Water Damaged Fluke 77 III
Lando242
Posts: 6
I've inherited a Fluke 77 III that was damaged by a roof leak during a rainstorm. I cleaned it out and replaced the battery and low and behold it started up, which surprised me. Resistance and Diode Test are work okay but testing voltage and current are not.
When turning the meter to voltage or current it displays 00.1 and starts counting upwards from there. It does this with or without leads connected and connecting it to a power source doesn't seem to change anything. AUTO is displayed in the upper left and the Omega symbol in the lower right. I did the fuse test and it passed so thats not the problem.
Is this fixable on my end or am I gonna need to send it in for repairs? Considering the age of the unit (1999) and the availability of new models would it be worth a repair or should I just send it to the recyclers? I doubt I qualify for the warranty since I am not the original owner.
When turning the meter to voltage or current it displays 00.1 and starts counting upwards from there. It does this with or without leads connected and connecting it to a power source doesn't seem to change anything. AUTO is displayed in the upper left and the Omega symbol in the lower right. I did the fuse test and it passed so thats not the problem.
Is this fixable on my end or am I gonna need to send it in for repairs? Considering the age of the unit (1999) and the availability of new models would it be worth a repair or should I just send it to the recyclers? I doubt I qualify for the warranty since I am not the original owner.
Comments
I've used Fluke meters for about 25 years now. Fluke makes the best meters period.
I would check the jacks for dust, etc. This is where the leads plug in, They really need to be clean.
If this doesn't fix it. Send the meter to Fluke.They warranty there meters for life, They'll send you a new one.
do a google search for Fluke warranty, get a RMA # from Fluke and your just waiting on shipping!
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I cleaned it as best I could and don't see any dust on the lead terminals.
From the Fluke warranty: "This warranty extends only to the original buyer or end-user customer of a Fluke authorized reseller, and does not apply to fuses, disposable batteries or to any product which, in Fluke's opinion, has been misused, altered, neglected or damaged by accident or abnormal conditions of operation or handling.
From that statement I guess I'm out of luck when it comes to the warranty. Anyone know what the going rate on a repair like this is for someone outside of the warranty?
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- Stephen
I don't know about the Fluke's multimeter, but it is not a bad idea if you could check up all the capacitors.
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Well I tested it again and it seems I either have an intermittently bad 300mA fuse or a short somewhere on that line. 10A comes back between .0Ω and .2Ω (manual says anything <.5Ω is good.) but 300mA comes back either 5Ω (okay by the manual) or O.L. I'll pick up a new fuse later today and get back to you guys if it fixed it.
The 10amp is NOT fused, voltage and ma are indeed fused. It is rather silly to speculate about other parts until you've done this basic check.
I don't have a Fluke, but I've have blown the fuse on my digital VOM several times and it certainly doesn't take much to do so. That and having a low battery have been 100% of all the problems I've had. And there really isn't much else to service unless you use a spray contact cleaner on the rotary switch. It could be a bad battery connection is involved as well.
Things these days are not really manufactured with an intent to repair, especially electronics. So if the simple procedures don't work, you might try spraying the inside with an electronic cleaner (like that nasty Freon) and leave it at that. I can't imagine seeking out all the capacitors and replacing them.
Of course, Fluke may not ask you to prove you are the original owner and other hurdles. So it is worth inquiry. Some businesses (like Parallax, for instance) still value the good will of their customer base more than the advice of their legal department. The disclaimers are published, but customer service policy may be far more reasonable as reputation brings more customers, new and old.
Water damage - unless it is salt water - is often far less than imagined. I've seen how easy it is to recover an immersed automobile after a typhoon flooded most of the local underground garages - yet many owners sold their autos for pennies on the dollar to someone that merely changed the oil and gas, provided a new battery and new filters, and just maybe had to redo the interior upholstery (And in Taiwan, a complete redoing of upholstery is cheap).
So if just immersed and not left to corrode, it is likely to need simple logical service. Dry it out, clean it up.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
Post Edited (Loopy Byteloose) : 7/11/2010 9:59:28 AM GMT
- washing with tap water and dish detergent
- rinsing off with tap water
- final rinse with distilled water
- drying using a small electric heater with a fan
I often have newbies to the trade or hobby ask me who makes good meters? and what meter should I get?--- I always start off with Fluke!
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The Truth is out there············___$WMc%___···························· BoogerWoods, FL. USA
want speed?·want·to use the Propeller?·want to stay with BASIC___www.propbasic.com___
You can feel stupid by asking a stupid question or You can be really·stupid by not asking at all.
