FLUKE 28II   Back-light  with timer ? what ?    - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 03:13:18 pm
content: An new discovery ?Some times you discover new things , even with out looking for them.Today I was measuring current with my external ampere clamp ( probe ) ,and the FLUKE 28II , and I needed the back-light.And so I set it to on , and continued doing my work by adjusting an circuit ,and suddenly the Back-light turned off by it self .. !!In the beginning I was confused , because few seconds before it go off ,I was checking the Min-Max-average , and I had the feeling that some how I caused the back light to go off.Then I stopped my work , and set the Back-light on and waited to see what happens !!And it did go off by it self !! what ?Then I took a timer , and yes the Back-light goes off in two minutes time ( actually 2.07 ).I tried this test in both scales of luminosity ( low - high) and does that in both !!Why in earth some one to set an timer on the back light ?That's impractical , and stops me from doing my work .The only thing that will calm me down ,would be a tip of how to stop this timer from interfering as " power save" mode .

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 03:28:47 pm
content: It's a trade-off between battery life (back light typically draws much more power than all other parts of the meter combined) and functionality. Most battery powered equipment with back lights have some sort of timer, not sure why this would be a surprise to anyone. Timeout can be configured on some Fluke meters (eg. 189), no idea about the 28-II. There may also be a power up option to disable back light timeout, just like there is for the automatic power down, check the manual.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 03:47:15 pm
content: There is no word in the manual about the back light, its totally undocumented .I will check the manual of the Fluke 189 , with the hope that it can work out on the 28II too .

author: Mechatrommer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 04:01:01 pm
content: same to my DMM, i cant find any documentation, and any setting in the dmm. but the backlight hack is well documented including the safety concernhttps://www.eevblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=1684.0

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 04:10:10 pm
content: Quote from: Kiriakos-GR on February 01, 2011, 03:47:15 pmPage 14 (table 6) of the English manual on the Fluke website describes both the power-up option and the standard timeout, just as I suspected. Took me all of five minutes to find, probably less time than you spent cursing the Fluke engineers.Quote from: Kiriakos-GR on February 01, 2011, 03:47:15 pmThe 187/189 is quite different from most Flukes (except maybe the 280 series), it has an actual setup menu, which is more intuitive on one hand, but more hassle on the other (just holding a button while turning it on is faster).

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 04:10:57 pm
content: This hack does not work on the 28II .There is no such components on the Fluke DMM , that this hack can by pass.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2011, 04:31:04 pm
content: Quote from: alm on February 01, 2011, 04:10:10 pmRight now I need to shoot you and kiss you at the same time .I will cursing freely any dickhead who does not write the words as " back-light functionality" ,in the index of an manual !!I got even read the sections like "general specifications " and " detailed specifications ",with out finding anything related as info.And even now , in order to not look as fool in the future , I have to print the table with the secondary functionality,because when ever I will need it again , I will had possibly forget how it works.Thanks man, I do appreciate your help.