Fulgeo
Enlightened
Just broke down and purchased a Fluke 179. Should have it this week in the mail. Wanted to thank all the information on CPF that gave me the push/shove I needed to make this decision.
Fluke 179
- Thread starter Fulgeo
- Start date
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I bought my Fluke 179 more than 6 years ago. Very good device.
Now it seems to need calibration, something worthless here in the country where I live. I would have to pay $ 150 for calibration. I paid $ 209 when I bought it. I would better buy another one and keep the uncalibrated.
Now it seems to need calibration, something worthless here in the country where I live. I would have to pay $ 150 for calibration. I paid $ 209 when I bought it. I would better buy another one and keep the uncalibrated.
Bullzeyebill
Flashaholic
Congratulations on your Fluke. I have yet to buy a Fluke, depending on a Chinese DMM, which seems to ok, but eats up batteries, expecially when I leave it on (duh!).
linterno, why do you think yours needs calibrating? Why so much to re-calibrate?
Bill
linterno, why do you think yours needs calibrating? Why so much to re-calibrate?
Bill
JimmyM
Flashlight Enthusiast
Congrats. Can't go wrong with a Fluke.
DM51
Flashaholic
Excellent choice, which you won't regret! I have a 179 too. I gulped a bit at the $$ outlay, but it has definitely been worth it.
karlthev
Flashlight Enthusiast
179 here as well. Good choice for a solid, accurate and long-performing DMM.
Karl
Karl
smokinbasser
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hmmm must be the mechanic in me, I have the Fluke 78 automotive meter, it has the rpm sensing probe , the temp probe and does what I needed it to.
Because when I short circuit leads measuring resistance I don't get zero reading. additionally, someone from the Fluke representative company here told me that this multimeter needs to be calibrated one per year.
Well, I am just an electronics "aficionado" and I guess I don't need it to be that accurate.
I don't understand why their prices are to expensive.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
That is quite normal. The leads have some small resistance, and there is some small amount of finger grease and oxidation on the probes perhaps. It would be a surprise if the reading was zero. In fact it is very difficult and inaccurate to attempt to measure fractional ohm resistances with a two probe meter.
This is just the recommended practice for industrial users to provide assurance of accuracy. It is highly likely your meter is still accurate enough for your purposes without being recalibrated.
The meters are designed for industrial and professional users rather than hobbyists. There are many less expensive meters available from other manufacturers for people on a budget. As with all things quality costs money.
JimmyM
Flashlight Enthusiast
What reading are you getting? Even when my Fluke 189 was new, it didn't read zero when I shorted the leads. It would read a few tenths or an ohm.
I do wish they had a "zero" button for Ohms. That would be nice.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Does the meter have a "delta" feature? I have a meter with that and it works the same as "zero" for resistance measurements.
Bullzeyebill
Flashaholic
My Cen-Tech P37772 zeroes out when I touch probes. Is that a "fluke" (LOL) for this inexpensive DMM?
Bill
Bill
The only expensive thing I am not used to, up to date, are curiously flashlights (I should not write this in a flashlight forum). For the rest, I like to buy good quality stuff (with good quality I don't necessarily mean expensive. Some times it is, some times it is not) . Basically I have liked to play with flashlights since I was a boy. But that is it. I only play with my almost 30 flashlights toys. My 3 years old daughter has now three flashlights.
Back in 1990 I traveled to USA and bought a Fluke 189 (I fact I think it was a Fluke 89). I paid something like $ 360, I don't exactly remember,) but it was stolen from the hotel room. I was just learning how to use it.
I got used to my Fluke 179. Some months ago I bought a cheap DMM to be able to measure voltage and current at the same time. The $ 29 dollar feels (and it really is) very cheap.
I am getting 0.2 Ohms.
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Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Try removing the meter probes and connecting the two sockets with a short U-shaped piece of polished copper wire. See what reading you get then.
JimmyM
Flashlight Enthusiast
Personally, I wouldn't worry.
Try the polished copper wire test and see what you get.
Sorry Fulgeo for being hijacking your thread.
By the way, now that we are talking about Fluke 179 multimeter, I was wondering were can I find more technical information about this multimeter. The manual only talks about operation. i.e: What is the resistance added to the circuit when measuring current?, What is the capacitance?
Disconnecting probes and using a U-shaped 10 AWG wire I still get 0.2 ohms. The same reading is gotten by disconnecting positive probe and touching its socket with the negative probe connected in place. The same with positive in its place and touching the negative socket without the negative probe.
By the way, now that we are talking about Fluke 179 multimeter, I was wondering were can I find more technical information about this multimeter. The manual only talks about operation. i.e: What is the resistance added to the circuit when measuring current?, What is the capacitance?
koala
Flashlight Enthusiast
Using ohms law you can work out the resistance from the burden voltage.
In manual rev.1 under Specifications,
page 12, footnote 5
AC Amps input burden voltage (typical): 400 mA input 2 mV/mA, 10 A input 37 mV/A.
page 13, footnote 4
DC Amps input burden voltage (typical): 400 mA input 2 mV/A, 10 A input 37 mV/A.
[FONT=arial, helvetica]175, 177 & 179 Users Manual (English)[/FONT]
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koala
Flashlight Enthusiast
My 187(same for 189) has a REL button which is the relative mode that zeros the display. Unfortunately the 179 does not. Many cheaper meters today come with relative mode.
I don't believe any of you guys read the manual :naughty:
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Justin Case
Flashlight Enthusiast
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2008
- Messages
- 3,797
You could get a voltage reference and do your own calibration. Doug Malone of Malone Electronics sells 2.5000V, 4.0960V, and 5.0000V references.
InHisName
Enlightened
Just for comparison my Fluke 8010A measures 4 Ohms with leads touching.
My Radio Shack Cat No 22-168A measures 0.3 Ohms with leads shorting
Neither have a zero adjust wheel.
The Radio shack has a function "REL" but without reading the manual, I was not able to use it properly. So no better improvement over the 0.3 Ohms.
This seems to be pretty standard to have 2-4 counts in lowest scale. One might need to do some mental arithmetic if measuring less than 5 ohms on RS or 50 Ohms on Fluke. [The lowest scale on Fluke was 2k and 200 on the RS.]
My Radio Shack Cat No 22-168A measures 0.3 Ohms with leads shorting
Neither have a zero adjust wheel.
The Radio shack has a function "REL" but without reading the manual, I was not able to use it properly. So no better improvement over the 0.3 Ohms.
This seems to be pretty standard to have 2-4 counts in lowest scale. One might need to do some mental arithmetic if measuring less than 5 ohms on RS or 50 Ohms on Fluke. [The lowest scale on Fluke was 2k and 200 on the RS.]
