For whatever it's worth, the chip-on-board is a Fortune Semiconductor FS9721_LP3. I'm not sure how they implemented the temperature capability, since that chip doesn't directly support such per its data book. I wish they'd have used the DTM0660 (as the 90K does), but the design may well predate it.
The mentioned PL2303 chip to the left of the PC connection is a USB to serial (RS-232) bridge. I'm hoping to poke around to get a more or less direct UART/232 output from the device to try and interface it with things that don't have USB.
Thank you for this. Even though it’s years later. I have a few copies of this as someone mentioned it’s a Chinese made mass produced under various brand names but they all have the same intervals. I wish there was something of better quality that can be used because the selling point for me was the PC connectivity that I use for my research project (graduate school) because I measure voltage and current and record the data and chart it when I export to excel.
Thanks for the video, I have a HoldPeak HP-90B and this was very useful to see how to get the rubber surround off to replace a fuse. I had been fighting it for a while with no success before I thought to check youtube. It is not an easy meter to open. Interestingly, the HP-90B is quite different inside. There are some of the same cost-cutting measures but I was pleased to see proper ceramic fuses for the 10A and 600mA ranges, less pleased when I found out how much they cost but hopefully that will teach me not to leave the probes in the current sensing positions in future.
Great! I'm glad my video was useful. Chinese DMM brands are strange. They seem to have many broad lines of products with a lot of overlap instead of releasing just a few good meters. Honestly, these days my fave meter is Aneng, the cheapest of the bunch. But it does not have PC interface, which sometimes comes in handy
Yeah, I l know what you mean. The Aneng range of the 8000, 8001, 8002 and 8004 is weird, apart from the strange low current one they seem so similar in features and price, surely just one meter with the right feature set would have done at that price point. I know a lot of meter snobs would turn their nose up at them but Im perfectly happy using cheap meters. Im just a hobbyist and my meters do everything I need, theyre plenty accurate enough and have adequate protection. Im sure there are a lot of people buying €200 Flukes to play with their battery and LED projects, which is totally unnecessary.
Yes. I have 8004 and 8002. Interestingly, they differ inside. At that price point if anything I'd just design one meter with optional components to enable features. but really, one meter would do. Maybe in China difference between $13 and $15 warrants two separate designs. I agree. I'll happily take $500 meter if someone wants to give me one. But if it's my own money paying for it, $20-$50 meter like my Aneng 860 will do. If I was working on projects I get paid for - that's another story.
Were you able to use the volt meter in manual ranging mode? It should be feasible but I couldn't find how. The manual refers to things that aren't there.
@@MorriSoft i have never gotten the software to work on Win 8.1 or Win 10 . if I have third party anti-virus list AVG free or AVAST installed. Once antivirus removed, PCLINK works. It however works on older PC with Win 7 and older version AVG.
@@MorriSoft And is there a specific anti-virus you use ? Maybe that makes a difference ? I have two meters and have been in contact with the manufacturer. They sent me the latest software and same result. I have tried it on 3 different computers win 8.1, win 10, win 11 with the same result. I sent the manufacturer videos documenting the issue but I don't see much interest. They assured me my hardware was new per serial number. But I can only assume that the meters are bad... Thanks for the info,
Not to get into hairsplitting, but it is a bare chip die that is glued to the PCB before wire bond connections are made. Then a blob of plastic is poured on top to protect the whole thing. But most people either already know that or don't care about. My point is that I would prefer a regular chip with pins which can be tapped into.
Nice video - thx! You're right, there is an optocoupler for isolation (my one has a FODM2701 clone), but it seems, it does not have any UL or VDE rating. Apart from that, the creepage distances of UL / EN 61010 are totally violated (should be > 6mm), so that that device must not be offered for US and Europe! It's a danger for life! By the way: USB is PL2303, which is know for causing problems with Windows and it's an A plug to be used for USB masters only. All in all: Thumbs up for the video, thumbs down for the tool.
