Multimeters

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by familycruisers

For a liveaboard, you sure wind up quick

Quick? Took nine years to get to this but I'm okay again, no worries

Jimmy Buffet? who's that?


ciao!
Nick.

[goboatingnow]

Im with you Nick, cant stand Jimmy Buffet,

by the way Tenma make a good alternative to fluke at half the price, there 72-7732 is a good data logging multimeter, with a 0,025% accuracy on DC
yes its no fluke, its Chineese , but a good multimeter for the money, a find teh data logging good to ( especially as compared to the Agilent, it does auto logging)

Dave

[hellosailor]

In the search for a reality check I picked up an LM1031 precision voltage reference IC. That's designed to provide 10.00 volts +- 0.05% accuracy, i.e. 9.995 to 10.005 volts when fed a slightly higher input voltage.

Checked the B&K meter, which read 9.97V, and the Centek, which thought 9.34 was more correct. (Trimmed both to 10.00 afterwards anyhow.)

Of course that's a crude measurement randomly shot at one temperature and I've no idea how they'll drift, but it confirms the quality of raw Centek is slightly better than a test lamp, while an inexpensive "half percent" meter can sometimes perform better than rated. I'm thinking of wiring up a couple of the LM1031 into Altoid tins, with two 9v battery clips, a power button and a couple of output posts. Who'd have thought field calibration could be so simple and convenient?

Or maybe some lithium cells, epoxy pot it, and sell a "marine grade" version.<G>

0.05% ain't a bad way to start if you don't have a calibration lab handy.