Another multimeter Q
 

I have an old Fluke 8020B and no manual. I don't remember how I got it,
but I use it all the time around the house.

After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . . 200nS
and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

"Eric Vey" wrote in message
nk.net...
| I have an old Fluke 8020B and no manual. I don't remember how I got it,
| but I use it all the time around the house.
|
| After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
| that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . . 200nS
| and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

Did you look on the Fluke website?

The two ranges may output pulses (unlikely), or measure the time period of a
waveform - similar to measuring frequency.

N

I googled quite a bit before I posted here.
I didn't realize that Fluke had their old manuals online since google
didn't pick them up.

Okay, it is for testing conductance. It says I can test for leaky diodes
and transistors. That's about all it says.

I am not sure, but going from memory, this may be a Siemens scale. This
has to do with very high impedance readings.

The Siemens scale is based on conductivity, derived from inverse
resistance. This would then would be nS = nano-Siemens, and mS would be
milli-Siemens.

This link is about a dedicated Siemens meter, just to give an
explanation of what the Siemens scale is about.
http://www.trifield.com/HighResistance.htm

The Siemens scale is used for testing insulation factors, and very high
resistance values. There is also an instrument called a megger that is
used for testing very high resistances of materials, and especialy the
break down resistance of insulator materials. There are meggers that
also use very high voltages for the testing, in order to determine the
if the insulation material will easily break down and start to condcut
under use with voltage applied.

Jerry Greenberg
============

"Eric Vey" bravely wrote to "All" (19 Dec 04 17:26:17)
--- on the heady topic of "Another multimeter Q"

EV From: Eric Vey

EV I have an old Fluke 8020B and no manual. I don't remember how I got
EV it, but I use it all the time around the house.

EV After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
EV that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . .
EV 200nS and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

Conductance. The unit of conductance is the Siemens. Conductance is
simply the inverse of resistance i.e. 1/R. It used to be called the
MHO. Conductance is a useful parameter for measuring very low value
resistances in motor windings, PCB traces, and other conductors. It is
also useful to figure out parallel resistors by adding up their
conductance but my solar scientific already has a handy 1/x key.

A*s*i*m*o*v

.... Resistance Is Futile! (If 1 ohm)

"Jerry G." wrote in message
oups.com...
| I am not sure, but going from memory, this may be a Siemens scale. This
| has to do with very high impedance readings.
|
| The Siemens scale is based on conductivity, derived from inverse
| resistance. This would then would be nS = nano-Siemens, and mS would be
| milli-Siemens.
|
| This link is about a dedicated Siemens meter, just to give an
| explanation of what the Siemens scale is about.
| http://www.trifield.com/HighResistance.htm
|
| The Siemens scale is used for testing insulation factors, and very high
| resistance values. There is also an instrument called a megger that is
| used for testing very high resistances of materials, and especialy the
| break down resistance of insulator materials. There are meggers that
| also use very high voltages for the testing, in order to determine the
| if the insulation material will easily break down and start to condcut
| under use with voltage applied.
|
| Jerry Greenberg

ISTR that some early Flukes had those functions.

N

S = A / V

Or in other words: S = Ω^ˆ’1

You are close with this one, and the last one.

1 S = 1 / Gohm


From: http://www.trifield.com/HighResistance.htm

A NanoSiemen is 1 divided by a GigOhm. It's the same as one NanoAmp per
Volt. A PicoSiemen is one PicoAmp per Volt, or the inverse of one TeraOhm.
Therefore, a 1 GigOhm resistor will have a conductance of 1 NanoSiemen, and
a 1 TeraOhm will have 1 PicoSiemen. Note that because one is the inverse of
the other, then 2 TeraOhms corresponds to 0.5 PicoSiemen. The two
conductance ranges therefore cover the following ranges of equivalent
resistance: The first conductance range goes from .001 x 10-9 Siemens (=1012
Ohms or 1 TeraOhm) to 19.999 x 10-9 Siemens (=5 x 106 Ohms or 5 MegOhms),
and the second conductance range goes from .001 x 10-12 Siemens (=1015 Ohms
or 1000 TeraOhms) to 19.999 x 10-12 Siemens (=5 x 109 Ohms or 5 GigOhms).

