth $200, I would put it more at $150/$140 just because it's IPX67 water proof and that's about what the cheap bore scopes go for at harbor freight. But I was surprised  to see it had video out. I was planning on buying one anyway so it saved me $150.

Then get the most valued with the rebate item offered with the highest resell value, the 32GB iPod touch. Retail $250, could easily sell unopened new for $200.
I confirmed with fluke it's the latest iPod touch with Apples warranty, not rebranded and in the original box.

The case it came with would have cost me $40 - $50
The TPAK it came with would have cost me $35 - $40
The cable with basic software if I wanted to do firmware updates is $118
The full software and cable it's over $200 and the FVF Kit comes with the full version. :-)

I have a Windows 10 tablet that I use at my bench for a cheap microscope I have to check SMD work after its done, the software installed with no issues as long as you install it as a admin. So now I can set up a logging session, show the current meter screen on the tablet and VNC connect to my tablet from my iPad, Mac or iPhone. It's like their IC3000PC adapter and iOS application but I get the cable for updates and can make full reports if needed.

Well, all considered IDE say that was one hell of a deal. Got extras and saved space on the bench. If I had purchased a bench DMM it would have been a lower end logging one since I don't need supper resolution, about the same as the 289 ability, but then would have also purchased another for on the go since my DMM is acting up, and that's what prompted me to buy a new one.  So instead of a new $60 one every year or two (my current one lasted 1.5yrs) I decided on fluke for the minimum guarantee of a 10yr warranty or limited life time as they call it.

I did my research and know they fixed the light in the data port cursing it to lock with firmware 1.16, and was hoping they fixed the supper cap issue. Since I couldn't confirm if the cap issue was fixed I still took the risk banking on their great service and warranty coverage.  I wasn't going to do a tear down but after I took the protected plastic off the LCD their was a spec of dirt that would cast a shadow onto the LCD that bugged me, it really showed up with the over head lighting I have and I wanted to confirm it was not a dead pixel on the LCD.
So I got my supper cap answer, it's still in the Fluke 289 with build date July 2015, and board ID 3. It came with the latest firmware 1.16 installed. My back probe was bent really bad, but they are sending out replacement probes.
Oh, and it was dirt on the inside of the LCD cover, not a dead pixel. I was able to remove it so all is good again.

[retiredcaps]

So I got my supper cap answer, it's still in the Fluke 289 with build date July 2015, and board ID 3.

Thanks for sharing teardown pics of a more recent pcb Fluke 289. 

[mos6502]

Have you measured the current draw? I'm wondering if they've improved the battery life in the newer versions.

[Scottjd]

Have you measured the current draw? I'm wondering if they've improved the battery life in the newer versions.

I have not, but the manual still states 100 hours use, 200 hours when logging.
Are you talking about standby current draw? Use when lighted LCD current draw? Use when logging current draw?
Is their a baseline current draw measurement to compare to? If someone has already done previous model current draw testing with a baseline of tests I can replicate I may be able to work on it over the weekend.

I am still running on the energizer alkaline batteries that came pre-installed. Once they die I'll move over to my Eneloop rechargeable 2100mAh cells for use going forward so I'll always have a charges set ready to put in. I wish the firmware tracked or had a timer I could reset for how long the batteries lasted, I kind of want to compare alkalines, vs energizer lithium, and my Eneloop cells.

Maybe I will set it up logging my house AC current at a specified sample rate over days until it dies with alkalines, then repeat for the other types of cells and hope the log captures the time. Since its new and I have not done any long time logging yet, if anyone has recommendations on sampling times so I don't fill the memory before the batteries die, please let me know.

I also found a battery cage replacement for $30, it's almost $40 with shipping. And I thought about ordering that and modifying it with a DC jack as long as the DC power is isolated from the ground mains. This way I don't have to mod my current battery cage and will be able to put it on if warranty is needed. I can't do a mod like MJMortin since that will void warranty and the battery cage is needed for the TPAK since I hang mine at my bench.

NOTE: I did just update the post so the full quality pictures are show.

[mos6502]

Are you talking about standby current draw? Use when lighted LCD current draw? Use when logging current draw?

All of them

Is their a baseline current draw measurement to compare to? If someone has already done previous model current draw testing with a baseline of tests I can replicate I may be able to work on it over the weekend.

Huh? All you have to do is set your lab PSU to 9V and hook a multimeter in between your lab PSU and the Fluke to measure the current. Then just switch through the modes on the Fluke and note the numbers.

I am still running on the energizer alkaline batteries that came pre-installed. Once they die I'll move over to my Eneloop rechargeable 2100mAh cells for use going forward so I'll always have a charges set ready to put in. I wish the firmware tracked or had a timer I could reset for how long the batteries lasted, I kind of want to compare alkalines, vs energizer lithium, and my Eneloop cells.

Much easier to get the numbers for the current draw and then calculate the life from the mAh of the batteries.

Using a cheap charger, you can test your AA batteries and record graphs like this:



That is a 6 year old Eneloop being discharged at 1.0A, by the way.

[Scottjd]

Are you talking about standby current draw? Use when lighted LCD current draw? Use when logging current draw?

All of them

Well I can do that, I do have a hobby charger, the B6 and the computer interface to graph out discharge.
But that's one of the things to measure with the fluke, I've had doubts weather it's really discharging at a full 1 amp. I've been meaning to buy a better charger. That reminds me, now that I'm programming IC chips with my Pi I should update that firmware also on the charger.

Well 8 of the envelops are bran new and the Japan made ones I picked up yesterday, so I'll use them for the test. If my charger ends up being off maybe I'll program a LED driver to run the LED at 1 amp and use the fluke to log the discharge graph. I like this meter, I keep coming up with new ways the logging can be used.

I'll report back when I play with all of this over the weekend.

As for the baseline I guess I was asking if anyone else already did this with an old version of the meter, or are we just going to compare the results to what fluke has documented. It's like estimating run time on a smart phone or laptop, a lot of it has to do with how the owner uses the device. Just web surfing on wifi with low processor? Heaving processor use for video conventions? Screen on dim, or on 100 full brightness. So I was thinking like the mentioned devices above that the meter may react differently as well depending on how it's used.

When I found out it was running a arm processor and a FTDI chip for the optic cable communication my mind went crazy with ideas of bitknocking SPI programming and custom firmware. Maybe show battery life in % instead of the icon, maybe add a submenu soft key to show processor utilization. I wouldn't want to mess with the main functions, just add a few features if the IC flash or eeprom had any room left.

I haven't been able to find how fluke determined 200 hours when logging, but part of me would think that 200 hours would change if I sample faster then fluke did in their testing? I'm almost sure that live graphing would be possible if theirs room for the code, but it probably kills the batteries so fast they decided to keep it out.

A LiPo pack upgrade option could do wonders for this meter, maybe fluke will release something like this and a love graphing firmware with a warning of battery drain and recommend it be used with the LiPo pack upgrade option.

I guess that's also one of the things I liked about this DMM being a gadget guy.

[Timur Born]

The bluetooth connected smartphone app offers live graphing, so the 289 seems able to provide the live numbers at least.

[Scottjd]

The bluetooth connected smartphone app offers live graphing, so the 289 seems able to provide the live numbers at least.

Good to know.
I would guess the phone app does the graphing since it received the live values.
I suspect for the fluke to take the samples, log them, and then graph them may ping out the processor a little to much causing worse battery life. Or maybe something to do with the GPU using to much power while logging and graphing at the same time.
I wish I had some kind of debugging access to the OS running on the fluke to look into it deeper. Maybe some day a vulnerability will be discovered in the OS.