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| Fluke fake multimeter fuse WARNING! |
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| joeqsmith:
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| SeanB:
Years ago at the RS distributors i was shown a Fluke 77 meter they had recieved back from the Corporation, simply marked as "Faulty". Now, with the leads missing the probes on both, and being simply bare wire ends, you might be suspicious, given that the meter case looked like a truck had driven over it a few times, in mud, on a concrete road, and it was missing the holster completely. However, it did power on, and the display simply showed some random segments, and faded away. Shop owner took it apart, and we both looked inside. Never seen a copper coated case before, and even odder was this was on top of the foil shielding there as well, Battery was fine, checked on another meter and load tested with battery tester, and it passed with flying colours. Fuses were both perfect, and original ones as well. PCB however was slightly different, the entire copper track area around the input side was totally missing, leaving only components there on the landings, and with clear PCB where the traces were. Turned out that some sparktrician had tried to use this meter to measure the primary side of an 11kV substation transformer, and this had blown the 30A fuse in the supply line. Sparky survived mostly undamaged ( well, no more damage added), but this 2 month old meter was not covered under warranty. Never Done Correctly simply put in a purchase order for a new one. |
| Jester:
IMO, it depends what you are using the meter to measure. If your working with a high energy circuit, for example a 600V industrial distribution circuit, you would be foolish to use anything but the originally specified fuse. On the other hand if all your work is limited to repair of 3.3V, 15A power supplies and you blow a fuse once a week one could argue your foolish to spend $37 on a fuse when a $1 fuse will suffice. |
| joeqsmith:
--- Quote from: SeanB on April 29, 2017, 01:20:25 pm ---Years ago at the RS distributors i was shown a Fluke 77 meter they had recieved back from the Corporation, simply marked as "Faulty". Now, with the leads missing the probes on both, and being simply bare wire ends, you might be suspicious, given that the meter case looked like a truck had driven over it a few times, in mud, on a concrete road, and it was missing the holster completely. However, it did power on, and the display simply showed some random segments, and faded away. Shop owner took it apart, and we both looked inside. Never seen a copper coated case before, and even odder was this was on top of the foil shielding there as well, Battery was fine, checked on another meter and load tested with battery tester, and it passed with flying colours. Fuses were both perfect, and original ones as well. PCB however was slightly different, the entire copper track area around the input side was totally missing, leaving only components there on the landings, and with clear PCB where the traces were. Turned out that some sparktrician had tried to use this meter to measure the primary side of an 11kV substation transformer, and this had blown the 30A fuse in the supply line. Sparky survived mostly undamaged ( well, no more damage added), but this 2 month old meter was not covered under warranty. Never Done Correctly simply put in a purchase order for a new one. --- End quote --- That job would be dangerous enough, but I imagine the life span is pretty short when you are untrained and stupid. What's a little strange is I would have thought in most counties you would not just walk up and make a measurement like this. |
| joeqsmith:
--- Quote from: Jester on April 30, 2017, 12:58:08 am ---IMO, it depends what you are using the meter to measure. If your working with a high energy circuit, for example a 600V industrial distribution circuit, you would be foolish to use anything but the originally specified fuse. On the other hand if all your work is limited to repair of 3.3V, 15A power supplies and you blow a fuse once a week one could argue your foolish to spend $37 on a fuse when a $1 fuse will suffice. --- End quote --- If were only using the meter on the bench with the voltages and currents you mention and I knew that that meter would never be used by anyone but me, I would rather buy a fuse from a major brand with the same or faster trip times and not an HRC counterfeit. The cost should be reasonable. If this was for a disposable meter I may not care if a counterfeit fuse damaged it. There is no way I would risk damaging a $100+ meter to save $5 to $15 on a fuse. Then again if I was blowing a fuse in my handheld meter once a week, I would most likely find a hobby that better suited me. |
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