Chinese fluke meters

[Robbie260]

Hi guys been searching for a process clamp meter for control circuitry work at work. There is the fluke 771, 772 and 773 range but they are mega dollar by the looks. The 773 would be the most useful. Found this this while perusing ebay and it reminded me of something Ave was saying in one of his videos about an import 117 that some of these ebay flukes at rediculusly cut prices are actually genuine articles. What do you guys think at under half the price of one from rs and still a good £300 cheaper than anywhere in the uk sells them do you think they are worth the risk. Maybe as there is a make an offer tab try and bargin a bit extra off.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/223047616928

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/113186200024

 

[Brad93]

Hi guys been searching for a process clamp meter for control circuitry work at work. There is the fluke 771, 772 and 773 range but they are mega dollar by the looks. The 773 would be the most useful. Found this this while perusing ebay and it reminded me of something Ave was saying in one of his videos about an import 117 that some of these ebay flukes at rediculusly cut prices are actually genuine articles. What do you guys think at under half the price of one from rs and still a good £300 cheaper than anywhere in the uk sells them do you think they are worth the risk. Maybe as there is a make an offer tab try and bargin a bit extra off.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/223047616928

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/113186200024

If this is for your job, shouldn’t you be buying the genuine article? What with calibration UKAS cert etx.

 

[Robbie260]

If this is for your job, shouldn’t you be buying the genuine article? What with calibration UKAS cert etx.

In some respects yes very true, but in the deep sea container shipping industry nothing apart from a few pressure gauge and thermometer testers have a calibration certificate and even then thats only when they arrive on the ship new they are never tested or calibrated again. Same with our torque wrenches.

 

[Robbie260]

Checked some of the new boxed large fluke clamp meters we have in the stores while i was on watch none of them come with a calibration certificate.

 

[Brad93]

Checked some of the new boxed large fluke clamp meters we have in the stores while i was on watch none of them come with a calibration certificate.

Well they won’t unless you pay for one when purchasing.

 

[Robbie260]

Well they won’t unless you pay for one when purchasing.

Yeah the company is definitely way to stingy to do that. Wont pay for anything they dont have too.

 

[daleyd]

Do you need the ability to measure process signals (4-20ma current) without disconnecting the loop?

Unless you are doing instrumentation on a regular basis I can’t see they would be worth it - not to say they are not really good bits of kit, I have the fluke 773 because I work with instrumentation day in day out - but I wouldn’t say it was essential.

You can’t use these as a regular clamp meter, they are very specialised kit. For occasional use a decent spec multimeter with ma measurement capability and a calibration source that can do 0-10v/4-20ma signals is much more useful, fluke process meters are an excellent all in one tool, though I also quite fancy the Gossen Metrahit version that can simulate thermocouples as well.

I’d certainly be convincing work to splash out for one if you think you need it for your job.

 

[Robbie260]

Do you need the ability to measure process signals (4-20ma current) without disconnecting the loop?

Unless you are doing instrumentation on a regular basis I can’t see they would be worth it - not to say they are not really good bits of kit, I have the fluke 773 because I work with instrumentation day in day out - but I wouldn’t say it was essential.

You can’t use these as a regular clamp meter, they are very specialised kit. For occasional use a decent spec multimeter with ma measurement capability and a calibration source that can do 0-10v/4-20ma signals is much more useful, fluke process meters are an excellent all in one tool, though I also quite fancy the Gossen Metrahit version that can simulate thermocouples as well.

I’d certainly be convincing work to splash out for one if you think you need it for your job.

Have tried convincing them and no luck unfortunately. I do generally like to keep a few of my own tools with me anyway as all the ships ones are usually screwed by people who dont own them and therfore care. Im for ever trying to replace sensors on generators and prifiers and it is always takes ages for the ship board elecricians to figure it out. Was hoping it would speed up and make the process of checking the sensors, cable and pcp faster and remove the guess work as i have rarely found a working dm on board. I own a t6 1000 for my day to day electrical work but since becoming 3rd i now have more control circuitry to deal with which while its very good at what it dose is no good for that. Might just have to shove the t6 and get a big dm was hoping though a 773 or 771 wold be smaller than that as i have limited space in my luggage.

