A couple years ago I bought a Fluke 73III at a yard sale for $20.
Such a deal, I thought. Everything seemed good for a short time,
then I noticed when the leads were reversed a dc voltage would measure
almost double, then the ohms reading was way off. I put the meter to the
side and used a different one. Yesterday I found a schematic so I
thought I'd look at it. Only found it because I was looking at
purchasing a 87V on ebay.
First thing, it didn't power up, I thought maybe I had removed the
battery.
I opened it, the battery is there, but I had trouble getting it to
disconnect from the snaps, so I took the board loose to have more room.
I then measured the voltage on the PCB, it was 5.5 volts, then I
measured at the battery 9.1 volts. hmm.
I ended up using diagonals cutters and prying the snap open to get the
battery out. There was some corrosion. I installed a new battery
connector and battery. All functions now work and are accurate, I have a
calibration unit and used it to check the meter every way I could.
I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
I'm happy.

In article , says...

A couple years ago I bought a Fluke 73III at a yard sale for $20.
Such a deal, I thought. Everything seemed good for a short time,
then I noticed when the leads were reversed a dc voltage would measure
almost double, then the ohms reading was way off. I put the meter to the
side and used a different one. Yesterday I found a schematic so I
thought I'd look at it. Only found it because I was looking at
purchasing a 87V on ebay.
First thing, it didn't power up, I thought maybe I had removed the
battery.
I opened it, the battery is there, but I had trouble getting it to
disconnect from the snaps, so I took the board loose to have more room.
I then measured the voltage on the PCB, it was 5.5 volts, then I
measured at the battery 9.1 volts. hmm.
I ended up using diagonals cutters and prying the snap open to get the
battery out. There was some corrosion. I installed a new battery
connector and battery. All functions now work and are accurate, I have a
calibration unit and used it to check the meter every way I could.
I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
I'm happy.

Big Pat or a That Aboy!

Jamie

Most Fluke meters have a lifetime warranty. Keep that in mind before doing major surgery.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

amdx wrote:


I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
Most other DVMs I've had would read accurately until the digits could no
longer be read, LONG after the low-bat indication was on. At least one
Fluke I had would start giving totally impossible readings as soon as the
low-bat indicator showed. I guess there was less margin on the voltage
reference. Kind of disappointing.

Jon

On Sun, 20 Dec 2015 18:10:50 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Most Fluke meters have a lifetime warranty.
Keep that in mind before doing major surgery.
Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Not exactly:
http://www.fluke.com/fluke/iden/support/warranties/
Each Fluke 20*, 70*, 80*, 170 and 180 series DMM will be
free from defects in material and workmanship for its
lifetime. As used herein, "lifetime" is defined as seven
years after Fluke discontinues manufacturing the product,
but the warranty period shall be at least ten years from
date of purchase. *(Lifetime Warranty applies to products
manufactured after October 1996).

The Fluke 73 iii shows as discontinued:
http://en-us.fluke.com/products/electrical-testers/fluke-77-iii.html
No dates, so I can't guess(tm) as to it's warranty status.


Drivel: I found an old Fluke 8060A true RMS meter at a thrift shop. I
fixed it (cleaned the LCD contacts) but now I can't find the three
plastic screws that hold the case together. They're under the mess
here somewhere. ARGH!

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Jon Elson wrote:


Most other DVMs I've had would read accurately until the digits could no
longer be read, LONG after the low-bat indication was on. At least one
Fluke I had would start giving totally impossible readings as soon as the
low-bat indicator showed. I guess there was less margin on the voltage
reference.


** My rather old "Fluke 70 Series 2" displays the battery warning symbol at 6.4 volts - but still works fine to less than 5 volts.

The LCD display is good down to 2.5V but readings are are crazy.


...... Phil

On 20/12/2015 23:26, amdx wrote:
A couple years ago I bought a Fluke 73III at a yard sale for $20.
Such a deal, I thought. Everything seemed good for a short time,
then I noticed when the leads were reversed a dc voltage would measure
almost double, then the ohms reading was way off. I put the meter to the
side and used a different one. Yesterday I found a schematic so I
thought I'd look at it. Only found it because I was looking at
purchasing a 87V on ebay.
First thing, it didn't power up, I thought maybe I had removed the
battery.
I opened it, the battery is there, but I had trouble getting it to
disconnect from the snaps, so I took the board loose to have more room.
I then measured the voltage on the PCB, it was 5.5 volts, then I
measured at the battery 9.1 volts. hmm.
I ended up using diagonals cutters and prying the snap open to get the
battery out. There was some corrosion. I installed a new battery
connector and battery. All functions now work and are accurate, I have a
calibration unit and used it to check the meter every way I could.
I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
I'm happy.



With my Fluke 77 I've had that, erroneous slightly off values and no low
batt symbol, but was due to low battery

Jon Elson wrote:
amdx wrote:


I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
Most other DVMs I've had would read accurately until the digits could no
longer be read, LONG after the low-bat indication was on. At least one
Fluke I had would start giving totally impossible readings as soon as the
low-bat indicator showed. I guess there was less margin on the voltage
reference. Kind of disappointing.

The fluke meters I have are like that. It's really obnoxious, especially
on my latest 87V.

In article ,
says...

Jon Elson wrote:
amdx wrote:


I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
Most other DVMs I've had would read accurately until the digits could no
longer be read, LONG after the low-bat indication was on. At least one
Fluke I had would start giving totally impossible readings as soon as the
low-bat indicator showed. I guess there was less margin on the voltage
reference. Kind of disappointing.

The fluke meters I have are like that. It's really obnoxious, especially
on my latest 87V.

I have a 289, 189, 87 and the old process dmm which was/is a POS.

I only got the 289 because of the trending function, the rest of it,
well, slow but it is dead on!

Jamie

"Cydrome Leader" wrote in message
...
Jon Elson wrote:
amdx wrote:


I guess it was just a battery problem, but I never noticed a low
battery indication.
Most other DVMs I've had would read accurately until the digits could no
longer be read, LONG after the low-bat indication was on. At least one
Fluke I had would start giving totally impossible readings as soon as the
low-bat indicator showed. I guess there was less margin on the voltage
reference. Kind of disappointing.

The fluke meters I have are like that. It's really obnoxious, especially
on my latest 87V.


I have a Fluke 28 series II and it's an amazing meter, exactly like my 87-5
in function, but it wastes a lot of battery capacity.

AA cells get down to 1.4 volts and it's done. Not so bad really because you
get those batteries out of there before they're likely to cause any
corrosion.

You can "test" the batteries using the backlight and the continuity beeper
at the same time. If the batteries are at all marginal, you'll get an early
indication.

Mark Z.