Does anyone know of a hand held digital meter that can measure and display micro-volt values?
My meters have a DCV capability with the lowest setting of 200mV and a digital display that has one place to the right of the decimal point. Hence the lowest measurement is .1mV which = 100 micro-volts. I want to be able to measure down to 50 or less micro-volts.
Several options, if they exist, would be a meter with 100mV as it's lowest setting, a meter with 2 places to the right of the decimal point or a meter with a micro-volt position.
My meters have a DCV capability with the lowest setting of 200mV and a digital display that has one place to the right of the decimal point. Hence the lowest measurement is .1mV which = 100 micro-volts. I want to be able to measure down to 50 or less micro-volts.
Several options, if they exist, would be a meter with 100mV as it's lowest setting, a meter with 2 places to the right of the decimal point or a meter with a micro-volt position.
I want to measure DC offset on a stereo amplifier I just built. The designer posted that he got 45uV on his amp and I want to see what I'm getting. As mentioned my meter's lowest reading capability is 0.1 mV and the reading flickers between 0.1 and 0.0 so I know I'm getting down to at least 100uV. I would like to be able to measure lower values to see if I'm closer to 45uV.
Thanks,
henrylrjr
Thanks,
henrylrjr
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Iv got a high count DC meter that gets down to .01 mV, but that is well and good , then again all this bragging rights digs into absolute accuracy (silly) issues, you should ask the designer his. Remember a small active junction needs around 300mV to start to conduct, a speaker (woofer only) needs even more to move a cone, infact a small DC may center the cone in the gap better. I'd worry more about DC protection than large feedback ratios!
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Do you believe you meter is accurate at such small values? I went to my local electronics store and was told they don't have one that measures that low and didn't know of one. They thought I would have to get some expensive bench device. Would you tell me what brand and model is it? Oh, and the cost.
Thanks,
henrylrjr
Thanks,
henrylrjr
Do you want handheld or bench meter? With bench meters you can easily find sub-uV resolution if needed. If you feel like going for a bench meter, let me know and I will make some suggestions.
For handhelds, you are going to be looking at the higher end stuff. The best value would probably be the Brymen BM869S at around $240 from TME.EU. It has a 500,000 DCV mode which will get you 1uV resolution easily. This is also sold as the Greenlee DM-860A.
For the Fluke alternative you are looking at the Fluke 289. Similar resolution and features as the Brymen but around 3x the price.
Gossen has the Metrahit 30M with 1200000 counts, which will go sub-uV in resolution. You don't want to know the price.
For handhelds, single uV resolution just isn't that common and you are looking at the top of the line ones. If you are lucky you can find one with a mV range that meets your requirements but most have 10uV resolution.
All of this is for not when you realize that your accuracy will be much worse than your resolution. Resolution is good for getting relative readings but is not a substitute for accuracy. You might read 0.000mV on your meter but the real number is -0.014mV because of the accuracy range.
Every single time someone asks about a multimeter, someone chimes in with buy a Fluke WITHOUT EVER READING THE DAMN QUESTION. 1) There are many companies besides Fluke making meters just as good as Fluke now: Keysight, Brymen, Gossen, Yokagowa, Hioki just to name a few. 2) You didn't even mention a model that has the features he wants. Many of the Fluke models don't meet what he asked for: the 11x series doesnt, the 87V doesnt, I'm pretty sure the 7x series doesn't either. At least if you are going to be a fanboi don't half-*** it.
I don't disagree at all. It's very silly but I figured I would answer OPs question anyways.
A very true and very valid point, though sometimes ppl are looking for an "excuse" to upgrade their equipment. I likely could have done a much better job explaining why chasing uV level balancing was a fools errand and advising they don't bother.
Go to the eevblog, they have a meter comparison matrix spreadsheet that even has old meters in it. Multimeter spreadsheet (38 brands and 210 meters listed) - Page 1
To really be accurate at 50uV, you would need at least 1uV resolution.
To really be accurate at 50uV, you would need at least 1uV resolution.
And don't forget the probes, can't make lab readings with Radio Shack probes.
I think out of respect if nothing else, one ought to answer the original question of a poster, even if it is not really appropriate. How otherwise would they learn WHY it is inappropriate, and then WHAT SHOULD they have asked.
I think out of respect if nothing else, one ought to answer the original question of a poster, even if it is not really appropriate. How otherwise would they learn WHY it is inappropriate, and then WHAT SHOULD they have asked.
I have a Gossen light meter so know they are $$$$. My BK LCR wasn't cheap either. Don't want Velleman. My Velleman soldering station didn't last very long.
If a bench meter is less than a hand held then a bench type is fine.
Accuracy of 0.014mV would get me in the range I want to check so I could live with that.
Is there anything $200 or less?
Any amp with less than 50mV long term DC offset is excellent. It would be a shame to buy a DMM based on DC resolution. Infact buying DMMs on specs alone is problematic esp for minor brands.
For DIY and hobby stuff absolute accuracy < 0.5% is rarely needed if ever..given a healthy test eq budget it's much safer to pick a professional brand name like 'Fluke'. Otherwise , no matter what others can say, be prepared for learning curves, work arounds, and some other monkey biz.
For DIY and hobby stuff absolute accuracy < 0.5% is rarely needed if ever..given a healthy test eq budget it's much safer to pick a professional brand name like 'Fluke'. Otherwise , no matter what others can say, be prepared for learning curves, work arounds, and some other monkey biz.
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henrylrjr, why in the world do you need to measure microvolts? In such levels the thermo EMF is present.
This is the instrument you'll need...
100 mV with 7 digits and 16 ppm in accuracy.
34470A Digital Multimeter, 7½ Digit, Performance Truevolt DMM | Keysight (formerly Agilent?s Electronic Measurement)
This is the instrument you'll need...
100 mV with 7 digits and 16 ppm in accuracy.
34470A Digital Multimeter, 7½ Digit, Performance Truevolt DMM | Keysight (formerly Agilent?s Electronic Measurement)
is this the DMM you use?
You'll always have need for 2 meters for just about any job>
I'd suggest good used Bench DMM esp if it can measure small AC RMS on top of a large DC component (PS ripple), that and additionally a newer handheld $50-60 DMM. you could easily get both for 200.
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