Handheld, fast DMM with manual range, constant backlight and no auto off exists? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 04:27:35 am
content: Everything said in the title.So far, I was only able to find FeelElec DMMs which have backlight constantly on and auto off can be turned off.But they are auto range and can't measure amps.Any other with requested features?

author: mqsaharan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 07:43:43 am
content: Hi LinuxHata,You haven't provided much details.How fast is fast enough? Is 3 times/second OK?If yes, then cheap Fluke 15/17/18 Plus and 15/17Max fit your description.Just hold down yellow button while turning it on and it'll cancel both auto power off and backlight timers. You can turn them off individually as well with different button combinations. Both meter and the backlight will remain on until batteries run down. Also, they have reasonably long battery life.There is also Range hold button to use it in manual range.There must be other DMMs with your required features. Hopefully, other users will chime in with suggestions.

author: kloetpatra
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 09:31:12 am
content: I'm pretty sure many DMMs have the requested features. You just have to dig into the manual. - I thought!Uni-T UT117 for example.https://f00.psgsm.net/product/913851/ut117cuser-manual-english.pdf2. Disable auto-off backlight: hold down "HOLD" button while power-on3. Disable auto-off function: hold down “Select” button while power-onWell, it looks like Uni-T didn't think of that. Because when holding both buttons while power-on, neither of the two options is disabled.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 10:36:31 am
content: or the uni-t mcu does not accept that option by design, one or the other not both

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 02:17:29 pm
content: Yes 3 times a second will be ok, but 5 times would be betterstandard 5999 resolution would be enough.For the uni-t multimeters, I had one, on which you can disable the auto off, but it needs to be done on each power up, and while it won't turn off, it will beep for each 5 minutesA lot of people does not know, but same feature exists in PeakMeter, Fnirsi and lot of other Chinese multimeters.And for disabling I meant once and permanently - for example, in these FeelElec multimeters, this is done via menu - and there you can even select the default measurement type on power on.

author: kloetpatra
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2024, 05:48:36 pm
content: According to this post Agilent U1272A has permanently configurable timers for auto power-off and backlight.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/dmm-with-no-auto-off/msg3816707/#msg3816707https://www.tme.eu/Document/fd88e63f97d358f31b140c4a61d1e1fb/U1271-90010.pdfp. 138

author: tomwilkinson
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2024, 03:28:52 am
content: Auto backlight off disable and auto off disable by menu and button to switch to manual range that I have used.EEVBlog 121GWUni-T 181AKeysight U1242CFluke 189Fluke 289

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2024, 06:06:22 am
content: Fluke 87v: backlight doesn't ever auto-off, and APO can be disabled by holding yellow button during power onFluke 187/189: backlight and APO timeout are completely configurable (including disabling them). I believe same is true for 287/298.Fluke 107: Hold yellow button and '*' button to disable APO and backlight auto off respectively. Holding both down works to disable both.

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2024, 03:46:55 pm
content: And none of them are manual range, all are auto ranging....

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2024, 11:33:39 pm
content: You are right about the 107 not having manual range (I forgot that requirement). But the 87v/187/189 allow for the range to be manually set.

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2024, 04:06:29 am
content: None of these have manual range on their selector.I mean, there are no separate positions for say 0-2v, 0-20v, 0-200v, 0-10A and so on.So I need traditional DMM, with everything clearly on dial, but no auto off and backlight constantly on.I've modified PeakMeter PM18C to have constant backlight, but no always on feature (except you press the hold button before power on and it will then beep each 5 minutes).

author: Fungus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2024, 04:48:17 am
content: What are you going to be measuring?Do you need mains AC safety?

author: mqsaharan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2024, 07:12:51 am
content: Quote from: LinuxHata on March 11, 2024, 02:17:29 pmQuote from: LinuxHata on March 13, 2024, 04:06:29 amMy mistake, I missed the words "with Manual Range".That narrows the search down to manual ranging multimeters only.And the only one that comes to mind and almost covers your requirements is the cheapest one available, some variant of D830. You only need to install one or two LEDs in there. I don't think it has an auto power off feature.If you don't want to install some form of backlight yourself, you may need to look for an old manual ranging DMM with hard on/off switch and build in backlight. But you may still have to modify it to keep the backlight constantly on.There may be some but I don't know of any manual ranging meter built with programmable features like changing APO and backlight timers.There are quite a few manual ranging DMMs available from some manufacturers. As far as I know, all these new multimeters have that annoying (to some people) meter ON reminder, where meter beeps every few minutes to remind that APO is off. This is not a function built by the DMM manufacturers. It is a feature made into the DMM chip by the chip manufacturers, instead.

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2024, 05:43:32 am
content: I found a partial match - Mestek DM100C.Full manual rangeBacklight always onBut there's auto power off

author: mqsaharan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2024, 12:59:03 pm
content: "floobydust", one of the very knowledgeable members here, can give you much better opinion regarding DM100C and whether it'll be useful for your task or not. He purchased one few years ago. Please check his opinion herehttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/mestek-dm100c-multimeter/You should ask him any specific question that comes to your mind regarding this meter.

author: BILLPOD
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2024, 01:21:04 pm
content: My (Uni-T), UT 890C has manual ranging 'only' and the Auto-off can be disabledon turn-on. 6,000 count. Backlight lasts around 15 seconds and can't be disabled. And it is only around $35 USD.

