| Products > Test Equipment |
| Looking for a decent sub $1500 bench multimeter |
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| PushUp:
For me the DMM6500 is a total "no go", only because of its dimensions, as I don't wanna have a digital benchtop DMM in 2022 looking like an analoge oscilloscope from 1970. As mentioned by Martin72 from above: Here is a video, showing the transformer problem with comments beneath having the same hum noise: "...The hum of the DMM6500 transformer will get worse over time. It makes me really sick and I never use this multimeter just because of this annoying noise..." ht*****tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxa9Q3N5JlU Cheers! ;) |
| Hydron:
Can't speak to the KS3446x meters, but I have a DMM6500 and while not without it's flaws, I really like it. Pros: - Was _significantly_ cheaper than the KS34461 when I bought it (UK early 2021) - Very fast readings (plus digitiser mode), good graphing, triggering etc built in, lots of memory for readings - Touchscreen is great for complicated setup tasks, and entering numbers into the unit - Can extend with DIY or purchased scanning cards - Lowest ohms range has a 1uohm resolution (not that you're gonna find it easy to get the last digit stable though!) - No crazy plugins or anything needed for the web interface, just works seamlessly as a remote UI, and you can download readings in .csv directly from it - You can write your own scripts to run on it (sadly they often don't play nice when you try and exit, sometimes you need to reboot the meter) - Boots in just over 15s, which seems a lot quicker than what I saw on youtube for the KS3446x meters - You can get support and warranty even if you're a private buyer Cons: - Continuity and diode mode aren't as good as a decent handheld meter, no auto-hold (you can improve things and add auto-hold with scripting, but then you need to deal with the flakiness of the script/app system) - As previously noted, the low ohms ranges do NOT like highly inductive DUTs - Not as fast to boot as the trusty 34401A (nothing modern except a handheld is though!) - No hard power-switch (mine draws a little over 3W in standby with a fairly high line voltage, annoying but not enough to require drastic measures) - Early units did have a hum problem, seems to be solved on later ones (and Tek will do a RMA to fix it, even if you're a private buyer and not a company, and you get a free calibration when it leaves the service centre) - Not the best viewing angles in the world on the screen, a little care is required in placement for best visibility - Slightly slower to change functions etc than something with dedicated buttons like a 34401A - 10A input is rear-panel only - Pretty long case as noted above (partly justified by the scanner card support) AFAIK the coin cell going flat problem was solved with in a reasonably early FW revision so might not be an issue any more. Unit is not hard to open up to change it if needed though. |
| MarkMLl:
An observation from a non-specialist if I may: leaving aside issues of stability and autoranging for a moment, a fundamental question is whether any provided datalink can change the mode and range or if this has to be done from the front panel. MarkMLl |
| Hydron:
Any decent modern bench meter can be fully controlled from its remote interface (lan/gpib/usb/rs232). If you've got a scanning card you can even switch inputs. |
| thm_w:
You'd be crazy not to get a DMM6500 for that budget. --- Quote from: PushUp on November 09, 2022, 11:24:13 am ---"...The hum of the DMM6500 transformer will get worse over time. It makes me really sick and I never use this multimeter just because of this annoying noise..." --- End quote --- Haven't heard any buzz, so no it doesn't get worse over time. New units shouldn't have the issue anyway. Mine is a few years old. --- Quote from: Hydron on November 09, 2022, 11:32:39 am ---AFAIK the coin cell going flat problem was solved with in a reasonably early FW revision so might not be an issue any more. Unit is not hard to open up to change it if needed though. --- End quote --- Yes its fixed maybe a year ago in the FW. --- Quote from: nctnico on November 08, 2022, 01:06:17 pm ---I get that but the thing is that an LCR meter usually sits somewhere in a desk drawer. When I need to measure a capacitor quickly to check the value, I always use my bench DMM because it is always there and has enough accuracy. --- End quote --- Do any bench meters have ESR? I mean if you just want to check the capacitance thats fine, but for a proper check of a used/old cap it wouldn't be suitable. |
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