Mark Zacharias wrote:

"Jamie" t wrote in
message ...

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


The Fluke 110 series (116, 117, etc) are Chinese made. The 80 series are
all still U.S. made.

Even the Chinese ones are made to high standards, but only carry a 3
year warranty, whereas the U.S. made models have the famous "lifetime"
warranty.

To my knowledge there are no Chinese - made 289's. Frankly somebody
would have to prove this to me.

I have a brand-new 289 and it is definitely American.

Mark Z.
we have at least 7 people in the shop using them and they're all chinese
made, accept the one I have. It's possible you can still get US
made ones. Our sales rep told us differently..

This reminds me of the Baldor micro AC drives we get, (VS1MD) series.
if you go to their web sight and look at the advertised drive, they show
a membrane keypad with a slightly different art design on the face. when
you actually buy one, you get a chicklet push button keys and the front
is just a plane jane control. It really does not matter but the point
is, they are not shipping you what they advertise.. Also the ones we get
are made in S.Korea.

Jamie