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2024, 09:40:40 am
content: I need auto off to be permanently disabled. Not to do additional work on each power on.And backlight should turn on, as multimeter is turned on and remain constant while it is on.

author: J-R
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2024, 05:02:36 pm
content: Well, my 2 cents on this thread:From my tests, DMM backlights typically draw 2-4 times the current than the DMM itself. So it's questionable to want it to stay on so much. Also, it makes no sense to be working in the dark where you can't clearly see everything, such as what position the selector switch is in. LED lights/headlamps are cheap/easy to obtain. I have dozens of them all over the house/bench/garage/shop/backpack/cars. This place is my go-to for discounted lights:https://illumn.comManual ranging only is also questionable due to the sheer amount of switching required. I have the Amprobe 30XR-A and it has 30 possible positions. A typical auto-ranging DMM locks the current range as soon as you press the range switch, so manual ranging is essentially dead, IMHO.

author: alm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2024, 06:51:26 pm
content: The thread is about executing a solution without stating the problem. Usually stating the problem will lead to more useful responses. But assuming the problem is continuously monitoring signals, I'd say bench meters from the era when manual ranging was still common enough to have dedicated buttons, like Keithley 175A or Fluke 8600A, are more likely to have the features you seek and higher quality than almost any meter that you buy new without auto ranging. Mains powered instruments are less concerned about power usage so are less likely to have features like auto power off.If the requirement for manual ranging is so the meter remembers range on reset, then some bench meters like Keithley 199 let you save the settings as power on default.

author: J-R
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2024, 11:00:19 pm
content: Even on a manual ranging DMM you must select the range of interest, which I don't see as being much different than what is required on an auto-ranging DMM.Trying to understand a person's desires is maybe a dead end, and also sometimes people want what they want. Who are we to judge, haha!I really like the 121GW for battery life due to the 4xAA cells and frequently use it when I expect to have the backlight on a lot.Otherwise, I could also see modifying a cheap manual range DMM to always power the LCD backlight whenever it is on if there just was no other option. I also bought some Qi stuff to attempt adding the coils to various products and convert them to wireless + rechargeable, but time has not been on my side as of yet. My thought for some DMMs was convert to Li-ion and of course recharge only when powered off.

author: LinuxHata
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2024, 05:57:17 am
content: I do have an old Sinometer DMM, which I bought around 2006. It has separate, latching buttons for both backlight and power, so it does it's job fine. The issue is that due to excessive use, the dial contacts are in really bad shape and no cleaning can help.The only "problem" is that I can't find multimeter with specs which I need, so this is why I asked, maybe someone knows such multimeter. And suggestions like "why you don't want auto range" is like when a guy asks - "Please help me with the directions to the post office?" and instead of directions he gets - "we need to know what is your problem, maybe a pub or strip club is the place where you should go?"

author: mqsaharan
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 04:52:15 am
content: If 2000 count OK, check out Uni Trend's UT51; UT52 if you need capcitance measurement function. They are manual ranging, simple meters based on 7106, rather large in size with big displays and have all the ranges for AVO functions. As per their manual they don't have auto power off. They do have a separate power switch. They also don't have any backlight but I think you can install one and connect it to the main power switch. They are very old models I think but for some reason, they are still available on AliExpress.

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 05:18:53 am
content: Quote from: LinuxHata on March 18, 2024, 05:57:17 amIt seems that what you search for is a rare bird - I think people are trying to understand the "whys" so they might be able to give some suggestions that you might find useful even if they don't hit all the of check list items in the case that your target remains elusive.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 05:43:04 am
content: Quote from: LinuxHata on March 18, 2024, 05:57:17 amSuppose the nearest Post Office is 100 miles away and is closed anyway, but the local store has a mail drop and such. Before answering your question, wouldn't it be helpful to know if you just wanted to mail a letter or buy a stamp versus wanting to apply for a passport?

author: amwales
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 08:17:47 am
content: On a different note, thankyou all, I have struggling for years with my u1241b coming up in AC mode by default and it never occurred to me to check the bloody manual for changing configuration settings.

author: indman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 19, 2024, 08:42:40 am
content: Quote from: LinuxHata on March 16, 2024, 05:43:32 amAnd I found a Mestek DM100 for myself not too long ago. It's not the same as the DM100C.Full manual range very very fast - about 7-8 measurements per second!Backlight always onBut there's auto power off - I don't consider this a disadvantage as there is an option to disable this option.Here are some videos I made to compare the measurement speed on different models of multimeters.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m60CEWaHaikNET9LHQe4FNIQ2wMML--F/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1YDuHIkqz_OJWkojXECs_tUfaNv5TNv8e/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1ycFufU5mmWupxmZT1Vg-ODec9VoSV0R5/view?usp=sharing