Unwell Fluke 1652

[JohnW2]

Out of interest @JohnW2 how did you calibrate your?
I did my loop tester with a couple of reels of t&e and a data sheet, the ir tester with some resistors I had lying around and the loop impedence tester by comparing with a visiting dno employee's unit. Luckily he had to try most of the sockets as they were mostly bad so I got a good range

Presumably like you, I do not usually need formal calibration, merely confirmation that it is giving adequately accurate answers. As discussed here in the past, many year ago I put together 'a box' to do this. Like you, IR and low resistance was done with resistors, and voltage just by comparison with other meters. Although not perfect, it checks the loop testing functions by inserting small value resistors in the loop path and seeing if the measured loop impedance changes by the appropriate amount. Checking the RCD functions is the most difficult, and I tend to utilise a 'reference RCD' (or, when the opportunity arises, compare it with someone else's machine).

Kind Regards, John

 

[scousespark]

I was alluding to the fact that as a pro, the availabililty may outweigh price, as needs must.

We live in a throw away society so I would not expect to see many mfts here for spares.
If you view the cost over lifetime, you'll be paying less than a tank of fuel each year.

As a pro, i use my fluke just about every day and it's essential kit.
As a diyer the pressure is not there, so you could wait awhile.
It's a question of whether you need one right now.

If the £430 includes VAT that's a bargain for a new 1662

 

[JohnW2]

I was alluding to the fact that as a pro, the availabililty may outweigh price, as needs must.

Sure, but I'm sure that, given the reduced concern about price, they could get a brand new one (maybe even a half-price trade-in from Fluke, such as they offered me!) within 24 hours or so - better than waiting 5-6 days for an eBay auction to finish and then another few days for delivery.

We live in a throw away society so I would not expect to see many mfts here for spares.

Surprisingly, 1562's described simply as 'not working' or 'Err1' ('return to manufacturer for repair') tend to go for £60-£80 on eBay.

As a diyer the pressure is not there, so you could wait awhile. It's a question of whether you need one right now.

Indeed. I don't need one right now, so I'm trying to be patient (albeit patience is one of the lesser of my virtues!).

If the £430 includes VAT that's a bargain for a new 1662

No, it excludes VAT, but it's still half the list price (£430+VAT vs. £860+VAT), hence a very good deal for someone who really 'needs' one.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Iggifer]

No, it excludes VAT, but it's still half the list price (£430+VAT vs. £860+VAT), hence a very good deal for someone who really 'needs' one.

The price on ISSWWW is only £550+VAT and their calibration is only £30 (although you can get a voucher for free calibration as your "free gift" so you could wait a month or two and get it done for free.

£550 is obviously a lot more than you want or need to send, but you'd think Fluke could do you a somewhat better price, they're only knocking £140 off what you'd pay for it from a reputable reseller, and their calibration price is a drop your pants price

 

[JohnW2]

The price on ISSWWW is only £550+VAT and their calibration is only £30 (although you can get a voucher for free calibration as your "free gift" so you could wait a month or two and get it done for free.

I hadn't even bothered looking (since I neither wanted to buy a new 1662 or take up Fluke on their 'trade-in' offer!) but, now I have looked, I see that many places are selling them for around that price.

£550 is obviously a lot more than you want or need to send, but you'd think Fluke could do you a somewhat better price, they're only knocking £140 off what you'd pay for it from a reputable reseller, and their calibration price is a drop your pants price

Maybe if I 'argued', they might improve the price a bit (although I don't see why they would, for 'very small fry'!), but I'm sure it would still be more than I want/need to spend.

Given the price of a new 1662, what does seem rather amazing is that someone recently paid £410 (plus £24 p&p) for a used 1652, and others have paid £350.

Kind Regards, John

 

[333rocky333]

In the morning im going to our calibration place so will see what they say and also ask whether they have any faulty units available.
Not wishing to insult your inteligence but does doing an image search for fluke schematics come up with anything relevant

 

[EFLImpudence]

does doing an image search for fluke schematics come up with anything relevant

No, nothing at all - which is surprising for an American company.

Even BMW got told off for withholding information.

 

[JohnW2]

In the morning im going to our calibration place so will see what they say and also ask whether they have any faulty units available.

That's very kind. As I said before, what I would love to get my hands on would be a 1652 with a dead/faulty display.

