Fluke 114 Kit Multimeter
Bob Lawrence (VE1RLL)
Posts: 1,720
EEVblog #597 - Fluke 114 Kit Multimeter
I just might buy one just so I can paint it . The yellow shell pop's off. Now we can paint them any color we like, before assembly LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFyEqcVpKLI
Video - Fluke kit starts @ around 6:40
1024 x 768 - 51K
Comments
A kit? My last multimeter kit was from Heathkit, and it worked great for many years. Is this a new trend? Maybe Apple's iPhone6 will be offered in kit form.
http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/heath_multimeter_mm_1_mm.html
I suspect that Fluke is yet another US manufacturer captured in the product liability matrix of US law. Will to offer a kit to the public, but fearful that the 10amp portion is too dangerous for the average Joe.
Or they are just being a bit too clever in trying to reach a price mark close to what SparkFun was selling their product at.
I have a 'made in China' junker with 10amp testing that cost me about $15 USD. This all gets sillier and sillier. American companies have just gotten too expensive as they expected to assert higher prices globally due to brand identity.
Next we may seen cheaper Fluke models for only overseas customers. Book publishers have already gone that route to protect the higher prices they get for the same product in the USA. I can't seem to understand why this does not end up with anti-dumping issues in the WTO.
"Amp meter"?
(and supported what other meters do, mA, Cap, Hz and Duty Cycle )
I like the latest ST Discovery Eval Board, which has a ARM4 + QVGA touch screen, and is ~ $26,
Such a HW brick base would be close to ideal for a Meter/Counter platform, just needs a useful case designed.
Should I have written ampere meter or amperage meter? Such details elude me.
Or is it amperemeter or ammeter that is correct?
Amazon seems to sell amp meters.
and, as I recall, Heathkit sold a VOM, not a multimeter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammeter
What's wrong with that? English, pure and simple. Though it just may be the reality that proper usage in any language is what other's accept as comprehensible, not what is proscribed.
BTW, for a bit of GREAT FUN.... Google "multimeter" and see how many images you can pick out that look like they violate Fluke's trade mark / trade dress claims.
Quite blither, rather blather, I suspect, blah, blah, blah.
The word to use is ammeter. Look it up, "BFA" (What a joke!).
It's illiterate, that's all.
Anyway, your "disputes" are with the dictionary - not me.
No need to be rude. Both terms are used interchangeably and we all know what is meant. No, the dictionary has never accused me of illiteracy. You have.
Besides dictionaries are generally intended to be descriptive not prescriptive.
Now, what's this "BFA" thing you have thrown in for no apparent reason?
RE: spelling and grammar rules.
Some of us are communicative, others are pedantic. Language changes over time, so trying to hold to a standard just gets overran.
One cannot teach prescriptive language and have the students really learn to chat. We all filter the actual message out of the messiness.
+++++++++++
By the way, the 600 uamp input on the Fluke 116 is an ammeter (make PJ happy). Fluke installed a 10 amp plug and charges $11 USD for the fuse. My mystery meter has a 10 amp socket marked 'Unfused'. You mess up and the meter is fried, so stand back. (it does have a 200ma fuse on the other side that I have had to replace once at far far less than $11 USD).
I found in San Francisco all the retailers sold two levels of product -- cheap junk and very expensive good quality, nothing in between. I feel the trend has pretty much overtaken the USA, so people really blindly accept that there is nothing in the middle (there once was.. long, long ago).
Fluke and Snapon are nice, but too much for me.
Most of the better brand, low cost meters you can buy these days are fairly accurate and pretty safe as long as you don't exceed 30 volts or so, at no more than a couple of amps. People often do stupid things though...
edit: that was actually one of the best April Fools pranks I've seen in a long time.
Mustn't call it an Amp Meter (even though it is in common usage and understood by 99% of the people you would use that term with)
The word to use is ammeter, which is technically correct.
As for the "BFA", I'm assuming the reference is to Loopy's Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Calling it a joke is totally uncalled for. (I'm hoping it isn't any of the other BFA acronyms I came across because those would be even more rude or are just plain weird in this context.)
As far as the claim to "illiteracy", I think Loopy has proven this incorrect, he most certainly can read and write so that is clearly the wrong term to apply to his shortcoming. (No offense here, Loopy, I'm trying to help.) This misuse of the proper term would more likely be a case of laziness, lack of knowledge in the area which can be corrected because he is literate or falling pray to common usage patterns - which most of us were willing to accept and move forward since we understood the gist of his message.
