My new (OLD!) Multimeter - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 06:50:47 pm
content: Just grabbed this from my Dad - he saved it from being skipped when his company were sorting out an old office of theirs. What a beauty of proper old english engineering.It's an AVO 8 Mark IIIAnd as Dave says.... 'TAKE IT APAAAAAAAAAAAART'. So I did!

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 07:12:06 pm
content: Mmmmm...that bakelite smell! Lol at the Indiana Jones style case!Glad to see no bugs got inside. A very well preserved multimeter. Pass it on to your kids."To ensure accurate readings the meter should be face upwards"Look, those fossil batteries leak less than modern ones.Thanks for the teardown.

author: Neilm
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 07:24:49 pm
content: AVO (now Megger) only stopped making those at the end of 2008.Neil

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 07:30:10 pm
content: It's such a shame, even the batteries have 'Made in England' on them. Well, at least they weren't Dave's "FAVOURITE" Golden Power batteries I guess!!!

author: McPete
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 08:13:57 pm
content: I work on meters like this fairly regularly- AVOs just seem to keep on keeping on! Ballancing the movement can be a bit of a pain on these, but if it lives on the bench, it shouldn't ever need that. I'll have to post up a teardown of a Master Instruments Model 4- a little Australian analogue meter of similar calibre. Incidentally, those little 15 batteries are next to impossible to find- we actually use an adapter to fit a cylindrical 15v battery. Again, I'll post pics next time one arrives on my bench.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 09:05:32 pm
content: Do you know how old it is?The batteries don't appear to be that old, probably early 80s.

author: dmlandrum
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 09:47:02 pm
content: That's too cool. I wish I had one of those. Maybe someday. *sigh*

author: ecowarrior
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: February 27, 2011, 10:05:00 pm
content: Those B121 batteries seem to be on ebay here in the UK, bit pricey perhaps (£8+ but there you go). I'll definitely be getting fresh batteries and powering it up (I know it works because the old batteries were still functioning).As for it's age, just looked this up and apparently you can date them from the last three or four digits seen written on the bottom of the guage - this one is s/n 105984.1069., so I guess 1969.The manual is wrong - it's for the '9' rather than the '8'. There is a sticker on the back, says PO BATCH SAMPLED 9647 with another bit underneath that says LIL R76. Not sure what that is - possibly just the original QA test sticker.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2011, 04:43:38 am
content: I still prefer my own New-Old Metrawatt MA-4S(1975-1980)One identical, It is now even in a German Web museum.http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/metrawatt_analog_multimeter_ma4s.htmlMore German oldies here.http://www.radiomuseum.org/collection/ottmar_rollmann.htmlAnd also found the date that Metrawatt started to exists ( 1935)

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2011, 05:30:40 am
content: Quote from: dmlandrum on February 27, 2011, 09:47:02 pm100$ In Germany , first in the list.http://www.helmut-singer.de/stock/tot12.htmlAnd Russian multimeters at the bottom of the page.

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 28, 2011, 03:18:11 pm
content: WOW, built like tank.

author: Ernie Milko
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 02, 2011, 07:19:09 pm
content: It was made in October 1969.Rolls-Royce quality.The MkIII is the best AVO8 ever made. After the MkIII, (i.e. from MKIV) Thorn started value-engineering the AVO8.I often laugh, if you look on ebay, the MkV and later models, seem to command the highest prices, for some bizarre reason.The build quality of the post MkIII meters isn't as good.Coin cells can be stacked to replace the 15v battery.

author: pmrlondon
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 13, 2011, 10:02:34 am
content: Those batteries are from late 1970s or early 1980s at a guess. Can certainly remember that design for HP2. SP2 would be more telling as I think they changed from white to blue in 1979.Ever Ready had a factory - not sure which products it made - near where I live now. The building is still standing with the electricity substation still bearing the name.As for the meter, it is similar to what Radio Rentals engineers were using in 1996. I am sure Granada had similar ones too, but I rarely saw the engineer need to use a multimeter when he visited us.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2011, 03:11:34 am
content: That really takes me back!If I had a dollar for every time I used one of them,I'd be a wealthy man!The only problem I've ever had with a model 8 is that "cut-out" on the front.It is sometimes difficult to reset,& in a few cases impossible,so the meter has to be sent in for repair.These meters aren't just a quaint reminder of how things were done in the "old days",theyare a perfectly capable multimeter for much general purpose work.For a lot of jobs you don't need 10Megohm input impedance,digital display,etc,& these old beasts can do good work indefinitely.VK6ZGO

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2011, 01:04:50 pm
content: A poster on eevblog some months back, quite rare, was looking for an analog MM, and we ended up discussing a thread on the Sanwa YX360, a model still in production from Japan that is over 30 years old.While analog MM can still be applicable to many things, there are many items where its low input impedance is a problem, and except for gross electrical stuff like checking voltages or currents in a washer, dryer, large machines etc., it can fall short troubleshooting high impedance embedded controllers, which is pretty ubiquitous in most everything today.Given the limited space in a toolbox, one needs to weigh the value of having an analog MM in the toolbox, where a digital can do the analog's job and more.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2011, 03:17:27 pm
content: Quote from: saturation on May 14, 2011, 01:04:50 pmCertainly,but in a workshop,it may well be worth keeping for just such gross electrical stuff.Vk6ZGO