Not wishing to insult your inteligence but does doing an image search for fluke schematics come up with anything relevant

Not that I've been able to find so far - but that does not prove much.

As I've said a number of times, if these third party repairers do actually repair, I find it hard to believe that they manage that without at least a schematic (if not a proper service manual) - so there must be some out there, somewhere!

I did think of asking Fluke for a schematic (and/or service manual), but I'm not convinced that it would even be worth trying!

Kind Regards, John

 

[John D v2.0]

Presumably like you, I do not usually need formal calibration, merely confirmation that it is giving adequately accurate answers. As discussed here in the past, many year ago I put together 'a box' to do this. Like you, IR and low resistance was done with resistors, and voltage just by comparison with other meters. Although not perfect, it checks the loop testing functions by inserting small value resistors in the loop path and seeing if the measured loop impedance changes by the appropriate amount. Checking the RCD functions is the most difficult, and I tend to utilise a 'reference RCD' (or, when the opportunity arises, compare it with someone else's machine).

Kind Regards, John

You should definitely post a set of instructions to make one, it would be interesting! Share the knowledge!

 

[bernardgreen]

Unfranchised repair centres will reverse engineer a item to create their own schematic if there is going to be enough trade / profit in repairing the item.

This works well for most items. It fails when the item uses custom integrated circuits which can only be obtained from the manufacturers.

 

[securespark]

their calibration price is a drop your pants price

Is that how Fluke calibrate them?

 

[JohnW2]

... but you'd think Fluke could do you a somewhat better price ... and their calibration price is a drop your pants price

Yes, the calibration does sound like a complete rip-off....

A brand new item of measuring equipment obviously must be 'calibrated' - i.e. adjusted and tested to ensure that it's measuring performance is per spec, and that can't be "optional". I therefore can but assume that Fluke's "optional" £71 (+VAT) for "Traceable Calibration with Data" relates just to the provision of calibration documentation - unless you have any other ideas about what it could be for!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

You should definitely post a set of instructions to make one, it would be interesting! Share the knowledge!

It's really far from rocket science - basically just as I described, but when I have a few spare moments I might try to do as you ask!

Kind Regards, John

 

[JohnW2]

Unfranchised repair centres will reverse engineer a item to create their own schematic if there is going to be enough trade / profit in repairing the item.

Indeed, but I was thinking that the market for repairing any particular MFT (of the very many around) would be so small as to not justify that time/effort. My attempts to just trace very small parts of it's circuit have been very time-consuming and not all that successful. I have to say that, as I have implied before, I am still not convinced that, in reality, many/most of these repairers actually repair anything (rather than charging for deciding that the item is not repairable!) - but maybe I'm just cynical!

This works well for most items. It fails when the item uses custom integrated circuits which can only be obtained from the manufacturers.

Indeed. At least as far as I am concerned, it becomes an impossible task if multi-layer PCBs are involved. There is obviously a processor at the centre of all this, together with associated firmware, and I rather suspect (**) that therein probably lies the fault with my machine - and reverse-engineering that is not something that I personally would/could contemplate, even if the processor chip itself is an off-the-shelf item!

[ ** In a simplistic sense, the circuitry is clearly detecting the presence of leads - I can trace the change that results from plugging in the leads for a fair way. However, something is failing to interpret that 'signal' correctly.]

Kind Regards, John

 

[333rocky333]

Have you tried removing the batteries for a few hours and see if it sorts itself out.

Anyway I made a special trip for you , unfortunately the repair man who also is the Managing directer was not there and only seems to do certain hours on certain days, the receptionist was helpfull and said it wont be a problem if you want to phone him and he may give you some pointers or some quotes on moving forward, she said most repairs they do are about 30 odd quid and more in-depth faults around 130, though they may need to send it to fluke for about 160.

sometimes its 15 quid to cover the cost of looking at it if its found knackered, but sometimes this is wavered, I said you was a "Friend" but don't work for us, as we use them a lot for repairs and calibration.

The above are rough prices and he can be a bit more specific, the place is romford way so factor in postage, I think Hermes start at about a tenner untracked each way.
EDIT
There website says they will pay for return courier if you send it to them.

I will private message you his number anyway and you can decide, he may also have some faulty or refurb stuff possibly for sale, as I imagine some companys just scrap them if there uneconomical to repair, who knows he may even give you some secret fluke info.