For a long time now manufacturing has been moving out of the western world to the east. Clearly because in the east there is a lot of cheap labour to be exploited.
The result of all this that we are suffering from the loss of jobs in the west.
But, now it has been shown that manufacturing in the west can be as economical as getting the work done in, say, China.
The Raspberry Pi is such a case. Originally made in China, now made in Wales.
How is this possible?
Easy, the Raspi is just a board, it's manufacture and final assembly is totally automated. Given a good automated production line things can be churned out with only a handful of skilled staff.
Now, the tricky part is final assembly, be it a iPhone or TV or whatever. This is not so easily automated, it still takes thousands of guys in Foxcon factories to assemble and package the final product by hand.
So, there is the idea. Apple for example could design the phone in the USA, manufacture the boards and key parts in efficient automated plants in the USA. Why not, it's about the same as a Raspberry Pi board right?
Ship the kit to consumers for final assembly.
Bingo, easy cheap products, only requires the consumer to stop watching TV or playing video games for an hour or so. Whist they are wielding their soldering irons they might learn something as a bonus.
Is this crazy talk?
No. IKEA, for example, has been doing that with furniture for ages. The consumer buys the factory made parts and then has to do the finishing work himself. And IKEA has made a huge pile of money out of this arrangement.
All in all the idea of a FLUKE kit is not so unreasonable.
STOP WATCHING TV!!! STOP PLAYING FARMVILLE!!! BLASPHEMER!!! HERETIC!!!
It's a neat idea. I'd go for it. Many of us on the Forums would go for that. Certainly the "maker" community would (whoever they are!) Joe Consumer may have issues - furniture is one thing but assembling you phone? That might be a bit intimidating if not packaged and supported correctly. It would be a cool option. With a little spray paint, your multimeter (ammeter or no ammeter
Sadly, many people can't assemble things let alone use spray paint. You need to see what the kitting costs and follow-on support/warranty/return costs are compared to factory assembly costs and follow-on support/warranty/return. It's probably a financial issue and the market is not big enough to warrant the offering.
I agree with everything you have said.
I would go further though...
I am born an bred in England. I speak the language of those who dwell in England. In my mind the English language is defined by that. In the same way that Finnish is spoken by the Finns or Swedish by the Swedish. Let's not even think about the French.
As such it galls me to have someone from a foreign country dare tell me what is "illiterate"
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to meanneither more nor less."
If I choose to call an "ammeter" a "fargledial" and if that catches on it might end up in the OED. Where would PJ be then?
Sillier things have happened. "wysiwyg" is in the OED even if almost nobody knows what it is any more.
In short, every grammatical or spelling error I make, on purpose or otherwise, is English.
My father was born in 1914. As a young guy him and his brother wanted a radio. Nothing for it, they had to buy the parts and make one for themselves.
Years later, in post-war Britain, people in England wanted those new fangled televisions. Nothing for it but to build your own.
Years later still, people wanted those new fangled computer thingies. Again you had to build it yourself, with kits from Sinclair and others.
Heck, as a teenager I built a calculator from a kit. LED display and all. No way I could afford to buy a ready made HP or TI or whatever.
The model I describe is proven by a century of history.
Clearly the economy of the western world has to collapse a lot further before people take matters into their own hands.
Brilliant!! I love that!
"Heater Dumpty"...I like it.
The business model has worked up through our generation for a shrinking group at least. I hope there is a resurgence with the makers. I hate to see people that can't do something (anything) with their hands. It truly makes me sad.
adjective \(ˌ)i(l)-ˈli-t(ə-)rət\
: not knowing how to read or write
: having or showing a lack of knowledge about a particular subject
: not grammatically correct
ILLITERATE
1 : having little or no education; especially: unable to read or write <an illiterate population>
2 a: showing or marked by a lack of familiarity with language and literature <an illiterate magazine>
b: violating approved patterns of speaking or writing
3 : showing or marked by a lack of acquaintance with the fundamentals of a particular field of knowledge <electronically illiterate>
Years ago pundits said there was no place for hobbyists to go. Everything was getting integrated and impossible for them to deal with.
Bah! It only takes someone like Sparkfun or Ardino or Raspberry Pi foundation to make what are basically breakout boards and we are in business.
I hope this trend continues.
Shipboard I think they used to use Amp Fathoms.
Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves
Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe:
All mimsy were ye borogoves;
And ye mome raths outgrabe.
Please try to keep up. Sitting in the corner of the party with your dictionary is rather dull.