First Teardown: How old is my multimeter? TILLQUIST DT-443

[GrandTheftAuto4life]

Since EEV Blog's got me interested of what's inside my meter, I thought I'd try to make my own teardown.

This meter is pretty much unknown to the web, so it's either rare or old. Possibly both.



This teardown is not going to be a video though.

You can read my teardown here: http://reizero.biz/projects/multimeter/dt-443.php

What I would like to know is the age of this product and if it was a good or a bad teardown.
Also if possible, I'd like to know in which class this would probably sit in, based on build quality.

[larry42]

Age: It looks like a standard 80s or 90s multimeter.
Rarity: kidding, right?
Teardown: photos suffer from camera shake and insufficient lighting. You're not going to compete with Dave or iFixit.
Meter quality: looks like they used reasonable fuses, no blast shield, no CAT rating

My take: probably a fine meter for around the home or general lab use. I would consider it ok to test the mains with on occasion (though this is not recommended due to lack of CAT rating / adequate probes).

mvh
Laurens

[kfitch42]

I saw two ICs with discernible date codes: 9145 and 9203. So, early 90s.

[Lightages]

For an off brand meter of that vintage it is not too badly built but I would keep it away from high energy stuff. And yes you need better lighting.

[Bored@Work]

Seems you can still buy that model in Sweden

http://zenit.winbasonline.se/SE/Catalog/CFysik/Ellara-matapparatur/12-000443.html

Approx. 92 Euro - special ripoff  price for education institutions.

[GrandTheftAuto4life]

That's interesting.

I'll admit that the lightning is crap and the photos should have been taken using a stand.


Hopefully some day I'll have a proper environment to work with electronics in.

[poorchava]

I can spot some voids between walls and the leads of the components. Kinda crappy soldering, as wave soldering technology was pretty advanced at that time.

[retiredcaps]

This meter was sent into Dave for eevblog 775 (mailbag).

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/eevblog-775-mailbag/