Author Topic: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM  (Read 14794 times)

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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« on: August 09, 2013, 02:35:27 am »
I was doing some hunting on eBay and I couldn't resist picking up my very first Bench DMM for only $20 on eBay!  :-DMM

I've been looking around a bit lately and I established that most of the bench DMM's are at least $30 usually, and those are for 3.5 digit meters. So I couldn't help myself when I saw this 4.5 digit meter for only $20.

Does anyone know anything about this meter (Data Precision 2480R) or even the Data Precision name itself?

Here's a picture of the thing (not my picture)


One thing I can already see is that these plugs are not going to accept the banana jacks with the long covers over them, but that doesn't really bother me.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 05:15:35 am by EpicIntelGamer »
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2013, 03:36:23 am »
One thing I can already see is that these plugs are not going to accept the banana jacks with the long covers over them, but that doesn't really bother me.

I will refer you to this fine post on that topic:

*** ABSOLUTELY NO SAFETY SHROUD! ***
I want the bare banana pin. There is not a single piece of lab equipment that can handle banana with safety shrouds. Who ever invented that stupid shroud idea should be drawn, quartered, shot ,hanged ,tarred and feathered,drowned, eaten by rats and then burned at the stake.

And the solution for the problem:

« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 03:42:02 am by c4757p »
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Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2013, 03:40:48 am »
The manual isn't quite as easy to find as some.... I've had enough coffee to be generous, so I found it.

Calibration info is in there. Seems to be a bit short on full schematics, though it does have a good bit of theory-of-operation stuff.

Specs look decent, definitely good for $30. Is it still accurate?
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2013, 03:42:50 am »
One thing I can already see is that these plugs are not going to accept the banana jacks with the long covers over them, but that doesn't really bother me.

I will refer you to this fine post on that topic:

*** ABSOLUTELY NO SAFETY SHROUD! ***
I want the bare banana pin. There is not a single piece of lab equipment that can handle banana with safety shrouds. Who ever invented that stupid shroud idea should be drawn, quartered, shot ,hanged ,tarred and feathered,drowned, eaten by rats and then burned at the stake.

And the solution for the problem:



Oh so that's a good thing then? Like I said, personally, I feel fine without it.

Sounds like a good solution as well!

And I notice in the thread where free_electron posted he said he doesn't care about HV but really I think I could easily get away with sticking 1KV in some non shrouded leads just because of the massive distance between the two leads. Not that I have anything that will really output 1KV.

Thanks!
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 03:47:37 am by EpicIntelGamer »
 

Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #4 on: August 09, 2013, 03:45:52 am »
The manual isn't quite as easy to find as some.... I've had enough coffee to be generous, so I found it.

Calibration info is in there. Seems to be a bit short on full schematics, though it does have a good bit of theory-of-operation stuff.

Specs look decent, definitely good for $30. Is it still accurate?

Oh hey thanks again! Very nice of you to dig that up for me, much appreciated!   :D

I'm not sure if it's accurate. I bought it "working" and its still on its way. The problem is, my only other DMM is a TERRIBLE 3.5digit, so I can't even see if this meter is accurate or not.  :-//
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #5 on: August 09, 2013, 03:46:42 am »
They're just a pain in the ass, useless and annoying. There's no particular advantage to not having them other than... not having them. IMHO safety shrouds on a bench multimeter is a bit like wearing a helmet and knee pads while driving a car.
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #6 on: August 09, 2013, 03:48:50 am »
They're just a pain in the ass, useless and annoying. There's no particular advantage to not having them other than... not having them. IMHO safety shrouds on a bench multimeter is a bit like wearing a helmet and knee pads while driving a car.

Yeah I can see their use on smaller DMM's where the jacks are pretty close to eachother and your hands are very close to the jacks but on a bench DMM (especially mine) there is a fair bit of distance between the two jacks and your hands usually wont be as close to the jacks as they would on a handheld DMM.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #7 on: August 09, 2013, 03:51:51 am »
It's probably fine. I buy and fix old DMMs all the time, and the only ones I ever see that are sorely in need of an adjustment are the broken ones.

Just do a few sanity checks. Check one somewhat-known voltage absolutely (like a fresh 9V battery or something, though I can't remember off the top of my head what the "exact" initial voltage should be) to make sure it's not hilariously off the mark. Then pick a voltage that is high for each range, and compare the reading between each range and the next to check the per-range adjustments. (Obviously the 1000V range might be a bit tricky!) Check some 1% resistors. Use a power supply and a resistor to make a rough current source, check the current ranges. All you really need to do is make sure nobody let their dog tweak the trimpots.

but on a bench DMM (especially mine) there is a fair bit of distance between the two jacks

Standard is 0.75 inch / 19.05mm between pairs of jacks and the vast majority conform to this...
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 03:54:35 am by c4757p »
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #8 on: August 09, 2013, 03:55:09 am »
It's probably fine. I buy and fix old DMMs all the time, and the only ones I ever see that are sorely in need of an adjustment are the broken ones.

