Author Topic: PROVA 903 Discussion  (Read 12625 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
PROVA 903 Discussion
« on: September 10, 2012, 02:12:24 pm »
http://www.tes-meter.com/p901.htm

Most impressive meter i have seen in a while (The picture is a bit wrong, the 901 doesn't have data logging)
What do you think of it?
 

Oracle

  • Guest
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2012, 01:31:14 pm »
not bad, dual channel.... but how you can measure with this thing?

then, should be awesome if the meter could be a watt meter or could measure the power factor....

anyway, it's a bit impressive, how much is it? 
 

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2012, 06:02:19 pm »
Made in taiwan and costs roughly around 150 odd USD. Not bad for a 0.02% +-3Digits DC accuracy meter with data logging
 

Offline Amarbir[Lynx-India]

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 431
  • Country: in
  • Indian Dealer
    • Lynx-India - Visit Us For Not So Boring Electronic Instruments
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #3 on: October 01, 2012, 02:43:31 pm »
http://www.tes-meter.com/p901.htm

Most impressive meter i have seen in a while (The picture is a bit wrong, the 901 doesn't have data logging)
What do you think of it?

Sir ,
    I Had a TES Analog Multimeter Many Years Ago ,That Was One Meter i Could Die For So Nice Needle Movement Woow .I Do Say TES Makes Good Stuff Sir
« Last Edit: October 02, 2012, 04:42:22 am by Amarbir[Lynx-India] »
Regards

Amarbir Singh Dhillon [ Lynx-India ] , Chandigarh [ India ] - > www.lynxdealerstore.com , www.lynx-india.com
Indian Distributor For  [ Autoelectric , Sofitech , IDEOfy ,Peak Electronic Design [UK ] , Anatek And Creatronica ]
My Electronics Blog - > www.lynxchandigarh.com
 

Offline LaurenceW

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 258
  • Country: gb
    • It's Time, Jim, but not as we know it
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #4 on: October 01, 2012, 09:30:21 pm »
OK, dual channel is useful, one to measure amps while the other measures volts, BUT you are stuck with a common negative, which could be an issue.  It doesn't appear to take advantage of "knowing" two readings, such as volt x amps = power, so TBH I am struggling to see how it scores over two discreet meters. Good resolution though (but that is quite common, these days), and true RMS.

Do they do them in bright colours, by any chance? 8)
If you don't measure, you don't get.
 

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2012, 08:07:38 am »
Bright yellow, REALLY bright yellow, like a notch bright than fluke's yellow
But hey it's a datalogging meter (803/903) and the 903 has like 0.02%±3d from 600mV to 600V
Compare that with the 287 i know i want to  ;) But ch2 is 0.27% if you use both channels together, but hey. This is so far i've seen the only actually dual channel with excellent accuracy but common negative.
And i won't forget something though,
Quote
No point going for 0.01% accuracy if your 1 is going to be a 1.2 in 12 hours
    I Had a TES Analog Multimeter Many Years Ago ,That Was One Meter i Could Die For So Nice Needle Movement Woow .I Do Say TES Makes Good Stuff Sir
Ah, that's good to know  ;D
 

Offline Paul Moir

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 926
  • Country: ca
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #6 on: October 03, 2012, 04:01:31 am »
May I ask where you see it for that price?  The locals want around $500 for it.

I'm in the market for a home/hobby electronics multimeter to replace my aged Micronta (Radio Shack).  For real work & field I have a Fluke 175 which I'm totally pleased with.

There are a couple of TES instruments at work:  a thermocouple thermometer and an AC clamp meter.  I'll have a quick look inside at those and see what they're like.  It's hard to compare though since neither is a DMM.


 
 

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2012, 09:27:04 am »
China prices  :) They bring them in from taiwan
 

Offline iloveelectronics

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 940
  • Country: hk
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2013, 09:12:15 am »
China prices  :) They bring them in from taiwan

Didn't see this thread until just now...

Your price is more like the 803 (non-true-rms, unlike 903) price even from China. Anyway, I went ahead and ordered one (803) just to continue my quest of finding another quality DMM from China/Taiwan :)
My email address: franky @ 99centHobbies . com
My eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/99centhobbies
 

Offline ciccio

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 659
  • Country: it
  • Designing analog audio since 1977
    • Oberon Electrophysics
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2013, 12:36:37 pm »
Sir ,
    I Had a TES Analog Multimeter Many Years Ago ,That Was One Meter i Could Die For So Nice Needle Movement Woow .I Do Say TES Makes Good Stuff Sir

