Low Ohm measurments with multimeters / FLUKE VS Agilent

[Kiriakos GR]

Well my personal needs about low ohms is not that demanding.
Even so when I discovered that those FLUKE 87V and 28II haves a poor resolution at low Ohms,
my finding that the dinosaur FLUKE 8012A haves a special low Ohm mode and dedicated input, it become a good reason to get one.

I love handhelds and so the fresh Agilent U1270 Series it just gave me back what I was needed.

Even so it does makes you to wonder, of why FLUKE does not use their old R&D in their latest handheld multimeters? 

[Phyllomedusa]

Well, that kind of wonders me about the 87V?! It is often referred to be as THE automotive Multimeter and therefore should be also used for measuring low Ohms like ignition coils or transformers or some actuators (injection valves for example). Well sure, if it's shorted you get sth. around zero or so.
On the other hand. Do the 87V or 28II have the ability of offset measurements to zero out the test-leads in low ohm measurements?
I think it was just not designed for low resistance work as Fluke do offer a tool every task (pretty nice but getting pretty expensive and lot's of weight in your bag).

[Kiriakos GR]

Well, that kind of wonders me about the 87V?! It is often referred to be as THE automotive Multimeter

FLUKE are listing the 87V and 28II as pure industrial meters.
But in  the internet I have seen several people to baptize them as the choice of the electronics engineers,
Which is a big lie.
And now I read this about automotive use ?

http://www.fluke.com/Fluke/auen/Digital-Multimeters/Fluke-87V-Ex.htm?PID=56141

Do the 87V or 28II have the ability of offset measurements to zero out the test-leads in low ohm measurements?

I think it was just not designed for low resistance work as Fluke do offer a tool every task (pretty nice but getting pretty expensive and lot's of weight in your bag).

Yes both the 87V and 28II have the relative mode (zero out) but what they missing is the resolution.

At the time that I got in my hands those  87 and 28II I did find at least seven annoyances in their functionality,
for the most of them I have inform FLUKE directly, and funny enough they did have a justification ready, for its one complain.

Well I do not need justifications, I need less annoyances, and interestingly enough even up to date they do not look to care so to further improve those things. 

As for example the slow transition in the 20,000 counts mode,  when the voltage gets higher than 20V the meter gets to 6000 counts natural resolution, and the voltage must drop down to 14V so the 20,000 counts resolution to become active again. 
 
In the past I was monitor the European market daily about FLUKE products pricing, it was those times that I was interested to get all those extra leads and soft bags.
Germany was and is the most expensive market about FLUKE products.
And I had to avoid it !

And the point is that when you pay the price premium, you do not expect to find any annoyances at all.

When I did this conversation in a forum full of FLUKE fans, they said that it does not matter if those FLUKE meters does not have high resolution in low Ohm, either way the measurement it will not be accurate with a simple multimeter,   you need a four wires measurement for a proper  measurement. 

Well if the dinosaur FLUKE 8012A can do a proper job with just two wires,
and the Agilent U1272 & U1273 can do the same .

The conclusion is that the truth sines and with out my help.   

By the way the resistor that those multimeters are measuring,
is one ultra high precision American DALE, one of the nine in the first stage of my decade box.

What looks as impressive, is the probably uncalibrated for 20 years old FLUKE meter, that even so, it is very close to the fresh made Agilent. 

But for the fresh made FLUKE meters, due the fact that those instruments are made by different technology , they have to prove their value over time as unique models.
 
 

[Kiriakos GR]

I am reading my articles which I wrote six years back and now that I am much more expert I do not feel the need to change a single word. 

Yesterday I did maintenance at my FLUKE 8012A,  push button switches was not operating freely, and measurement rate also seemed slow to stabilize.
I did use Testanol electrical connection and tuner spray, and everything now returned to normal. 

For once more time I did tested the Low-Ohm range, this has two available options:  2 Ohms range and  20 Ohms range.
This time I tested one 10 milliohm shunt resistor,  and the meter was spot on.
I did also check FLUKE 8012A Low-Ohm range specification, this has a accuracy tolerance of  +/- 1%.
 
Therefore  2 Ohms range with +/- 1%,  this is still usable even today for evaluation of current shunt at not critical applications.