Digital Bench Multimeter Resolution and  Accuracy - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: GerryR
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 25, 2019, 05:53:39 pm
content: Just curious to know what is the resolution, number of digits (3-1/2, 4-1/2, etc) and /or counts and accuracy of your particular bench multimeter, and why do you need that resolution / accuracy for your particular applications? In other words, what are you doing that requires the meter specifications of your bench meter? It seems that digital meters have gone the way of the calculators, where slide-rules were once adequate, we now calculate to many (mostly unnecessary) decimal places. Basically the same with multimeters, many places after the decimal point. Don't get me wrong as I know where this accuracy is sometimes necessary; I'm just wondering how many people actually use there equipment to the limits.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2019, 12:47:55 am
content: For most uses a 4.5 digit DMM is a good choice. You'll have enough accuracy/resolution to see small changes. Where this is especially handy is when using the highest current range so you don't have a big chance of blowing a fuse in the DMM. On a 4.5 digit DMM you can still see mA changes on a 10A range.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2019, 01:26:24 am
content: Love my 50,000 counts Flukes 189, day to day usesHave 310,000 count Gossen metrahit 28 and 29 they are 2 - 2.5 counts measurements / seconds, wish they would be faster, i use them for logging, pretty high cost to calibrate, higher than my 34401aHave Hp agilent 34401a bench ones, still very good (all psu caps changed and calibrated)I use at my job Fluke 20,000 counts dmm, i would immediately change them for my 189's. They began to have contaminants on the dial pcb traces, maybe wear too, and i hate the voltage scales, i make many voltages measurements a day.Had a Brymen 857s 50,000/500,000 counts, made an huge mistake to sell it, was fast and feature packed.Yeah an 40,000 - 50,000 or 60,000 counts dmm is a way to go for me.Nctnico does a good explanation, you can see some small changes ... if needed

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 26, 2019, 02:03:30 am
content: I would put both 3-3/4 to 4-1/2 (6000 to 10000 counts) as a good balance for general purpose usage, especially since the prices went down so much in the past decade and the feature count has increased.I saw the need to get a Bench 5-1/2 (200000 count) meter simply because of 4-wire measurements - handhelds do not have this mode, quite mandatory for accurate low-resistance measurements.Over the years I found myself working with battery charge/discharge over many hours, which requires a logging meter. For this both the 4-1/2 handheld DMMs or bench meters can work quite well - usually the simpler 3-3/4 handheld DMMs do not have this feature (some 3-3/4 bench meters have datalogging as well).Apart from these details, the ultra high accuracy is not something required on a day-to-day basis.

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 27, 2019, 11:49:38 am
content: Quote from: coromonadalix on December 26, 2019, 01:26:24 amInteresting you mention the 857s.. Martin Lorton "seems" to be prodding Bryman and Fluke to produce new bench models.