 

[timgunn1962]

I use a Fluke 771 a fair bit at work. It only does the clamp mode and the accuracy isn't good enough for calibration. The 771 allows measurement of loop currents where breaking the loop would shut down the process and is good enough for fault finding and sanity-checking 0/4-20 mA loops.

As I understand things, the 773 can be used for calibration, but only by breaking the loop and any calibrator will do that.

To cover my needs at work (which don't include needing to calibrate to traceable standards, but do include thermocouples, mA transmitters and positioners, along with the occasional DC Voltage transducer), I use a cheap(ish) Chinese multifunction process calibrator (it's at work at the moment, so I can't be sure, but it looks like an MS7224) and the Fluke 771. We've just bought some LB02 calibrators for the guys who go out on site. These will at least sanity-check pretty much everything we normally need to deal with and are intended to augment their Fluke 771s. The LB01 and LB02 are quite extraordinary value and IMO make a very good combination with a Fluke 771.

Unless you need traceable calibration and have the budget to keep the calibration certs current, I'd suggest the 771 and a Chinese calibrator will offer better value.

I've not, so far, found a Chinese 771-equivalent at a low enough price to be worth taking a punt on, though I'd expect that to change before too long.

 

[Brad93]

Do kewtech not offer anything to meet your needs? They’re well made and usually a fair chunk cheaper than fluke.

 

[brightspark]

got all my meters from test for less and from pass on teeside

 

[timgunn1962]

Do kewtech not offer anything to meet your needs? They’re well made and usually a fair chunk cheaper than fluke.

There is indeed a Kew2500 which seems to be comparable to the Fluke 771, but it seems to be more expensive. It does provide a wider range though (0-120 mA), which might be useful.

 

[Robbie260]

I use a Fluke 771 a fair bit at work. It only does the clamp mode and the accuracy isn't good enough for calibration. The 771 allows measurement of loop currents where breaking the loop would shut down the process and is good enough for fault finding and sanity-checking 0/4-20 mA loops.

As I understand things, the 773 can be used for calibration, but only by breaking the loop and any calibrator will do that.

To cover my needs at work (which don't include needing to calibrate to traceable standards, but do include thermocouples, mA transmitters and positioners, along with the occasional DC Voltage transducer), I use a cheap(ish) Chinese multifunction process calibrator (it's at work at the moment, so I can't be sure, but it looks like an MS7224) and the Fluke 771. We've just bought some LB02 calibrators for the guys who go out on site. These will at least sanity-check pretty much everything we normally need to deal with and are intended to augment their Fluke 771s. The LB01 and LB02 are quite extraordinary value and IMO make a very good combination with a Fluke 771.

Unless you need traceable calibration and have the budget to keep the calibration certs current, I'd suggest the 771 and a Chinese calibrator will offer better value.

I've not, so far, found a Chinese 771-equivalent at a low enough price to be worth taking a punt on, though I'd expect that to change before too long.

There is indeed a Kew2500 which seems to be comparable to the Fluke 771, but it seems to be more expensive. It does provide a wider range though (0-120 mA), which might be useful.

Yes it seems to be and looks like what im after possibly might just splurge on a new dmm though and hopefully get as close as possible to an all in one machine when a few accesories are added. Been looking at a 1587 with an i400 current clamp from fluke as the megger testing feature would be real handy and getting a good temperature probe to go with, and a cheap signal generator off of amazon or bang good and that should cover all the bases for roughly the same money as the ebay chinese import 773 and my t6 + a few more.

Out of interest while i have been looking around come a cross a load of these mini ossiliscopes. Do any of you guys have an opinoin on how useful they are.

Do kewtech not offer anything to meet your needs? They’re well made and usually a fair chunk cheaper than fluke.

I have been scouring thier catalog as i really like their stuff but unfortunatley everything they have seems to just manage to come up short for me in one specification or another.