Hint about buying 2 x Fluke 8842A and 1 x Fluke 8840A with some errors  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: astra
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2014, 01:24:01 pm
content: Hi everyone..first of all thank you for the time you dedicate in reading this post and trying to help me..If i'm in the wrong section or if this topic has already been discussed, please forgive me.I'm an electronic engeneer (an old one..this year i'll have half a century birthday...)and in this period i have unfortunately a lot of time free (no job...)so i decided to go back to my electronics roots..I've taken a Rigol DS2072A (i'm waiting for the delivery) and now i'm searching for a goodbut not to moch expensive Bench Multimeter..Searching over the internet i've found an auction on this 3 items together..1 x Fluke 8840A (with Error 29: Calibration Memory..)1 x Fluke 8842A (with Error 5: 200VDC, Zeroand Error 21: 200 VDC, Filter Off)1 x Fluke 8842A (apparently without errors..)The total price requested is around 270 Euro / 370 US $.May you please give to me your opinion about the errors manageability ..and the price requested for this units..I'm an old electronic engeneer but i'm new in the instruments field..so i'm not sure if it's a good chioce or not..Thank you for posting your opinions..Astra.

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 20, 2014, 08:31:25 pm
content: I'm reasonably sure that 1 and 2 are fixable: but 1 could cost you a bit if something is actually wrong with the memory (lower likelihood) and could just require calibration.2, once fixed, will most likely require a calibration, butI could be wrong about the above, (I'm assuming that since you're getting a DS2072a and you're an EE, you'll have DMMs a plenty to poke around the 884x's)since your first price is in euros, I'll assume european, in which case I have no idea about how easy it is to come by good old meters and calibration charges.but, I got my fully functional, fully optioned 8842a in Canada for ~175$ to my door (was 1-2 years? ago). Calibration+adjust here is like ~180$ for this meter. (ironically the same cost as calibrating my 3457a or a 8846a)these meters are pretty sturdy so if #3 doesn't spit out any errors, it's more than likely fully functional.also, options are *VERY* valuable (think 50-150$ each) you can probably live without true RMS (opt 9) on all the meters, but I wouldn't be too much of a fan if they didn't all have GPIB, unless you never plan to automate or program them.I don't believe it's worth the 370$ (in comparison to NA market) unless you can negotiate a really cheap calib+adjust as you'll probably need it for 1 & 2 if you manage to fix 2.I'd bin fully functional #3 at 90-100 euros and the two duds at 60 euros each, just because calibration is so freaking expensive.You may want to consider comparing the price of your 884x's to the cost of used hp 3456a/3457a, fluke 8505a/8506a, keithley 199/196 to get a feel for the market in your area. (also, need to consider cost of shipping.. the 3456, 8505/8506 are heavy and *huge* SOBs, like 10kg each, the others in my comparison are fairly lightish and significantly smaller). As such, you may need to consider bench space.As a final note, since I have an 8842a, I'd strongly urge you towards the 3456 or 3457, which should (if euro market comparable to NA market) fit your price range perfectly and offer mucho kickass stability, and much more bling factor. (yes, I have a strange definition of bling). I've actually seen people grab the 3456a for like 125-150$ and it's a killer meter for that price (shipping in addition to that price might kill the deal though). I paid something like 280$ for my 3457a.

author: astra
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 01:50:49 pm
content: Hi Fsck,first of all thank you very much for the time you dedicate in reply to me.I'll appreciate your hint very much.As you nosed i'm living in Europe and i noticed that are quite some difference in offers and consequently in prices about this kind of products..I'm not sure what could be the calibration cost for a bench multimeter here but i think it should be roughly 180 €..(we have a fairly strange change between € and US$ in the electronics market...theoretically it should be 1,3:1,0 ... but in this field it's roughly 1,0:1,0... )So i'm trying to search for a 3457A (i saw the Dave's teardown and the Mjlorton review). May be here in EU the prices are higher than in NA.In this days i seen two 3457A in Europe. The first one for 480€ and the second one for 580€ plus 20€ of shipping..As you pay 280US$ you 3457A...it confirm to me the sensation that in EU prices are different than in NA...It's another pros to my wife's desire to go in Canada not only for holiday...astra

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 03:00:44 pm
content: Quote from: astra on February 21, 2014, 01:50:49 pmThese are high prices even for Europe. Are they buy-now offers? They are usually overpriced. You can find them in USA to:eBay auction: #360205824628.I think a saw 3547As sold for 200-300€ on Ebay Germany.

author: astra
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 04:45:16 pm
content: @syncThe first one has the offer option, the second one do not have it.first HP 3457Asecond HP3457AI think i'll wait...

author: sync
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2014, 05:36:57 pm
content: Yes, patience is the key. For something seldom like a 3457A you can wait a long time for a good offer and I think the situation in Italy is worse than in Germany.Your links are from commercial sellers. These have higher prices. But they have to offer one year warranty if they are in the EU. Of course this is an extra value.

author: lovro
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2014, 04:39:35 pm
content: Hi, everybody,I think I was the one who ended up buying the three multimeters. I paid 240e shipping included. I am more or less happy with the price.All of the meters have option 9 (trms AC measurement) and both of the 8842 have the GPIB option.The multimeters were properly packed and did not really travel that far, Italy to Croatia.When they arrived the error on one 8842a was goneOn one hand that was great, but on the other now I don't have to fix anything :-pAll three multimeters seem to be spot on, including the one 8840 which has a calibration/checksum error.Does anybody know of there is a way to find out which range should be calibrated for the error to go away?I will post pictures as soon as I am able.But, yeah, I now have 5.5 digit multimeters \o/Thanks in advance, for any pointers