Olá Artur mais uma vez obrigado pelo vídeo, fico pensando... O que leva uma empresa a lançar um produto no mercado com uma apresentação tão simples, como a do ANENG e esta do HoldPeak. Tenho um MINIPA e o manual dele é perfeito, ensina o usuário como o Multímetro funciona; Até mesmo os antigos analógicos eram acompanhados de manual explicativo em várias línguas. No Caso do Aneng a embalagem é ridícula para um aparelho muito bom, porque usar três nomes para o mesmo aparelho? isto é incompreensível... Que falta de identidade! Digo isto porque procurei na internet o fabricante e mais detalhes do AN 860B+ e não encontrei nada. Se pelo menos fornecessem um endereço na WEB para baixarmos um manual decente. Grato A.Carlos _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hello Artur again thanks for the video, I wonder ... What leads a company to launch a product in the market with a presentation as simple as that of ANENG and this one of HoldPeak. I have a MINIPA and his manual is perfect, it teaches the user how the Multimeter works; Even the old analogue ones were accompanied by explanatory manual in several languages. In the case of Aneng the packaging is ridiculous for a very good device, why use three names for the same device? This is incomprehensible ... What a lack of identity! I say this because I searched the internet for the manufacturer and more details of the AN 860B + and found nothing. If only they provided a web address to download a decent manual. Thanks A.Carlos
Hello Antonio. Thank you for your comment.You do not say which model of MINIPA you have or how much it costs. There are many very good meters out there. I'm sure manual that comes with Fluke is excellent. But everything has it's place. Those who need the quality of a Fluke will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy one. Other people can't afford to pay so much so they buy something cheaper. And cheaper means that you will get less. Then you have the culture of a country. In some countries people pride themselves on excellence. Apparently that's not always the case in China. Perhaps in your country there also are manufacturers who make products that aren't as good as they should be. But that's ok. There's a buyer for every quality. Personally, I don't really need the manual, i know how to use a meter. I wanted to have multiple meters but didn't want to spend a lot of money so I bought these and now I posted my videos so that others can make their decision on whether these meters will suit their needs.Why the three names? Because marketing people got involved. The same Aneng meter is sold in US under different name and for twice the price. Maybe it comes in a nice box and with a good manual but that's not something i need to pay double the price. I'm fine with my aneng because all I need is a good meter. I looked at MINIPA website and saw many meters which look very similar to the ones from China. Who knows, maybe MINIPA also just puts their name on another Aneng, puts it in a nice box and adds a nice manual. All that matters is that you're satisfied with your meter.
This meter is just a generic chinese meter that random people will slap random brands onto. There are several of these identical meters in different colors and brands all over the internet.
For whatever it's worth, the chip-on-board is a Fortune Semiconductor FS9721_LP3. I'm not sure how they implemented the temperature capability, since that chip doesn't directly support such per its data book. I wish they'd have used the DTM0660 (as the 90K does), but the design may well predate it.
The mentioned PL2303 chip to the left of the PC connection is a USB to serial (RS-232) bridge. I'm hoping to poke around to get a more or less direct UART/232 output from the device to try and interface it with things that don't have USB.
Thank you for this. Even though it’s years later. I have a few copies of this as someone mentioned it’s a Chinese made mass produced under various brand names but they all have the same intervals. I wish there was something of better quality that can be used because the selling point for me was the PC connectivity that I use for my research project (graduate school) because I measure voltage and current and record the data and chart it when I export to excel.
those input jacks are supported by the molded in jack sleeve supports on the lower inside of the back half of the case.
Thanks for the video, I have a HoldPeak HP-90B and this was very useful to see how to get the rubber surround off to replace a fuse. I had been fighting it for a while with no success before I thought to check youtube. It is not an easy meter to open.
Interestingly, the HP-90B is quite different inside. There are some of the same cost-cutting measures but I was pleased to see proper ceramic fuses for the 10A and 600mA ranges, less pleased when I found out how much they cost but hopefully that will teach me not to leave the probes in the current sensing positions in future.
Great! I'm glad my video was useful. Chinese DMM brands are strange. They seem to have many broad lines of products with a lot of overlap instead of releasing just a few good meters. Honestly, these days my fave meter is Aneng, the cheapest of the bunch. But it does not have PC interface, which sometimes comes in handy
Yeah, I l know what you mean. The Aneng range of the 8000, 8001, 8002 and 8004 is weird, apart from the strange low current one they seem so similar in features and price, surely just one meter with the right feature set would have done at that price point.
I know a lot of meter snobs would turn their nose up at them but Im perfectly happy using cheap meters. Im just a hobbyist and my meters do everything I need, theyre plenty accurate enough and have adequate protection. Im sure there are a lot of people buying €200 Flukes to play with their battery and LED projects, which is totally unnecessary.
Yes. I have 8004 and 8002. Interestingly, they differ inside. At that price point if anything I'd just design one meter with optional components to enable features. but really, one meter would do. Maybe in China difference between $13 and $15 warrants two separate designs.
I agree. I'll happily take $500 meter if someone wants to give me one. But if it's my own money paying for it, $20-$50 meter like my Aneng 860 will do. If I was working on projects I get paid for - that's another story.
10:27 What's with the shunt to measure current? Some dents on it ...
How about PC-connection?! Can it build the graph of voltage during several hours?
thanks for the video, I was briefly before it to me this bargain to shop, because of the battery tester, but the inner life persuades me not at all.