Just do a few sanity checks. Check one somewhat-known voltage absolutely (like a fresh 9V battery or something, though I can't remember off the top of my head what the "exact" initial voltage should be) to make sure it's not hilariously off the mark. Then pick a voltage that is high for each range, and compare the reading between each range and the next to check the per-range adjustments. (Obviously the 1000V range might be a bit tricky!) Check some 1% resistors. Use a power supply and a resistor to make a rough current source, check the current ranges. All you really need to do is make sure nobody let their dog tweak the trimpots.

but on a bench DMM (especially mine) there is a fair bit of distance between the two jacks

Standard is 0.75 inch / 19.05mm between pairs of jacks and the vast majority conform to this...
Oh maybe this would be a good time to use my little REF02 sanity check 5V reference!

The closest thing I have to 1000v is the 600v output of a transformer for a tube radio I'm working on.

Unfortunately I have no 1% resistors  :-\

The thing is though especially with current, I'm not sure if I can actually tell if the bench dmm is accurate because especially on amps my handheld meter is horrible.

And also maybe I'm looking at the picture wrong but It looks like more than 3/4in between those jacks.
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 03:57:01 am by EpicIntelGamer »
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #9 on: August 09, 2013, 03:59:09 am »
Just test the mA ranges. What is the highest reasonably accurate voltage you have? 50V across a 10k resistor is 5mA, and 10k is high enough that the burden voltage offset will not be too high. You can even measure it and compensate for it in your calculations. If you don't have such a high voltage you can use a lower one, you'll just need to measure the current shunt resistor and compensate for it. (You can use the meter to measure its own shunt. I see it uses shared jacks, so you can't do the "bridge ohms and amps" trick, but you can slide the case open and probe it. Just don't connect ground.) Calculate the current, don't measure it. Screw the A ranges, who the hell needs precision above 100mA anyway....? ;D

The spacing looks proper to me.... Of course, I can't estimate small distances in inches for shit, but it does look like about 20mm...
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #10 on: August 09, 2013, 04:07:43 am »
Just test the mA ranges. What is the highest reasonably accurate voltage you have? 50V across a 10k resistor is 5mA, and 10k is high enough that the burden voltage offset will not be too high. You can even measure it and compensate for it in your calculations. If you don't have such a high voltage you can use a lower one, you'll just need to measure the current shunt resistor and compensate for it. (You can use the meter to measure its own shunt. I see it uses shared jacks, so you can't do the "bridge ohms and amps" trick, but you can slide the case open and probe it. Just don't connect ground.) Calculate the current, don't measure it. Screw the A ranges, who the hell needs precision above 100mA anyway....? ;D

The spacing looks proper to me.... Of course, I can't estimate small distances in inches for shit, but it does look like about 20mm...

I'm not sure what you define reasonably accurate. I have a variac and some 600v diodes and a 600v transformer so tecnhically I can get some pretty high VDC but I'm not sure if it has the accuracy you'd want.

Other than that I have a hacked 7805 that can output up to 15v, that's about it. I'm nervous about all of this resistor business, I don't really ever go about using them for anything precise or with current.

And as for your last statement of that paragraph, *raises hand* "uhh......I.........I.....do..." lol
Most of the current ranges I ever measure are up in the amps, though now if I have the capability for mA, I guess I'll start using it more often.

Hmm, I'm the opposite, can't estimate meteric even a quarter as precise as I can in imperial, and even that I'm not too good with.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #11 on: August 09, 2013, 04:11:07 am »
Depends on how accurately you want to check it! Like I said, you just need to make sure nobody let their dog tweak the trimmers.

No..... keep off the 600V, no need to fart around with that. I thought 50V because that what my highest-voltage "low voltage" PSU goes up to. Just use what you have and let Ohm's Law do the rest.

Ha... I was kidding, after all, on my bench anything over about an amp is "oh shit, something's about to fry"...

I can't estimate large things in metric and can't estimate short things in imperial! After getting used to working with PCB layouts I can even do a decent job estimating widths to the tenth-millimeter... But meters? Kilometers? Kilograms? Kiloanythings, really? Nope, I'm hopeless.
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #12 on: August 09, 2013, 04:15:43 am »
Depends on how accurately you want to check it! Like I said, you just need to make sure nobody let their dog tweak the trimmers.

