Meter Question....can you figure it out??
- Thread starter sparky723
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hurk27
Senior Member
- Location
- Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
Well if the one you have doesn't have fuses, then it might likelly be a China knock off, boot legged into the US, those instructions above are from Amp-Probes web site for your model, and the fact that to even have a cat 3 rating the meter must have some kind of protection from over voltage.
and sorry about stating that there was a image, the image I was talking about is the PDF of the instructions, they were scaned in to the PDF as an image file, if you notice the instructions I posted is a image.
and sorry about stating that there was a image, the image I was talking about is the PDF of the instructions, they were scaned in to the PDF as an image file, if you notice the instructions I posted is a image.
sparky, the zzzziiit sound means you fried your meter...it's done, toast, forget it. If you were looking close you may have even seen some smoke.
The HID fixture you tried to measure had a HV pulse igniter, which became active when you connected the meter and tried to read the voltage.
I have fried a few meters in my day by forgetting to disable the HV ignitors in my Xenon lamphouses. It is a very high voltage, high frequency pulse that forces an arc across the electrodes in the xenon lamp.
Time to get a new meter and move on.
The HID fixture you tried to measure had a HV pulse igniter, which became active when you connected the meter and tried to read the voltage.
I have fried a few meters in my day by forgetting to disable the HV ignitors in my Xenon lamphouses. It is a very high voltage, high frequency pulse that forces an arc across the electrodes in the xenon lamp.
Time to get a new meter and move on.
sparky723
Senior Member
- Location
- Haskell,Tx
I figured that was the case anyway. I just wanted to see if anyone on here knew of some miracle rejuvenation technique from the middle east to get its heart back to beating.
Oh well, it served me very well over the years and my new meter will not be used on an HID fixture.
Any suggestions/recommendations as to meters yall like?
Fluke,Fieldpiece,Greenlee,etc....?
Thanks for yalls help.
P.S.- My meter was an actual Amprobe, NOT a china knockoff.
hurk27
Senior Member
- Location
- Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
I wasn't implying it wasn't a real Amp-Prob, just that it is strange that it doesn't have the fuses the instructions say it has, and that most cat 3 rated instruments do have, and there has been allot of equipment cloned by China, as far as what to replace it with, I don't use a DVM often, but I do have a few, all fluke except the one I always have with me, is an Amp-Probe 610 AC/DC which does DC current up to 600 amps, got lucky at a yard sale for $15.00 brand new in the box with case and all, retail was about $685.00 at the time, but can be bought now for under $300.00 HERE it has many features I have grown to like, and has peak capture, and reading hold.
But for regular voltage testing I use a mini-Volt-Con under $40.00 at most big box stores by Ideal, as its a loaded meter and will not read stray voltages, as well as having the continuity tester built in, although lately I have had to replace it several times, from the leads going bad, and the continuity part stopped working once, the supply house replaced it with no problems.
I have PDF somewhere on troubleing HID lighting somewhere on one of my computers, if I can find it i'll post it.
But for regular voltage testing I use a mini-Volt-Con under $40.00 at most big box stores by Ideal, as its a loaded meter and will not read stray voltages, as well as having the continuity tester built in, although lately I have had to replace it several times, from the leads going bad, and the continuity part stopped working once, the supply house replaced it with no problems.
I have PDF somewhere on troubleing HID lighting somewhere on one of my computers, if I can find it i'll post it.
Last edited:
hurk27
Senior Member
- Location
- Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
It was to large to upload so I found the web site:
hid-troubleshooting-guide.pdf
Good source of info on trouble shooting HID lights and some neat tricks
hid-troubleshooting-guide.pdf
Good source of info on trouble shooting HID lights and some neat tricks
amprobe am-16a
amprobe am-16a
Sparky, here is the link http://amprobe.com/manuals/AM16A.pdf to your meter manual. It appears the 16a is not fused but the 15a and 18a are. The instructions indicate a high voltage probe is needed for voltages over the 600 ac/dc rating of the meter. there is a caution that says the meter can be damaged. Yours is probably toast. But on some meters I have seen that dont have a removable fuse, there are some that have a soldered in fuse wire. Dont know if the am-16a has a wire or not. But it wont hurt to look. It would be on the circuit board and they arent all that easy to recognise. Unless you are lucky and see "fuse" or "fu" or something like that. Some might have "0.1A" or "2.0A" between 2 points or circuit lands. Might be a small flash or smoke mark and might not.
amprobe am-16a
Sparky, here is the link http://amprobe.com/manuals/AM16A.pdf to your meter manual. It appears the 16a is not fused but the 15a and 18a are. The instructions indicate a high voltage probe is needed for voltages over the 600 ac/dc rating of the meter. there is a caution that says the meter can be damaged. Yours is probably toast. But on some meters I have seen that dont have a removable fuse, there are some that have a soldered in fuse wire. Dont know if the am-16a has a wire or not. But it wont hurt to look. It would be on the circuit board and they arent all that easy to recognise. Unless you are lucky and see "fuse" or "fu" or something like that. Some might have "0.1A" or "2.0A" between 2 points or circuit lands. Might be a small flash or smoke mark and might not.
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