[GT3]

Originally Posted by Vicegrip

considering the modern cars and batteries this format beats the shit out of them. I sold off all of my old dealer grade metal boxes with wheels. The new stuff is the tits and does not take up floor space. With batteries, a truck is a car until it is 24+ volts.

I ordered this one from Amazon Prime:
Schumacher SC1352 250 Amp 40 Amp 12V/24V Fully Automatic Smart Battery Charger with Engine Starter, Boost, and Maintainer for Cars, Trucks, SUVs, Marine, RV Batteries
$353.99 shipped in 2 days

[cmartin]

Originally Posted by jhsmith

Probably overkill for your application, but I have been buying test equipment such as oscilloscopes from Rigol, Hantek, and Siglent lately.

Thanks. And good job deciphering my chicken scratch. I subscribe to the KISS school but also dont want to buy something only to realize I should have upsides for required features.

Found a kit that actually seems to work. But, not I went to business school and the circuit board wiring... we have to know our limits.

[Jazzbass]

New tool day!

Last week my daughter called me - "car won't start". The battery in her E46 was dead. Brought it home, charged the battery, and hooked a multimeter to the battery in the trunk to measure the parasitic draw. 3A. . Asked the wife to come out and read of meter readings while I futzed with different things on the car. Found the problem - final stage resistor in the HVAC - and Tina was extremely patient being my remote display but sheesh. I need a meter with a remote display. Since I'm a Fluke fan I narrowed my choices down to two:

1. Fluke 233. A pretty typical electronics/automotive type meter with removable display. The good - all in one, 10A range on current. The bad - apparently eats batteries like they're going out of style.

2. Fluke 3000FC. This is an industrial/HVAC/high voltage geared meter. Made to mate with a bunch of remote sensors that measure stuff like 3 phase power and current/temp in HVAC. A few less features than the 233 (but features I have in my 87V so not needed). The good - battery life excellent, can connect to remote sensors, and can connect to app on phone. The bad - no 10A current mode in meter. 400mA mode, or use current loop for anything higher.


The winner:




I picked the 3000FC. There are many 20A DC current sensing attachments I can get, and a non-intrusive loop is something I want anyway since it's not always possible to interrupt the circuit to get an ammeter in there. The 233 uses 5 AAs which by all accounts either need to be removed between uses or changed every 3 mos or so. Fuck that. Also, if you get the remote sensors (a future purchase maybe) then the 3000FC can show you up to 3 readings on the same display.

The phone app though - this is exactly what I wanted for automotive work. Hook the meter up in the trunk/engine compartment, go inside and turn on the ignition and watch the readings on your phone. Brilliant.

[cmartin]

Nice setup

Working alone is great until you need a hand

I picked up a fuse and relay test kit recently, beats my cobbled together wire and duct tape approach I've almost sort of perfected.

Innovative Products Of America 8016 Fuse Saver Master Kit

[Dr K]

I have an early Fluke 233 (I've heard they improved battery life) - it was a gift. I hardly ever use it because as Jazz said, it eats through batteries just sitting in the drawer. I use my much older Fluke meter for everything because it always has power when I turn it on.

[Vicegrip]

[Vicegrip]

I kid! So which voltage is it? 9.44 or 9.43?

Cool kit. Can’t count the times in HVAC I wanted to read some value while cycle it something 30 feet a way.

[Jazzbass]

Originally Posted by Vicegrip

I kid! So which voltage is it? 9.44 or 9.43?

Hard to know. The two expensive, made-in-USA recently calibrated Flukes say 9.43, but the sub $100 made in China meter says 9.44. Who knows?

Funny thing about this pic is that shot is after I did a quick home brew calibration on the red meter. The first test I did on the E46 was to put the 87V on the battery (12.4V) and use the red meter in the engine compartment, where the voltage on the main terminal under the hood was 12.1V. Holy crap - what is dropping 0.3V on a 000 cable? Answer: nothing. The red meter is just 0.3V out of cal on DCV.

Since this is an old chinese made meter it's not really worth sending out and spending $100 to get my $100 meter calibrated. I contacted ESI (the brand on the meter) and asked for cal instructions, to which they said "lol no". This is actually a rebranded CEM meter, and they sell it through many other makers like Extech, so I contacted them as well. Again, "lol no". So I said fuck it, I'll do it myself. Worst case I ruin the meter, but a meter that is almost 3% out of cal on DCV is useless anyway so nothing to lose.

Opened it up and there was 8 different adjustment pots on the PCB. I used a method I found on EEVBlog where your set the meter to the measurement you want and freeze the suspected adjustment pot with electronics freeze spray. The pot that freezes and affects the display is the one and holy shit it worked.

Here's a shot right after the homebrew calibration showing it next to my 87V and a 117 I got a couple months ago.

[Vicegrip]

117s are my go to. As accurate as needed for Hvac and other big power stuff and hard to kill. Set on hhhhoooooms and check a live 480 volt line? No problem. Drop it off a ladder? Most times no problem. Roll around in a tool bag? No problem. Leave it face down on the top of an RTU all winter. Sun burned case but still worked.

[Vicegrip]

Please explain the freeze trick a bit more. I have a OK no name meter that is a bit off.