Damaging a meter demonstrates it's robustness, or lack of! I don't mind seeing meters being damaged because I learn a lot from you on how meters handle dangerous transients. Well I don't mind unless my meter is on the receiving end! Thanks for all the work you do again!
Glad to see you've repaired it. As soon as you opened the meter, I realized it's gonna bad nightmare to repair it after transient testings. Good job. For me, electronics was always a hobby and I loved it more than I do for living (I'm CTO in a software company). However your videos inspired me to do multimeter repairs in my spare time and start a new era in my electronics journey.
Yes, this meter has a lot of discrete parts and that can be a detriment without a schematic. Had they used one of the dedicated front end ICs, I may not have been able to locate a replacement. Its a case of pick your poison. I am not really interested in repairing stuff in general but in the case of the meters I have looked at, I like to understand why they failed and if they can be improved. In rare cases I am able to bring them back to life and save the recycle bins. I enjoy electronics as a hobby as well. Good luck with your future projects and repairs.
Me too. I bought my BM869S a year ago from TME in Poland after watching Joe’s videos. Love it, one of my go to everyday meters. I purchased a pristine Fluke 189 after seeing Joe making use of one he received from a friend and then testing a partially damaged 189. A great meter also, too bad they discontinued them. I liked the built in data logger on the 189 so much I purchased the Brymen BM525 last month, very similar to the 869 with lower resolution, 10,000 count I believe. Has the dual temperature inputs like the 869 along with the ability to measure AC/DC simultaneously. The data logger similar to the Fluke 189.
I already bought my Fluke 87V-E2 about 4 years ago, before I watched Joes' video on it. But it has been a good meter especially with Probe Master probes on it. I doubt that mine will ever see the punishment that Joe inflicted on his.
Hi. Very nice reviews! Did someone hear something about APPA multimeters? I can’t find info about it in internet. I need really reliable multimeter to work in 220/440, resistance check, capacity, continuity, mA, mV, amps . Fluke is perfect but very expensive . Need something solid, but cheaper. I saw your review about Brymen BM 235. Now thinking about it and APPA P3. What do you know about this model? advice pls.
I keep a list online of the meters I have looked at. You may find the link in the description. I have never looked at the brand you mention and doing a quick search, I didn't find a lot of information. I did find this thread which shows another one of their products. At least it gives you some idea about their products. www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/westward-rms-multimeter-(appa-isotech-105r)-teardown/
Hey Joe, nice and informative video ! BTW I have one Yokogawa TY 530 and the rotating switch fails most of the time - I mean the meter don't go that reading state. Either it will Keep showing previous reading or freeze or beep etc. Sometimes it won't switch of even if the rotating switch is at ' off' position. Pls help.
Nice work as usual sir. Since docs are hard to obtain for this meter (and its other branded cousins) will you be posting some front-end scribbles on EEVblog?
Only one person responded when I asked for some help and they couldn't be bothered. I am only aware of one other member who even has one and I doubt they would have a use. At this time I have no plans to spend anymore time on the meter documenting my findings. It's just too much work.
@@joesmith-je3tq Nope, never even used hot-tweezers.. I'm THT for now and semi-retired, I have NO real hot air or SMT interest. I venture if Pace had you on staff or as part-time consultant, we'd see more action from them. I could be wrong, but they seem to be in slow-mo buried in burocraptic paperwork while smooching with the military.
@@CliveChamberlain946 I am impressed with the no SMT interest as we have been using it for so long. Like me and cell phones. lol. For TH, I can't think of a time I would have used tweezers. I have used PACE products for many years for non-military but as we continue to decline, I imagine they need to find new markets to stay afloat. They seem to be very conservative with their designs. When they announced the tweezers would be released last summer, then first of the year and now.... I tend to believe that the sales group is similar to Dave with his 121. A bit over stated... I'm happy with my choice to stay with the older tech. Should have bought a set 10 years ago.
@@MalagasOnFire First, I am VERY impressed that you could measure down to hundredths of a second with these on-line videos. Perhaps you are comparing resistance with capacitance modes. Maybe you are looking at some points where the meter was not allowed to fully settle before taking the measurements. Hard to say as you did not provide any links to where you derived these times from. Perhaps you were watching someone else's videos and comparing it with this one? Hard for me to guess. I can tell you that again, I doubt the repairs had any effect. If you want to post the times in the videos that correspond to the times you provided, I will have a look.
@@joesmith-je3tq Chronographed eached video from time placing the leads till it stables on measuring the 150pF . There might be error of course but there is notorious settle improvement as spoke in the video.
