Amprobe AM-140-A - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: jwrtiger
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2012, 04:53:55 pm
content: I made several videos reviewing the Amprobe AM-140-A DMM, including the data logging software.https://www.youtube.com/user/jwrelectro?feature=watchJohn

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2012, 05:55:31 pm
content: Great job. Thorough review, done in a pleasant speech delivery. Hope you'll do more of them soon.

author: jwrtiger
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2012, 10:37:12 pm
content: Wytnucls,Thanks for the kind words, this is my first video review and I do hope to do more in the future.John

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 20, 2012, 11:34:03 pm
content: I think you are off to a very good start. Everybody has their own preferences for pace and level of information for different features so I cannot see anything that is glaringly obvious that I would do differently. As a video producer I would like to make one constructive criticism if I may.For the most part your handling of the camera and editing was well done without any jarring cuts. You camera was steady and you spent the time to make sure things were not shaking around and very clear. Two things were holding it back from being a bit better. First, the lighting would have been better if you could have provided a few more light sources at another angle so as to fill in some of the very dark shadows. Secondly, it is better to put your camera on full manual exposure so that the exposure doesn't try to follow the average scene exposure when you are moving things around. A few times when you were handling the meter you inadvertently reflected light from your lamp into the camera and it adjusted the exposure so that things went quite dark.Other than my obsessive nature about lighting (and sound with which you had no problems) I thoroughly enjoyed the review and felt that I would have no surprises if I were to buy that multimeter. It was all demonstrated in a clear and easy to follow manner.Thank you for spending the time to share your experiences.

author: jwrtiger
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 20, 2012, 11:44:59 pm
content: Lightages,Thanks for the input and I am in agreement with your suggestions. I forgot I had auto iris turned on and I will try and setup better lighting.John

author: Lightages
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 12:09:56 am
content: Now a few follow up questions.Was the back light really that horrendous? It seemed almost useless to me based on the video. That is almost a deal breaker for me.Did you try cleaning the ends of the probes with some isopropanol? That might fix the poor contact issue.Where did you buy the meter from? If you mentioned it in the video I forgot, sorry.

author: ModemHead
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 01:07:54 am
content: Quote from: Lightages on October 21, 2012, 12:09:56 amYes, that was nasty! I really hope it was just the camera.

author: jwrtiger
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 04:05:44 pm
content: The video camera did make the lighted DMM display worse than it was and as mentioned in the review it is definitely readable in complete darkness provide you have the proper viewing angle. I will try and do an update on the display. Cleaning the probe tips made no difference to the scratching sound. However a solid stable connection emits a clean tone. Under a 40 power microscope you can see little groves running around the shaft of the Amprobe and the Fluke has much less and smaller grooves. Using the Fluke probes made a large difference. I purchased the meter at Amazon.com. Hope this helps. John

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 04:07:02 pm
content: I have the AM-270 which is essentially the same as the 140 just a downgraded ADC I assume...Backlight is definitely not that great, but as far as being horrendous? Eh, I wouldn't say that.

author: zaoka
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 04:07:44 pm
content: It would be nice to see Amprobe and its 60samples per second for bar graph in comparison to for example Fluke 87 and its 40 times per sample to see is there any difference.For example connect 2 meters in parallel, and touch with probe DC source...Megger M8037 has 120 times per second rate, was wondering if there is noticeable difference in real world.

author: jwrtiger
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: October 21, 2012, 04:49:46 pm
content: I updated part 3 of the review and added a still picture around 6:40 minutes, to better show the backlight. I think the still picture is slightly better than the actual display but as mentioned in the original review it is definitely readable and I would not see it impacting a purchasing decision.Zaoka, I should point out that the Amprobe spec sheet states "60 per second max" so may be dependent on range/mode.

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 23, 2012, 12:15:11 am
content: Amprobe makes some very respectable stuff. Only thing is they seem to be targeted more at the industrial side of things instead of microelectronics...but they still have some good stuff for us.