Cydrome Leader wrote:

My hamfest special Fluke 80 something series something 20 year old meter
started to act weird so it was time to upgrade.

Got a spiffy 87 series V meter from Specialized.

It's much larger than the old meter which is sort of a bummer, but it has
a nice display and came with a cheapo temp probe.

I tried to measure the temp of the shower water I like and few minutes
later the meter started to freak out with "L38d" errors. It would not shut
the hell up unless it was in the mA or uA range.

So apparently the humidity condensed inside the lead sockets and shorted
out the other side of the connector shell causing the meter to think I was
stuck in a current range of some sort.

a dry qtip wasn't able to dry the sockets out. Neither was pure alcohol,
or a fan. I was about to get a RAM on the piece of ****, but finally,
after about 20 minutes of being set in front of a fan, the thiung dried up
enough to work again.

I checked the service manual and found a strange section suggesting your
spray a swab with WD-40 and work it around inside the lead sockets to
prevent this problem.

WTF.

Is there some some secret settings I can enter on this meter to supress
the input warnings, or is it time to unsolder half the connectors?

Since the entire meter is semi sealed and had gaskets and orings all over,
it seems stupid that a miniscule amout of moisture or a drop of water will
completely disable the meter.

I'm calling **** design on this one.


Fluke does not make meters like they used to any more. Actually, I don't
think they make them in the US any more. The last I heard, they are all
made in china now..

For a while, they were having the low ends made in china and kept the
upper models where ever they were doing it the last time. Then, that
changed and all of it is now chinese made.. That's what the sales rep
told us.

We have a Fluke 289 that was not made in china. Couple of the guys
wanted a 289 so when theirs came in, those were made in china and you
can see the difference in the case and switch action, they are not the
same quality..

It does not surprise me that you have found that design flaw.. You
most likely got a chinese designed version in a case that mimics the
original fluke and approved by fluke, which is nothing more than an
office and web sight, as far as I can see.

Jamie