@@MalagasOnFire That's strange. Based on this, let me have a look at the two videos and get back with you. I should be able to line everything up and slow them down for an easy comparison.
After looking at so many and having them perform so poorly, I doubt I will look at any more UNI-T products. If they release a new version of the UT181A, I may have a look at it.
Added bonus .... ROFLMFAO!!! I downloaded the manual for one of these the other day but didn't spend a lot of time going over it. Amazon puts it closer to $900 with tax.
@@joesmith-je3tq Joe, I succumbed, my 289 17b+ and 15b were just so pedestrian and gauche albeit mightily accurate but alas the unfortunate American economy-size form factor made them a bit hefty for the job I need done. R&S RTH 1054 gets to go next if the Metrix doesn't turn into a grey and blue French fry. A truly international intrigue...
I've looked at a lot of high priced meters that couldn't perform very well. The 181A looks nice with it's color display but personally, I will take function over looks any day. You should hit your's with a grill starter and see if it can survive something basic like that. It's hard to believe ANY meter fails that part of my testing.
@@joesmith-je3tq Of course you're right, "Goosen Metrasheet" was a great example of this. One of my applications needs the high-end bandwidth, precision, accuracy, EMI /ESD resistance, offline logging and robustness of a Fluke 289 or Brymen, but those not only are tough as a brick, they weigh about the same. So I'll be using the AEMC Metrix MTX 3293 (by Chauvin Arnoux) [shades of, "Brut; by Fabergè."], because it weighs much less and the specs are truly awesome in real life (verified for my application). The only 'if' is ESD, which I'll be simulating soon...
The YOKOGAWA may have the highest BW of any meter I have looked at. It's impressive. I am using the high end handhelds on the bench and the size/weight is not a problem for me. I actually like the larger meters. In the garage, I want a meter with some heft to it so it stays in place. All of these meters are fairly small compared with the one I take in the field. When you poke your meter with some sort of transients, be sure to make a video and post a link. I would really like to see it. Looking forward to seeing your test and results.
I knew it was going to be a hard one to fix, but I knew you would get her going again!! Now the display looks like it's from the early 80s and as I said before with a meter of this class you would expect something much better then what is has. Now I'm a meter hoe and I buy meters the catch my eye and one did that the other day because of it's display and for the price I was really shocked by it. I know you did a vid on its sister UNI-T UT139C but it's the UNI-T UT139S and its board is laid out a bit different and it has a few functions the 139C doesn't have, but for $70 U.S. it's not bad and the display is really nice for a meter in it's class. Anyway it's the type of display the TY720 should have for the money!!
Thanks. I knew if it was damaged it could turn bad as well. After looking at the front end and finding nothing wrong, I knew it was going to be bad. Comes with the territory I guess. I can't see making a review where I hook a meter to a resistor and 9V battery and then giving it a 5 star rating. Pushing them to their failure points is what I am interested in and assume that is why most people are here. I looked at a couple of 139Cs. The first one people whined about. The second one failed at the same level that I had ran the first one but I had less whiners. The UNI-T fan base is certainly more robust than the products they produce. Still, I do like that cheap AC/DC clamp of theirs and am still holding out for an improved version of the UT181A. That IMO would make a very nice meter.
Dear friend I am from Venezuela I am a man of few resources and my country is in a crisis as a result of the dictatorship a while ago a neighbor left me as a gift a tester of this that you explain in your video I am a family man and I live from jobs that now I make this device from house to house, it means a lot to me and I want to understand its operation, you can send me information on its operation or a site where they explain in Spanish, although if it is in English, I would use a translator, I do not have to pay you but I trust that God will pay For me, with great blessings for you and your Family, I await your response.
You obviously have internet access. If you have a way to view PDFs, the user's manual for this meter is available for free on-line. cdn.tmi.yokogawa.com/IMTY720-E.pdf
Thanks for posting in my Opinion this meter its over price and its has alot of corks in it iwill not buy it its a junk By comparing it with Fluke, b Brymen sanwa uni t or even the low end Chinese brands, all of them are better from it so thanks but its a fail
Depends how you define "better". I have looked at a lot of low cost meters that I wouldn't give away. I am not sure if I have looked at more Fluke or UNI-T products. Certainly a fair number of both. I can always count on UNI-T doing poorly in these tests which is why I stopped looking at them. If I ever run another UNI-T, it will be a newer version of the UT181A but I am not holding my breath.
@@joesmith-je3tq Good point you are right but iam talking in general and Each brand or model has its own design, brand name manufactured to provide features, price and not all of people can afford the fluke or brymen .., but I comment on this model by comparison with other brands frankly I did not see any thing special in it to own it . I have uni t 61 e for a year and i use it daily with out any problems yet yes it has it design and it circuit but remember the price of it its a 60 $ not 300$ as for the ut181a it is a great multimeter and has the advantages and thay can make it better if they want and I have followed the video you posted and i like it so I agree with you however you agree that nothing perfect in this life, but there is the medium, the good and the excellent and that This applies to the multimeter aswell the important thing is that it measure correctly and work right and Provides you with protection if something went wrong so in the end thank you and god bless you my freind
@@circuitblog01 I'be said many times that I never paid more than $50 for a handheld meter until I started running these tests. But I really didn't require much out of them. They were used in the garage for low voltage work only and when they died, I pitched them. For my electronics projects, I used my bench meters. That all changed once I started looking at higher end handhelds. In the case of the UT61E, I know it can't handle even the most basic ESD transients where the Yokogawa has no problems. Feature wise, the Yokogawa is much better. But as a I said, it really depends how you define better. They could improve the UT61E but may loose sales with the higher costs. The only UNI-T meter I frequently use is that little clamp meter. Sadly the rotary switch started acting up after a year of moderate use. I was able to get it stable again by cleaning it but I doubt it will last much longer. Maybe another year or two. Still, it was only $30. Well worth it to get a 1mA resolution DC clamp.
Damaging a meter demonstrates it's robustness, or lack of! I don't mind seeing meters being damaged because I learn a lot from you on how meters handle dangerous transients. Well I don't mind unless my meter is on the receiving end! Thanks for all the work you do again!
lol.
Glad to see you've repaired it. As soon as you opened the meter, I realized it's gonna bad nightmare to repair it after transient testings. Good job.
For me, electronics was always a hobby and I loved it more than I do for living (I'm CTO in a software company). However your videos inspired me to do multimeter repairs in my spare time and start a new era in my electronics journey.
Yes, this meter has a lot of discrete parts and that can be a detriment without a schematic. Had they used one of the dedicated front end ICs, I may not have been able to locate a replacement. Its a case of pick your poison.
I am not really interested in repairing stuff in general but in the case of the meters I have looked at, I like to understand why they failed and if they can be improved. In rare cases I am able to bring them back to life and save the recycle bins. I enjoy electronics as a hobby as well. Good luck with your future projects and repairs.
Hi Joe I knew you would fix it can you show what you did to fix the capacitance mode. Thanks for sharing
It would be interesting to see some aspects of the reverse engineering process that led to fixing the capacitance measurement.
Thanks.
If it ever comes up again, I will be sure and capture some sort of video for it.
Thanks Joe. I am glad to be a proud owner of my BM869s with all accessories!
Me too. I bought my BM869S a year ago from TME in Poland after watching Joe’s videos. Love it, one of my go to everyday meters. I purchased a pristine Fluke 189 after seeing Joe making use of one he received from a friend and then testing a partially damaged 189. A great meter also, too bad they discontinued them. I liked the built in data logger on the 189 so much I purchased the Brymen BM525 last month, very similar to the 869 with lower resolution, 10,000 count I believe. Has the dual temperature inputs like the 869 along with the ability to measure AC/DC simultaneously. The data logger similar to the Fluke 189.
I already bought my Fluke 87V-E2 about 4 years ago, before I watched Joes' video on it. But it has been a good meter especially with Probe Master probes on it. I doubt that mine will ever see the punishment that Joe inflicted on his.
@@SIXSTRING63 Best place, prices and aftersales for Brymen in Europe is welectron.com .
Actually TME is was cheaper with shipping. Had it in 3 days, I can't get stuff 3 states away in 3 days. LOL@@billywhizzy
@@SIXSTRING63 OK.. thought you were in Europe.. in that case you're right :) it's free shipping to Europe from welectron
If you are planning to replace the polarizing filter, make sure to turn your camera on. Would be interesting to see the procedure, and the outcome.
I don't think it would help this meter but if I attempt it, I will post a video for you.
Hi. Very nice reviews!
Did someone hear something about APPA multimeters? I can’t find info about it in internet. I need really reliable multimeter to work in 220/440, resistance check, capacity, continuity, mA, mV, amps . Fluke is perfect but very expensive . Need something solid, but cheaper.
I saw your review about Brymen BM 235. Now thinking about it and APPA P3. What do you know about this model? advice pls.
I keep a list online of the meters I have looked at. You may find the link in the description. I have never looked at the brand you mention and doing a quick search, I didn't find a lot of information. I did find this thread which shows another one of their products. At least it gives you some idea about their products. www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/westward-rms-multimeter-(appa-isotech-105r)-teardown/
Hey Joe, nice and informative video !
BTW I have one Yokogawa TY 530 and the rotating switch fails most of the time - I mean the meter don't go that reading state. Either it will Keep showing previous reading or freeze or beep etc. Sometimes it won't switch of even if the rotating switch is at ' off' position. Pls help.
Typically, once they wear out, I toss them and get a new meter. You could try cleaning it, or returning it for repairs if you feel it's worth it.
wow such dedication thumbs up
Nice work as usual sir. Since docs are hard to obtain for this meter (and its other branded cousins) will you be posting some front-end scribbles on EEVblog?
Only one person responded when I asked for some help and they couldn't be bothered. I am only aware of one other member who even has one and I doubt they would have a use. At this time I have no plans to spend anymore time on the meter documenting my findings. It's just too much work.
Here I figured you would be the one person to comment on the new PACE.
@@joesmith-je3tq Nope, never even used hot-tweezers.. I'm THT for now and semi-retired, I have NO real hot air or SMT interest. I venture if Pace had you on staff or as part-time consultant, we'd see more action from them. I could be wrong, but they seem to be in slow-mo buried in burocraptic paperwork while smooching with the military.
@@CliveChamberlain946 I am impressed with the no SMT interest as we have been using it for so long. Like me and cell phones. lol. For TH, I can't think of a time I would have used tweezers. I have used PACE products for many years for non-military but as we continue to decline, I imagine they need to find new markets to stay afloat. They seem to be very conservative with their designs. When they announced the tweezers would be released last summer, then first of the year and now.... I tend to believe that the sales group is similar to Dave with his 121. A bit over stated... I'm happy with my choice to stay with the older tech. Should have bought a set 10 years ago.
now it looks almost two times faster reading capacitors than the original setting. Nice accomplishment .
I guess you would need to line up the footage to compare them but it should be the same as I have not changed the meter's design.
@@joesmith-je3tq Sorry meant settling time that looks looks quite faster due to improvement. It is almost 1.5x times ( 7.81s vs 11.44s)
@@MalagasOnFire First, I am VERY impressed that you could measure down to hundredths of a second with these on-line videos. Perhaps you are comparing resistance with capacitance modes. Maybe you are looking at some points where the meter was not allowed to fully settle before taking the measurements. Hard to say as you did not provide any links to where you derived these times from. Perhaps you were watching someone else's videos and comparing it with this one? Hard for me to guess. I can tell you that again, I doubt the repairs had any effect. If you want to post the times in the videos that correspond to the times you provided, I will have a look.
@@joesmith-je3tq Chronographed eached video from time placing the leads till it stables on measuring the 150pF . There might be error of course but there is notorious settle improvement as spoke in the video.
@@MalagasOnFire That's strange. Based on this, let me have a look at the two videos and get back with you. I should be able to line everything up and slow them down for an easy comparison.
Thanks for sharing👍😀
I like all your videos,, pls do a video on uni-T 195 ds looks like a good meter.
After looking at so many and having them perform so poorly, I doubt I will look at any more UNI-T products. If they release a new version of the UT181A, I may have a look at it.
@@joesmith-je3tq ok, will be looking forward for new vidoes
Hi Joe,
A dream test by Joe: AEMC Metrix MTX 3293BT, how much is an ~$800 USD meter really worth.
Added bonus - it's French.
Added bonus .... ROFLMFAO!!!
I downloaded the manual for one of these the other day but didn't spend a lot of time going over it. Amazon puts it closer to $900 with tax.
@@joesmith-je3tq Joe, I succumbed, my 289 17b+ and 15b were just so pedestrian and gauche albeit mightily accurate but alas the unfortunate American economy-size form factor made them a bit hefty for the job I need done.
R&S RTH 1054 gets to go next if the Metrix doesn't turn into a grey and blue French fry.
A truly international intrigue...
I've looked at a lot of high priced meters that couldn't perform very well. The 181A looks nice with it's color display but personally, I will take function over looks any day. You should hit your's with a grill starter and see if it can survive something basic like that. It's hard to believe ANY meter fails that part of my testing.
@@joesmith-je3tq Of course you're right, "Goosen Metrasheet" was a great example of this.
One of my applications needs the high-end bandwidth, precision, accuracy, EMI /ESD resistance, offline logging and robustness of a Fluke 289 or Brymen, but those not only are tough as a brick, they weigh about the same.
So I'll be using the AEMC Metrix MTX 3293 (by Chauvin Arnoux) [shades of, "Brut; by Fabergè."], because it weighs much less and the specs are truly awesome in real life (verified for my application). The only 'if' is ESD, which I'll be simulating soon...
The YOKOGAWA may have the highest BW of any meter I have looked at. It's impressive. I am using the high end handhelds on the bench and the size/weight is not a problem for me. I actually like the larger meters. In the garage, I want a meter with some heft to it so it stays in place. All of these meters are fairly small compared with the one I take in the field.
When you poke your meter with some sort of transients, be sure to make a video and post a link. I would really like to see it. Looking forward to seeing your test and results.
I knew it was going to be a hard one to fix, but I knew you would get her going again!! Now the display looks like it's from the early 80s and as I said before with a meter of this class you would expect something much better then what is has.
Now I'm a meter hoe and I buy meters the catch my eye and one did that the other day because of it's display and for the price I was really shocked by it. I know you did a vid on its sister UNI-T UT139C but it's the UNI-T UT139S and its board is laid out a bit different and it has a few functions the 139C doesn't have, but for $70 U.S. it's not bad and the display is really nice for a meter in it's class.
Anyway it's the type of display the TY720 should have for the money!!
Thanks. I knew if it was damaged it could turn bad as well. After looking at the front end and finding nothing wrong, I knew it was going to be bad. Comes with the territory I guess. I can't see making a review where I hook a meter to a resistor and 9V battery and then giving it a 5 star rating. Pushing them to their failure points is what I am interested in and assume that is why most people are here.
I looked at a couple of 139Cs. The first one people whined about. The second one failed at the same level that I had ran the first one but I had less whiners. The UNI-T fan base is certainly more robust than the products they produce. Still, I do like that cheap AC/DC clamp of theirs and am still holding out for an improved version of the UT181A. That IMO would make a very nice meter.
@@joesmith-je3tq Yes I too would like to see a improved UT181 also, but I'm a Brymen fan myself.
Dear friend I am from Venezuela I am a man of few resources and my country is in a crisis as a result of the dictatorship a while ago a neighbor left me as a gift a tester of this that you explain in your video I am a family man and I live from jobs that now I make this device from house to house, it means a lot to me and I want to understand its operation, you can send me information on its operation or a site where they explain in Spanish, although if it is in English, I would use a translator, I do not have to pay you but I trust that God will pay For me, with great blessings for you and your Family, I await your response.
You obviously have internet access. If you have a way to view PDFs, the user's manual for this meter is available for free on-line. cdn.tmi.yokogawa.com/IMTY720-E.pdf
Thanks for posting in my Opinion this meter its over price and its has alot of corks in it iwill not buy it its a junk
By comparing it with Fluke, b
Brymen sanwa uni t or even the low end Chinese brands, all of them are better from it so thanks but its a fail
Brymen.
@@robertcalkjr.8325 yea right bryman😁😁😁😁
Depends how you define "better". I have looked at a lot of low cost meters that I wouldn't give away. I am not sure if I have looked at more Fluke or UNI-T products. Certainly a fair number of both. I can always count on UNI-T doing poorly in these tests which is why I stopped looking at them. If I ever run another UNI-T, it will be a newer version of the UT181A but I am not holding my breath.
@@joesmith-je3tq
Good point you are right but iam talking in general and Each brand or model has its own design, brand name manufactured to provide features, price and not all of people can afford the fluke or brymen .., but I comment on this model by comparison with other brands frankly I did not see any thing special in it to own it . I have uni t 61 e for a year and i use it daily with out any problems yet yes it has it design and it circuit but remember the price of it its a 60 $ not 300$ as for the ut181a it is a great multimeter and has the advantages and thay can make it better if they want and I have followed the video you posted and i like it so I agree with you however you agree that nothing perfect in this life, but there is the medium, the good and the excellent and that This applies to the multimeter aswell the important thing is that it measure correctly and work right and Provides you with protection if something went wrong so in the end thank you and god bless you my freind
@@circuitblog01 I'be said many times that I never paid more than $50 for a handheld meter until I started running these tests. But I really didn't require much out of them. They were used in the garage for low voltage work only and when they died, I pitched them. For my electronics projects, I used my bench meters. That all changed once I started looking at higher end handhelds. In the case of the UT61E, I know it can't handle even the most basic ESD transients where the Yokogawa has no problems. Feature wise, the Yokogawa is much better. But as a I said, it really depends how you define better. They could improve the UT61E but may loose sales with the higher costs. The only UNI-T meter I frequently use is that little clamp meter. Sadly the rotary switch started acting up after a year of moderate use. I was able to get it stable again by cleaning it but I doubt it will last much longer. Maybe another year or two. Still, it was only $30. Well worth it to get a 1mA resolution DC clamp.