--


Greetings,

Romeo E. Albert
============

"Adam" wrote in message
ink.net...
Or in other words: S = ?^?1

You are close with this one, and the last one.

1 S = 1 / Gohm


Hang on a sec.

We are talking here about the reciprocal of resistance aren't we?
When I was studying electronics in about 69/70 we were taught that 1/OHM was
a (wait for it) mho (pronounced MOW)

The strange thing is we were supposed to be using SI units and I think I
would have remembered if the term Siemens had been mentioned, because of the
famous German corporation.

I wonder when Siemens became the excepted term over mho, at least here in
the UK.

--
Graham.


%Profound_observation%

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:26:17 GMT, Eric Vey wrote:

I have an old Fluke 8020B and no manual. I don't remember how I got it,
but I use it all the time around the house.

After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . . 200nS
and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

nanoSiemens (mhos) etc.

If you are really keen, hit the Fluke website. I searched for a manual for an
8024A a couple of years back, and IIRC it wasn't there but an email reaped a
reward.

This has nothing to do with the famous German company called Siemens. Maybe
the Siemens company was named after the famous German scientist who's last
name was Siemens. I cannot remember his first name.

Siemens is a measurement of conductance for materials that have very high
resistance. It is another standard, that is more precise than ohms for the
ranges required. In standard electronics applications that are used in every
day home appliances and A/V equipment, Siemens are not a measurement that is
normally used.

This measurement may be applied to insulating materials that would be used
in high voltage systems, specific types of transformer design, and in high
powered RF systems, just for an expample. It is just another standard. There
is nothing political here.

--

Jerry G.
=====

"Graham" wrote in message
...


You are close with this one, and the last one.

1 S = 1 / Gohm


Hang on a sec.

We are talking here about the reciprocal of resistance aren't we?
When I was studying electronics in about 69/70 we were taught that 1/OHM was
a (wait for it) mho (pronounced MOW)

The strange thing is we were supposed to be using SI units and I think I
would have remembered if the term Siemens had been mentioned, because of the
famous German corporation.

I wonder when Siemens became the excepted term over mho, at least here in
the UK.

--
Graham.


%Profound_observation%

On Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:26:17 GMT Eric Vey wrote:

I have an old Fluke 8020B and no manual. I don't remember how I got it,
but I use it all the time around the house.

After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . . 200nS
and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

They are conductance measurements in milliSiemens and microSiemens.
They are used for resistances greater than those usually measured with
most DVM.

I have one of those meters, but I never got used to those
measurements.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

Both the Bureau Interational des Poids et Mesures (BIPM)and the United
States National Instute of Standards and Technology (NIST) call this SI
derived unit "Siemens" and make no mention of mho. After some searching
it would seem that the unit was named after Ernst Werner von Siemens a
German electrical engineer in the mid 1800s [3].

[1] http://www1.bipm.org/en/si/derived_u...2.html#siemens
[2] http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/units.html
[3] http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/...y/siemens.html

EV After ~20(?) years of owning it, I finally notice that it has a range
EV that I didn't notice since I didn't have a reason to use it . . .
EV 200nS and 2mS. What is this? And what can I use it for?

Conductance. The unit of conductance is the Siemens. Conductance is
simply the inverse of resistance i.e. 1/R. It used to be called the
MHO. Conductance is a useful parameter for measuring very low value
resistances in motor windings, PCB traces, and other conductors. It is
also useful to figure out parallel resistors by adding up their
conductance but my solar scientific already has a handy 1/x key.

Asimov-

The advantage of the conductance scale on a digital meter, is that when it goes
over-range, the resistance is low enough to be measured on one of the
resistance scales. If the resistance scale goes over-range, your 1/x key won't
do you any good!

To the best of my memory, the lowest conductance reading on my 8020A, is equal
to 5000 Megohms when you take the reciprocal.

Fred