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Is my Fluke 77 a goner?
My trusty, lightly used, but old Fluke 77 series II has bit the dust. My son was measuring voltage across the car battery and some of the leads were in the wrong holes. The 10 amp fuse was blown. I've replaced the fuse and battery but the meter acts the same. The LCD display has some drop outs. The Ohm measurement flashes randomly. The Continuity measurement continually sounds.
I looked for burnt traces and swelled caps but don't see anything obvious. I did not remove the display. Fluke (web site) said the meter is not eligible for their flat rate repair program. They recommend calling Fluke directly which I will do Monday.
Base on your guys experience:
Start looking for a new meter?
Bring to Iowa and have smarter people look at it?
Buy a circuit board from Ebay?
Remove the meter display/ do a better teardown?
I'm definitely not coughing up $375 for a new series 4.
Comments
FLUKE 77, 75, 73, 70, 23, 21 Series II Service.pdf https://xdevs.com/doc/Fluke/FLUKE 77, 75, 73, 70, 23, 21 Series II Service.pdf
Nice, thanks.
Fluke service was nice to talk to. Said they don't have parts and can't even calibrate. It's been obsolete since 2005
I have a little Fluke 10 I won at tech school in 95. Last year the select button quit working and as I was taking it apart I broke the LCD. Luckily ebay had them and it works most of the time now. The contacts on the back of the rubberized switch are just worn out. Fluke's are great pieces of equipment.
Do you need CAT IV @ 1000v? I don't, but I know lots of people poke around in radio transmitters.
If you don't need the HV protection, the <$200 models look really good. The 17B+ is less than $150 on Amazon. I'll admit, I'm cheap, so I bought an Amprobe AM-530, but I already had a vintage Fluke that works just fine.
Tom thanks for your recommendations. The Fluke guy said after 20+ years the caps are going to keep failing along with the LCD display.
I can't really argue with that logic. I've got an old fluke desktop DMM that I rescued from work when they updated their equipment that is still alive and kicking. My other DMM is the Centech currently on clearance at Harbor Freight. It's usually good enough.
Sehlin Sound Solutions
I could sell you an 87 series one for $150. Checked before schipment and sale.
no test leads at that price
A Fluke 101 is generally all that most DIY'rs need and they can be found new on Amazon for under $50.
I have a Fluke 8060A that's about 35 years old and still running fine.
That's nice! Double the price for a 107 to read current.👍🏼
Looks like if I split my Fluke budget I can get a Klein MM plus a LCR meter.
Fluke FTW! Buy once, cry once. Klein Tools makes really nice screw drivers and nut drivers. They don't make multimeters and LCR meters... they just have their name printed on them exactly like Extech and Hazard Fraught Toolz.
Both Kleins and Flukes are made in China and the US.
http://testmeterpro.com/best-multimeters/
https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/multimeters/digital-multimeter-trmslow-impedance-1000v
I use this multimeter daily and I would have a hard time finding a better multi use meter for that kinda money.
Extech is a Flir/teledyne brand is not rebranded china garbage. The ex355 is a solid contender in this price range but in my opinion looses to the Klein because it does not have the same tough factor.
Uni-t is another good brand for cheap as well as amprobe (fluke).
I'm not anti fluke but almost none of us would ever "need" a fluke. If you really just need a top level multimeter brymen, keysight, and BK precision are all in the same league as fluke when it comes to accuracy and build quality. Fluke knows they can keep their prices high because they are the easy option and maintained their government contracts. The fluke 87 will be in use forever for this very reason. There are many teardown videos online that will help you see for yourself the quality in many of these multimeters.
If we were all honest with ourselves any cheap ($40) meter would get us 90% of the readings we need.
I've had a digital GB for what seems forever. I recently picked up a Tektronix model used, and I like it too as it has better bells and whistles like auto-ranging.
InDIYana Event Website
Our NIST calibration company won't touch those meters. Buy and use whatever fancies you...
I have the 179, but don't recommend it for hobbyists. I nicknamed it The Lifesaver.
At work we have Flukes, Ideals and Klein's. They need to be cat IV, but for hobby use, pretty much anything better than complete garbage will suffice.
I had a decent older Radio shack unit that mustve grew legs, cause I cant find the damn thing . Replaced it with this Klein unit . What sold me on it was the lead keepers on the back, keeps them where they need to be. Price wasnt bad either from Amazon.
I also have an Extech meter with the amp clamp that has proved useful in my previous life as an engineering/maintenance tech. I would trust my life to it, as well.
IMO, skimping on a meter to the level of a $10 type you find in those bins at the auto parts store is not recomended but for hobbyists any $30-100 DMM will work fine provided you are not expecting true wide band RMS measurements. I used to use my Fluke to verify output frequency on VFDs for example.
The shop sent out a new meter today.
Nice!