·
When you say "I cleaned it best I could", what does that mean? Can you elaborate exactly how you attempted to clean the meter?
Water seeping through a roof leak will contain all sorts of contaminants that will deposit everywhere possible. Two sensitive areas in that model Fluke are between the leads of the large-pack IC (which will goof up any of its operations) and the conductive silicon pads that connect the LCD to its circuitry.
Soaking PC board in 99% alcohol (don't submerge any electrolytic caps) for a few minutes, scrubbing the surfaces with a stiff brush, rinse with clean 99% alcohol and then drying with a hair dryer would go a long way in removing potential problems.
The sil-pad contacts can be cleaned with 99% alcohol and q-tips.
Any switch contacts would require lubricating after the alcohol wash.
That model is a great meter and worthy of restoration if possible.
Good success,
DJ
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The unit was filled with an oily rust colored water which stank pretty bad, I have no idea where the rust came from, so everything was wet and covered with a rusty/oily film. I rinsed the unit with distilled water and cleaned it with an old toothbrush and a clean cotton cloth until I'd gotten everything I could off of it. There are still some rust stains on the back side of the PCB that wont come off and a white/gray powdery substance in some of the nooks and crannies I can't get to. That said, the unit seems to work well. There are no missing segments in the LCD, it starts up without issue and it can measure resistance and connectivity fine.
In the end its all moot because I can't find a local place that carries a replacement 440 mA fuse. 6 local distributors of Fluke meters and not a single one has spare fuses on hand. None of the local auto parts or electrical supply stores carries it on hand and the big box home improvement stores are a joke. I'll be in the neighborhood of a Fry's in a weeks time so we'll see if they have it in stock, otherwise I'll have to get it online somewhere. Amazon carries it, oddly enough.
Grainger stocks the 44/100th fuses if there is one in Your area. Also try below.
Fluke - 943121 - Probes - Test - Allied ElectronicsBuy the Fluke (943121) Fuse dmm 44/100. ... Fluke Fuse dmm 44/100. Mfr. Part#: 943121. Allied Stock#: 730-0496. Quantity: ...
www.alliedelec.com
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The Truth is out there············___$WMc%___···························· BoogerWoods, FL. USA
want speed?·want·to use the Propeller?·want to stay with BASIC___www.propbasic.com___
You can feel stupid by asking a stupid question or You can be really·stupid by not asking at all.
·
Well rust is iron oxide and will conduct electricity if there is enough in the right places. I suspect the white/gray powdery substance to be lead or tin oxide from both the moisture and cleaning process getting into solder. I get a while power if I clean my soldering with alcohol due to the acidity. Again it is conductive and you might brush it away with a soft toothbrush.
Neither may matter if they don't create bridges in the circuitry.
My older LCD monitor gets dirty from soot floating in the local air and the ICs with a very fine pitch between leads seem to get conductive bridges. Two days ago, the problem got unbearable as slapping the side of monitor would no longer correct it. On that 'nothing to loose' principle, I opened it up, sprayed the ICs solder leads while scrubing with a 2" soft house painting brush; sprayed all the circuit boards with cleaner, sprayed the whole inside of the chassis. I wiped up excess with tissue paper. The circuit board looked clean, the back plastic panel was a little sooty. The results are in now is back to operating fine. This is the third time I've revived the monitor which no local repairman cares to look at.
The main thing is to keep your methods simple, gentle, and as harmless as possible. If one doesn't work, think it over for a few days and try another. The iron oxide might clean up with dish soap and water, (Soap removes that oily coating)followed by a rinse. The stains may not matter. If that isn't enough, use a mild acid solution - like diluted vinegar or rubbing alcohol, and follow that with a neutralizing wash of baking soda mixed in water. A final rinse with pure distilled water is always a good idea.
At some point, it will become obvious if it is fixed or beyond repair. Replacing component may be impossible as VOMs are precision instruments and often have special values that are not available.
And of course, the switch remains highly suspect as being the offending component. Very often several applications of contact cleaner with working out the dirt are required. The stuff is conductive before it dries, so don't expect go behaviour until it is allowed to dry out - maybe a day in the warm sun. I've often been very pleasantly surprised how spray contact cleaner has restored a cell phone or PDA that seemed hopelessly doomed.
I suspect that your roof leak contained rusty slime from a deteriorated bit of flashing metal, galvanized sheet metal.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
Did you try spraying the switch with a contact clean? That would be my last shot. I keep a can on hand and haven't bought a new one in years - they last quite a while if used appropriately. So consider it an investment in future repairs.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan