I did some repair videos on the 8842, which is almost identical, I kept one unit as I was impressed with how accurate and stable it was, even though it hasn’t been calibrated in decades.
Good to hear. This one was apparently calibrated in 2019, but that is just hearsay as I was not supplied a certificate. What do you do with all the stuff you fix?
@@uni-byte I hoard it, apparently LOL. I do try to sell items I don’t really need, but as NZ pretty small there isn’t a lot of demand for the stuff I work on.
@@TheDefpom I tend to hang onto stuff too. Where I am in Canada I'm just about the only person locally that is into electronics. Everything needs to be shipped in and shipped out. Last month I tried to give away about 30 pieces of equipment and could get no one interested. I think they thought I was trying to scam them or something.
@@uni-byte, I like to tutor people to get their ham licenses. Elmering provides me with a ready-made source of unsuspecting people to give radios and test equipment to. :)
@@johnwest7993 That sounds like a really good way to pass stuff on. I've tried a couple of times to start a community learning class in electronics, but got no takers.
I have an 8840/AF that I got in exchange for repairing 4 other 8840/AF's. They were sold at a government auction from the USAF repair center. To be blunt, the service techs at the repair center's skill set appeared to consist of the ability to read a repair flow-chart, and little else. The repair tags told embarrassing stories of government employee ineptitude. For instance, one of them had replaced an IC that their repair chart identified as defective. But when the unit still didn't work it went into the surplus sale. I desoldered the IC, turned it around the right way, soldered it back in, and the unit worked once again. So after a day and a half of repair work I was the proud owner of an 8840/AF that has now been on my bench for many years. While it may not be within calibration specs, (like you, I have no idea,) once I had repaired it I notated its values against what passes as references for me, and there has been close to zero change in any of the measured values, (right-hand digit stuff,) over a 15 year time frame. It's just very stable, which provides me with a lot of confidence in it. It's also very close to a used Agilent bench multi-meter I have, and my similar Keithley bench meter. All 3 are very stable over time. So for a hobbyist bench meter the old Fluke more than meets my needs. Thank you for your ongoing video series. I look forward to each of them.
Thanks John. I tried working in a government branch here in Canada for a few years in the middle of my IT career. It was close to home and I had to take a large cut in pay to do it. This was an environmental research center where I offered help in IT and mathematics. While my workmates were not incompetent, they more than made up for it in being "under motivated". I had to leave to keep my sanity. I get your story.
Very nice score. Those type of meters are confirmed rock solid as we used around 10 of them for almost 30 years in calibration at our R&D lab. There was never any need for readjustment but the displays are now completely dimmed. The 20V range also have high impedance which is very rare at such a class of instruments. Cheers
I have two of these with the LED kits installed. The kits work well, digits are slightly scaled down from the original but completely readable. What surprised me, and as a few others have mentioned is that the calibrations of these units appears quite stable over such long time frames
I would trust the Fluke more than I would the Siglent quite frankly. I have 2 independently sourced Fluke 45's and they both agree exactly. A great peice of engineering the Flukes!
@@uni-byte, I thought that about Fluke handhelds. Then an old friend passed away and I got his 4 Fluke handhelds to go with my other 2. So now I try not to allow myself to think there might be any more equipment I need.
Very nice meter at a great price! The dim display photos on eBay are caused by multiplexed displays and fast shutters. Some times you can get a better idea of display functionality if there are multiple photos.
Nice score! The 8840 is a great series of meters. I picked up an 8840A with an AC option a few years back at a Hamfest and it has been a very solid performer for me. I've found it especially impressive using 4 wire Kelvin clips for measuring resistance. I'm curious now what the AF designation means on your meter. Thanks for sharing this! - JRH
The "AF" stands for Armed Forces and is the Mil spec model. The enhanced features listed by FLUKE are: Meets MIL-T-28800C Type II, Class 3 Improved and expanded environmental specifications Comes with the AC option installed as standard Enhanced EMI/RFI protection Up to 1000V AC DC voltage ratio measurement mode.
I bought one with a dim vfd on ebay no so cheap (UK premium) and the same led display covertion kit you showed but I haven't needed it, the vfd perked up perfectly fine with a few days use, just long term storage I guess, also have a solar tron 7150plus but much prefer to use the fluke
Volt nuts would say the the SZA263/LTFLU-1 reference used inside those is worth the price of admission alone. You can argue it could possibly rival the stability of the LTZ1000
I did some repair videos on the 8842, which is almost identical, I kept one unit as I was impressed with how accurate and stable it was, even though it hasn’t been calibrated in decades.
Good to hear. This one was apparently calibrated in 2019, but that is just hearsay as I was not supplied a certificate. What do you do with all the stuff you fix?
@@uni-byte I hoard it, apparently LOL. I do try to sell items I don’t really need, but as NZ pretty small there isn’t a lot of demand for the stuff I work on.
@@TheDefpom I tend to hang onto stuff too. Where I am in Canada I'm just about the only person locally that is into electronics. Everything needs to be shipped in and shipped out. Last month I tried to give away about 30 pieces of equipment and could get no one interested. I think they thought I was trying to scam them or something.
@@uni-byte, I like to tutor people to get their ham licenses. Elmering provides me with a ready-made source of unsuspecting people to give radios and test equipment to. :)
@@johnwest7993 That sounds like a really good way to pass stuff on. I've tried a couple of times to start a community learning class in electronics, but got no takers.
I have an 8840/AF that I got in exchange for repairing 4 other 8840/AF's. They were sold at a government auction from the USAF repair center. To be blunt, the service techs at the repair center's skill set appeared to consist of the ability to read a repair flow-chart, and little else. The repair tags told embarrassing stories of government employee ineptitude. For instance, one of them had replaced an IC that their repair chart identified as defective. But when the unit still didn't work it went into the surplus sale. I desoldered the IC, turned it around the right way, soldered it back in, and the unit worked once again. So after a day and a half of repair work I was the proud owner of an 8840/AF that has now been on my bench for many years. While it may not be within calibration specs, (like you, I have no idea,) once I had repaired it I notated its values against what passes as references for me, and there has been close to zero change in any of the measured values, (right-hand digit stuff,) over a 15 year time frame. It's just very stable, which provides me with a lot of confidence in it. It's also very close to a used Agilent bench multi-meter I have, and my similar Keithley bench meter. All 3 are very stable over time. So for a hobbyist bench meter the old Fluke more than meets my needs. Thank you for your ongoing video series. I look forward to each of them.
Thanks John. I tried working in a government branch here in Canada for a few years in the middle of my IT career. It was close to home and I had to take a large cut in pay to do it. This was an environmental research center where I offered help in IT and mathematics. While my workmates were not incompetent, they more than made up for it in being "under motivated". I had to leave to keep my sanity. I get your story.
Very nice score.
Those type of meters are confirmed rock solid as we used around 10 of them for almost 30 years in calibration at our R&D lab.
There was never any need for readjustment but the displays are now completely dimmed.
The 20V range also have high impedance which is very rare at such a class of instruments.
Cheers
I do like the high impedance input.
I have two of these with the LED kits installed. The kits work well, digits are slightly scaled down from the original but completely readable. What surprised me, and as a few others have mentioned is that the calibrations of these units appears quite stable over such long time frames
Good to hear!
Nice pick up man! That thing will outlive us all.
It is very well made and should last, and last, and...
I would trust the Fluke more than I would the Siglent quite frankly. I have 2 independently sourced Fluke 45's and they both agree exactly. A great peice of engineering the Flukes!
I'm inclined to agree. This is my 4th Fluke bench DMM and I wouldn't mind some more.
@@uni-byte, I thought that about Fluke handhelds. Then an old friend passed away and I got his 4 Fluke handhelds to go with my other 2. So now I try not to allow myself to think there might be any more equipment I need.
@@johnwest7993 LOL! A pretty little bargain will present itself and you will be helpless!
Very nice meter at a great price! The dim display photos on eBay are caused by multiplexed displays and fast shutters. Some times you can get a better idea of display functionality if there are multiple photos.
I agree. HE also told me the display was dim. I guess he used it in a very bright environment.
Nice catch !
YEs, it is! :)
@@uni-byte :)
Nice score! The 8840 is a great series of meters. I picked up an 8840A with an AC option a few years back at a Hamfest and it has been a very solid performer for me. I've found it especially impressive using 4 wire Kelvin clips for measuring resistance. I'm curious now what the AF designation means on your meter. Thanks for sharing this! - JRH
The "AF" stands for Armed Forces and is the Mil spec model. The enhanced features listed by FLUKE are:
Meets MIL-T-28800C Type II, Class 3
Improved and expanded environmental specifications
Comes with the AC option installed as standard
Enhanced EMI/RFI protection
Up to 1000V AC
DC voltage ratio measurement mode.
@@uni-byte Oh Wow, I never would have guessed since it wasn't encased in a steel box with latches :) Really nice find. Enjoying your videos! - JRH
And painted #4B5320. army green for the army and the marines or ASA 61 grey for the air force and the navy. 👍👍
I bought one with a dim vfd on ebay no so cheap (UK premium) and the same led display covertion kit you showed but I haven't needed it, the vfd perked up perfectly fine with a few days use, just long term storage I guess, also have a solar tron 7150plus but much prefer to use the fluke
I've heard things in the UK can be pricey.
Volt nuts would say the the SZA263/LTFLU-1 reference used inside those is worth the price of admission alone. You can argue it could possibly rival the stability of the LTZ1000
Yeah, those SZA263/LTFLU VRs sure have a cult following. There is a 21 page tread on them over on the eevblog forum.
Nice fluke dmm. You lucked out to get one for that price.
I agree.
Which camera are you using?
Canon EOS R50.
@uni-byte to expensive for my budget
@@SymbolTech21 Not very cheap, but cheaper than a lot of others with similar specifications.