What is the instument that you use the most and find most useful. - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: G7PSK
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 04:13:00 pm
content: Mine is an old AVO model 7x test meter this is the tropical model. I bought it second hand at a military surplus auction in the 1980's I don't know how old it is but it survives being in the back of the van going down farm tracks getting rained on or splashed with diesel fuel. In that time I have had ten or more digital units of various makes and costs, they have all failed due to one reason or another. It also has the benefit that when working on power circuits it does not give false readings such as giving a voltage reading on a line of 250 volts just because there is another live circuit in the same cabinet, This happened just a short time ago, I was servicing a mobile welder for a local engineering firm, at the same time a bending machine went down so they got an electrician out to it, He checked out the motor and came to the conclusion that it had seized, He came to me to borrow a spanner< I went to have a look and saw that there was an electro mechanical brake on the end of the motor. I asked him if he had checked this out before we started removing the motor, whereupon he demonstrated to me with his fancy fluke meter that there was a voltage going to the brake, I pointed out that the Fluke was so sensitive that it could give a false reading, we argued the point for a while then I went and fetched my AVO. Sure enough there was no power to the brake. the wire to the relay had cracked.It just shows that super sensitivity is not always a good thing sometimes a little loading on the circuit is beneficial. I am sure that for some purposes hyper sensitivity is a must But I find for general work around power systems it is not required, robustness is far more important and that's why I love my AVO model 7X it is simply the best.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 04:46:04 pm
content: Quote from: G7PSK on January 06, 2012, 04:13:00 pmI presume this is what the low Z mode is for?

author: Short Circuit
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 05:03:41 pm
content: My laptop

author: Conrad Hoffman
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 05:34:25 pm
content: No doubt my Fluke 77 DVM I bought new way back when the earth was young.

author: robrenz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 07:22:57 pm
content: 6" Mitutoyo Absolute digital calipers. hands down winner for me, but I make metal chips more than I use electronic chips.

author: tekfan
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 07:30:42 pm
content: Tektronix 2236 oscilloscope with integrated counter, timer and 3 3/4 digit multimeter (true RMS too)

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 08:15:17 pm
content: most usefull (because i don't like to be zapped with 220): one of those cheapo screwdrivers with neon lap in it to test for mains before doing anything....most used: DMM (currently fluke 183 - snapped up 2de hand in new state for 100€)

author: JuKu
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 08:33:18 pm
content: Depends on the phase of a project: First, schematic and PCB programs, but those do not qualify as an instrument. By far, the oscilloscope gets the most use. I rarely use a multimeter other than the continuation beep; for what I do, the scope measurement is usually accurate enough. The audio analyzer is handy, and when that is needed, no other instrument will do. Between the audio analyzer and the scope, there just isn't that much need for a multimeter. On my build bench, the stereo microscope gets almost as much use as the soldering equipment: most of my projects are SMD, and I can't do those with a naked eye anymore. If a JTAG programmer is an instrument, that gets a lot of use, too.

author: A-sic Enginerd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2012, 11:54:45 pm
content: VIok, more realistically gvim, but you get the idea.I use it so much and it has become so ingrained in my DNA that typing on something like this window, or an email, or MS Word just about kills me. Especially if I need to move the cursor around and make edits. That mouse clicky thing sucks.

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 12:05:49 am
content: Most useful in order1.) Coffee Mug2.) Notebook and Internet connection3.) Fluke 87

author: Flavour Flave
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 12:12:22 am
content: using my digimess 30v 5A powersupply.

author: Freighternut
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 12:43:59 am
content: Definitely my Bench Power supply, Aim TTi (2 * 30 Volt 3 Amp + 3,5 Volt 1 Amp . Its a thing of beauty.

author: Ajahn Lambda
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 09:40:45 am
content: It's a tie between my Staedtler eraser, and the Delete key (on this wonderful IBM Model M).Holy crap, do I screw up a lot!Now if we're talking electrical instruments, hmm.... Just got a new Rigol DS1052E for Christmas, and I've been using it virtually every single day for odds and ends. Loving the FFT! I can't wait to get back to my lab and use it to see how accurate (or not) my Klein Tools MM1000 meter is. The manual suggests its accuracy is pretty good, and it's Korean-made (I'd pay two right nuts to get a US-made DVOM), so I do have some moderate expectations.

author: amspire
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 01:12:13 pm
content: This got me thinking. I should say oscilloscope and multimeter, but the truth is I have made do with whatever oscilloscope or multimeter happens to be available. My one requirement was that the oscilloscope had to have a good trigger - stable to at least 1/3rd of a division at double the oscilloscope's rated bandwidth. I currently have a HP 1740A and a Rigol and I am happy with that. For years, I had a 5MHz single channel scope, and that was fine at the time. Having a great oscilloscope and a super accurate DMM is nice, but usually I can do almost as much with a $30 multimeter as I can with a $300 multimeter - as long as it has at least 3 1/2 digits.The two things that I really find important is a power supply that really works great, is very stable and is pretty well indestructible, and an HP RPN calculator. I need to have a calculator within immediate reach if I am doing anything in electronics, along with a pencil and paper.Richard.

author: Bored@Work
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 01:22:52 pm
content: Quote from: Uncle Vernon on January 07, 2012, 12:05:49 amWhat, no brain in the list? I knew there was a problem

author: Spiro
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 01:47:13 pm
content: Hummer

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 08:36:55 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on January 06, 2012, 04:46:04 pmIt could easily have been EMC interference causing offsets in the circuitry. In that case, the low Z mode probably wouldn't have worked as it can be observed with nothing connected. Dave did a vblog on this some time ago.Neil

author: don.r
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 08:52:21 pm
content: Instrument: DMM closely followed by scopeSoftware: GoogleTool: Screwdriver

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 07, 2012, 11:53:53 pm
content: Quote from: BoredAtWork on January 07, 2012, 01:22:52 pmI know if you and I had a brain transplant, that I would have to add a considerable amount of cash to make it a fair transaction, after all my brain is older and well used, so I'd have to pay considerably more for a newer one that had never been driven.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2012, 12:29:26 am
content: Quote from: amspire on January 07, 2012, 01:12:13 pmGive the man a medal!Richard,you have pretty much encapsulated my thinking on this matter.I used to have a HP10C which I carried everywhere,until one dark day,I put it in my back pocket with my car keys--goodbye display!I picked up a secondhand HP22S,but it doesn't have RPN--Bummer!!I battle on with it,though!In my last job,they didn't have an Oscilloscope--except for a dead 545B which only had been used with a spec analyser plugin.No time to mess with the Tek,so I dragged the little "One Hung Lo" 10 MHz single channel thingy in.This allowed me to find faults which were virtually invisible to the DMM.I got called back after I had retired for a while,so I took my recently acquired Tek 7613 in to work,& found more "invisible" faults.Weird! they had two (three,counting the dead Tek one),Spectrum Analysers,but no normal 'scope!VK6ZGO