I'm sorry, but the analog meter you had was made in Italy by a Company named TES, now defunct, who manufactured many types of test instruments.
This (really nice) digital meter is made in China (not Taiwan, the contacts on their site are in Beijing and Shanghai), by another Company called TES-instrument.
Don't know of any relation between the two companies.
Best regards
Strenua Nos Exercet Inertia
I'm old enough, I don't repeat mistakes.
I always invent new ones
 

Offline iloveelectronics

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 940
  • Country: hk
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2013, 05:22:11 pm »
I'm sorry, but the analog meter you had was made in Italy by a Company named TES, now defunct, who manufactured many types of test instruments.
This (really nice) digital meter is made in China (not Taiwan, the contacts on their site are in Beijing and Shanghai), by another Company called TES-instrument.
Don't know of any relation between the two companies.
Best regards

I believe the meter IS made in Taiwan (well, pictures I've seen have a "Made in Taiwan" sticker on the back anyway). The mother company is Taiwan based, www.tes.com.tw. The website posted by the OP is probably just their Chinese branch/distributor.
My email address: franky @ 99centHobbies . com
My eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/99centhobbies
 

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #11 on: January 13, 2013, 08:18:45 pm »
It's been several weeks since i last returned and wow!
I hope ya get your 803 soon because i won't have anything much to review in the upcoming weeks because i'm getting me self a balling PC but i did just get a updated (and rebadged lol) Atten 858D with a case that feels like sandpaper (Not really that rough but hell it's solid)
 

Offline blackknife

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 16
  • Country: it
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2013, 07:01:44 pm »
I hope that someone will do a review about this meter soon  :D if the specs are real i'll buy it!  :-DMM
Right now i have a "prova cm-05" wich is a current probe from the same factory and it works really well...
 

Offline mAJORD

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 33
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2013, 01:18:08 am »
I got one of these (803) not long ago, as a work meter as I thought it looked interersting.

I can post some internal pic's a bit later..

Can give a quick rundown though:

Pro's:

it's quite well built indeed. There's a couple of cable runs internally, which some would dislike, but they're neat, glued down and double insulated iirc.
Range switches are very nice. 

The the dual channel functionality I've used twice so far, so not too gimmicky.

No replacement for a 2nd meter entirely, but consider it a bonus 1/2 a meter extra.

Datalogging is good. USB itnerface and Software OK.  you can do power measurment using software utilizing the dual channel

Biggest con's are:

Slow display update (2/second) - However whilst it's hard to explain , the meter stabilizes very quickly, which makes the seemingly bad update rate not so painfull. IT's really a better situatation than a fast update meter that's slow to stabilize in a lot of cases.

I think this is becuase the measurment IC is actually quite fast. It's the secondary CPU processing that is responisble for the slow display rate.

Secondly, the button's appeared to be polled at this same 2Hz rate.. this is pretty retarded! it means you need to hesitate on the button until it beeps

I don't know what the CPU is, but it must be slow, and they seem to be doing everything on a 2Hz timer inteval or something.

 

Offline iloveelectronics

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 940
  • Country: hk
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2013, 02:45:31 am »
I haven't tried the software and haven't cracked it open yet, but I agree with the other comments about the 803 above. I would like to add the following:

1. This thing is really bulky! Too large and heavy for my taste.
2. The rubber holster is very thick and I'm sure it does its job as a protection layer very well, but by taking it off and putting it back on a few times I already see some wear at the corners where you need to squeeze the meter through.
3. The hit or miss button response as mentioned in the last post is really quite annoying!
4. Although the screen update rate is slow, it does offer a very fast continuity tester.
5. Fuses are accessible without opening the cases. And those are really beefy looking fuses. I like them!
6. Accuracy seems very good.
My email address: franky @ 99centHobbies . com
My eBay store: http://stores.ebay.com/99centhobbies
 

Offline T4PTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3697
  • Country: sg
    • T4P
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #15 on: January 15, 2013, 06:31:52 am »
Are they 10x38s? That's some good news i'm hearing.
Hit-and-miss buttons on the other hand ...
I decided to look for a 903 at a more decent shop and i found 1,350 CNY. Not bad a price for something like this  :-+ Probably better worth the extra money than a UT71D
 

Offline mAJORD

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 33
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #16 on: January 16, 2013, 12:17:42 am »
Sorry these are not very good quality.











« Last Edit: September 24, 2017, 02:04:29 pm by mAJORD »
 

Offline Lightages

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 4313
  • Country: ca
  • Canadian po
Re: PROVA 903 Discussion
« Reply #17 on: January 16, 2013, 04:17:42 am »
Very strangely built that thing. I guess there is no other way to build a strange multimeter. The fuses are certainly in the right direction but the input protection for the voltage input is a bit wimpy. How easy is it to remove the fuses with the case together? They also look a little close together for proper clearance.

One thing I noticed too is that the data connection port is very similar to the Brymen design, if not exactly the same.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf