timothy585
Member
- Location
- Cajun Country
- Occupation
- Automation Project Manager
I've been working with multimeters for 20+ years. Most of my work has been oilfield/refinery work both offshore and onshore in southern Louisiana. Outside temperatures get fairly hot in the summer, but my meters have never failed due to direct exposure to high temperature conditions.
Well, the past 9 months I've been working in a new location for the first time...south Texas desert. Literally 10 miles or so north of the Rio Grande. And it's HOT, I mean stupid HOT sometimes. I find myself using my meter mostly on equipment skids sitting unprotected in the sun. This year has been especially hot and it's not uncommon to be working in an afternoon temp in the 105 - 115 range with full sun. 119 was the record last month. Even under an umbrella or canopy, the temp in the shade is still easily 105 -115 quite often.
My daily meter right now is actually a 115. It's compact, does 99% of what I need to do on a daily basis and is inexpensive enough to get beat up a little and me not lose sleep about it. If I need to work on a loop or need more resolution, I can always walk to my truck and grab my 789, 87 or 707.
The problem is that on hot days where I have no choice but to expose it to direct sun for as little as an hour, it will start to fail.
- The display will stop working and just show a few dashed lines.
- When I turn the meter to the OFF position, the display remains on, continuing to showing the dashed lines.
- After a cool-down in my truck for half an hour or so, it returns to normal.
ANYWAY...sorry for the long post. But does anyone know of a meter, regardless of manufacturer, that is designed to work in really harsh, i.e. high temp environments?
Appreciate any input.
Well, the past 9 months I've been working in a new location for the first time...south Texas desert. Literally 10 miles or so north of the Rio Grande. And it's HOT, I mean stupid HOT sometimes. I find myself using my meter mostly on equipment skids sitting unprotected in the sun. This year has been especially hot and it's not uncommon to be working in an afternoon temp in the 105 - 115 range with full sun. 119 was the record last month. Even under an umbrella or canopy, the temp in the shade is still easily 105 -115 quite often.
My daily meter right now is actually a 115. It's compact, does 99% of what I need to do on a daily basis and is inexpensive enough to get beat up a little and me not lose sleep about it. If I need to work on a loop or need more resolution, I can always walk to my truck and grab my 789, 87 or 707.
The problem is that on hot days where I have no choice but to expose it to direct sun for as little as an hour, it will start to fail.
- The display will stop working and just show a few dashed lines.
- When I turn the meter to the OFF position, the display remains on, continuing to showing the dashed lines.
- After a cool-down in my truck for half an hour or so, it returns to normal.
ANYWAY...sorry for the long post. But does anyone know of a meter, regardless of manufacturer, that is designed to work in really harsh, i.e. high temp environments?
Appreciate any input.
