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Fluke 185 Review

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ErnestB:
Thank you for responding and posting the document. I have read this Cal manual and the part regarding the Calibration Adjustment is very short and does not describe anything specific:
"The Fluke 183 and 185 require adjustment only when they fail the performance tests or have been repaired. Software adjustment is performed through the meter’s IR port using a semi-automated Fluke Met/Cal procedure and Fluke 5520A. The meters have no physical adjustments and cannot be manually adjusted".
I have seen what Fluke 5520A costs   :o 30-40k And maybe/suppose other "calibration facilities" still could do the calibration on this discontinued model, the expected price would be above the economical value, so that would not be an option I suppose...
Maybe/probably the software "talks" to 185/TX3 as well with the 5520A during this semi-automated Fluke Met/Cal procedure, and change the settings on 5520A accordingly, ingaging various voltages and currents on it's output during the procedure.

ErnestB:
There is MET/CAL software Reference manual document 1252 pages long: http://download.caltech.se/download/fluke/metcal/metro_meeting/ReferenceManualV71.pdf

bdunham7:
I think the manual is specific enough, it just doesn't seem substantial because there isn't much to it.  You connect the meter and the 5520A to your PC and run the MetCal procedure.  It prompts you to select a certain range, then it tells the 5520A to output a specific stimulus and then after the reading stabilizes it it tells the 185 to store a new calibration constant for that particular range and reading.  Rinse and repeat until done.

I wouldn't assume the calibration is more than the value of the meter without a quote.  I think maybe here in the US the price might be $80 or so?  If the meter isn't worth that, then nobody really cares.  What I would worry about is that calibration might not work--it might have some fault that prevents the process from completing or storing the constants.  Then you'd be out the calibration cost and still have no meter.

If you could reverse engineer the MetCal commands, perhaps you could come up with some alternative.  However, I think you'd need a complete working setup and meter to do that and their really aren't too many of those about.

ErnestB:
Good point: "Then you'd be out the calibration cost and still have no meter". So yeah.. I don't know. There has to be a (valid) reason, I suppose, that the calibration facility couldn't calibrate this meter anymore in the first place. Maybe the eeprom (or some sections) is damaged in some way.. But the meter seems to works fine, so far I have seen, but of course I have not checked every range and every function to abs values and tolerances.

ErnestB:
...and of course there could be various reasons (beside the eeprom) why this 185 have not "made through" the official CAL. I will try to check myself so far I can on different ranges and functions to see how far off the stated accuracy actually it is at this moment, and then make a conclusion.

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