Were you able to use the volt meter in manual ranging mode? It should be feasible but I couldn't find how. The manual refers to things that aren't there.
good question. No, it appears there is no manual mode on this meter
Does the PC software work?
Still works in 2023 on windows 11 23H2 (October 31, 2023) as of 1st Dec 2023.
@@MorriSoft i have never gotten the software to work on Win 8.1 or Win 10 . if I have third party anti-virus list AVG free or AVAST installed. Once antivirus removed, PCLINK works. It however works on older PC with Win 7 and older version AVG.
@@rcarioca interesting. I'd recommend trying to find another version then, I've found several which do work.
@@MorriSoft And is there a specific anti-virus you use ? Maybe that makes a difference ? I have two meters and have been in contact with the manufacturer. They sent me the latest software and same result. I have tried it on 3 different computers win 8.1, win 10, win 11 with the same result. I sent the manufacturer videos documenting the issue but I don't see much interest. They assured me my hardware was new per serial number. But I can only assume that the meters are bad... Thanks for the info,
Those look like melf resistors
the chip is not glued to the pcb its just covered with black coating
Not to get into hairsplitting, but it is a bare chip die that is glued to the PCB before wire bond connections are made. Then a blob of plastic is poured on top to protect the whole thing. But most people either already know that or don't care about. My point is that I would prefer a regular chip with pins which can be tapped into.
I think pretty much all multimeters are like that
Nice video - thx! You're right, there is an optocoupler for isolation (my one has a FODM2701 clone), but it seems, it does not have any UL or VDE rating. Apart from that, the creepage distances of UL / EN 61010 are totally violated (should be > 6mm), so that that device must not be offered for US and Europe! It's a danger for life!
By the way: USB is PL2303, which is know for causing problems with Windows and it's an A plug to be used for USB masters only.
All in all: Thumbs up for the video, thumbs down for the tool.
Olá Artur mais uma vez obrigado pelo vídeo, fico pensando... O que leva uma empresa a lançar um produto no mercado com uma apresentação tão simples, como a do ANENG e esta do HoldPeak. Tenho um MINIPA e o manual dele é perfeito, ensina o usuário como o Multímetro funciona; Até mesmo os antigos analógicos eram acompanhados de manual explicativo em várias línguas. No Caso do Aneng a embalagem é ridícula para um aparelho muito bom, porque usar três nomes para o mesmo aparelho? isto é incompreensível... Que falta de identidade! Digo isto porque procurei na internet o fabricante e mais detalhes do AN 860B+ e não encontrei nada. Se pelo menos fornecessem um endereço na WEB para baixarmos um manual decente. Grato A.Carlos
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hello Artur again thanks for the video, I wonder ... What leads a company to launch a product in the market with a presentation as simple as that of ANENG and this one of HoldPeak. I have a MINIPA and his manual is perfect, it teaches the user how the Multimeter works; Even the old analogue ones were accompanied by explanatory manual in several languages. In the case of Aneng the packaging is ridiculous for a very good device, why use three names for the same device? This is incomprehensible ... What a lack of identity! I say this because I searched the internet for the manufacturer and more details of the AN 860B + and found nothing. If only they provided a web address to download a decent manual. Thanks A.Carlos
Hello Antonio. Thank you for your comment.You do not say which model of MINIPA you have or how much it costs. There are many very good meters out there. I'm sure manual that comes with Fluke is excellent. But everything has it's place. Those who need the quality of a Fluke will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to buy one. Other people can't afford to pay so much so they buy something cheaper. And cheaper means that you will get less. Then you have the culture of a country. In some countries people pride themselves on excellence. Apparently that's not always the case in China. Perhaps in your country there also are manufacturers who make products that aren't as good as they should be. But that's ok. There's a buyer for every quality. Personally, I don't really need the manual, i know how to use a meter. I wanted to have multiple meters but didn't want to spend a lot of money so I bought these and now I posted my videos so that others can make their decision on whether these meters will suit their needs.Why the three names? Because marketing people got involved. The same Aneng meter is sold in US under different name and for twice the price. Maybe it comes in a nice box and with a good manual but that's not something i need to pay double the price. I'm fine with my aneng because all I need is a good meter. I looked at MINIPA website and saw many meters which look very similar to the ones from China. Who knows, maybe MINIPA also just puts their name on another Aneng, puts it in a nice box and adds a nice manual. All that matters is that you're satisfied with your meter.
Você está certo, comprei o Aneng justamente por ser bom e barato. abração.
send it back
thx for this video now im surely dont buy any holdpeak crap.
This meter is just a generic chinese meter that random people will slap random brands onto. There are several of these identical meters in different colors and brands all over the internet.