No..... keep off the 600V, no need to fart around with that. I thought 50V because that what my highest-voltage "low voltage" PSU goes up to. Just use what you have and let Ohm's Law do the rest.

Ha... I was kidding, after all, on my bench anything over about an amp is "oh shit, something's about to fry"...

I can't estimate large things in metric and can't estimate short things in imperial! After getting used to working with PCB layouts I can even do a decent job estimating widths to the tenth-millimeter... But meters? Kilometers? Kilograms? Kiloanythings, really? Nope, I'm hopeless.

Aw I knew one of these days I'd be forced to learn about ohm's law, I guess that day is quite soon now.

Think I might just hook it up to 600V just to see how accurate it is with probably the highest voltage I'll ever need to measure.

Usually the only thing I measure are motors and other big things I'm working on, but I suppose I'll start to measure mA consumption of some of my circuits just out of curiosity.

Later this month I plan to spend $100 to $150 on a really nice used Fluke portable DMM so maybe then I'll have something that is accurate and help me make this bench dmm accurate.

I barely know meteric in general, and many imperial sizes confuse me. The only ones I've definitely got down is weight and distance measurement in imperial.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #13 on: August 09, 2013, 04:19:47 am »
Ohm's law is... well, it's Ohm's law...



That's it. It's about the most important "law" you'll learn in electronics, behind maybe Kirchhoff's laws - get familiar with it!
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Offline EpicIntelGamerTopic starter

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #14 on: August 09, 2013, 05:15:11 am »
Ohm's law is... well, it's Ohm's law...



That's it. It's about the most important "law" you'll learn in electronics, behind maybe Kirchhoff's laws - get familiar with it!

That's not so bad, and will probably come in handy.

All I know about Kirchoff's law is that current will flow equally along two wires or something like that.
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #15 on: August 09, 2013, 06:10:53 am »
All I know about Kirchoff's law is that current will flow equally along two wires or something like that.

 |O
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Offline IonizedGears

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #16 on: August 09, 2013, 07:09:53 am »
Kirchhoffs law is of voltage and current. The voltage law basically states that all the voltage drops in a circuit is equal to the applied or source voltage. Kirchhoffs current law states that current through one node is equal to the sum of the branches of said node. Hard to explain without a diagram.
 

Offline steve30

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2013, 07:24:53 am »
Looks like a nice multimeter :).

We had a handful of old Data Precision meters at my old college, but they weren't in use as we had some more modern 1980s/1990s era meters. Some were LED and some were Nixie tube.
 

Offline Jon Chandler

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #18 on: August 09, 2013, 01:45:35 pm »

That's not so bad, and will probably come in handy.


Ohm's Law isn't handy – it's pretty much essential.even if all you're doing is lighting up an LED, you need to understand and be able to use Ohm's Law.

Just remember the first form – V = IR – and the rest is trivial algebra.
 

Offline ddavidebor

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I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #19 on: August 09, 2013, 02:45:58 pm »
Kirchhoffs law is of voltage and current. The voltage law basically states that all the voltage drops in a circuit is equal to the applied or source voltage. Kirchhoffs current law states that current through one node is equal to the sum of the branches of said node. Hard to explain without a diagram.

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Offline Bored@Work

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #20 on: August 09, 2013, 05:19:40 pm »
Kirchhoffs law is of voltage and current. The voltage law basically states that all the voltage drops in a circuit is equal to the applied or source voltage.

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear  :palm: The sum of all the voltages around a loop is equal to zero.
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Offline IonizedGears

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #21 on: August 09, 2013, 06:14:39 pm »
No, the sum of all the voltage drops in a loop minus the applied or source voltage =0.
 

Offline c4757p

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #22 on: August 09, 2013, 06:29:39 pm »
Oh dear, oh dear.

No need to count the source twice. Sources aren't special objects, they're all voltage drops.

If you subtract the "source voltage", that method cannot cope with multiple sources, especially ones external to the loop, which does not have to exist in isolation for KVL to work.

Example where that method fails (your money refunded 100% if my math is wrong ;)):
« Last Edit: August 09, 2013, 06:47:00 pm by c4757p »
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Offline IonizedGears

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #23 on: August 09, 2013, 06:50:53 pm »
:/ that isn't what they taught me in school
 

Offline Bored@Work

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Re: I just bought a Data Precision 2480R Bench DMM
« Reply #24 on: August 09, 2013, 06:51:34 pm »
No, the sum of all the voltage drops in a loop minus the applied or source voltage =0.


I am an Electronics student and an Android Dev.

Seriously, don't they even teach Kirchhoffs laws properly these days? Because what you wrote - twice - is utter bullshit. Twice.
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