Actions
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 75 replies
  • Subscribers 530 subscribers
  • Views 9322 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Related

Should Handheld multimeters have color LCD displays?

scottiebabe

As I am waiting for my OWON HDS242 to come in the mail, I thought I might ask other members how they feel about a handheld multimeter having a power hungry color LCD display.

The product webpage suggests a battery life of 3-6 hours. https://www.owon.com.hk/products_owon_hds200_series_digital_oscilloscope 

Even more interesting/exciting is the batteries can be recharged with a USB-C cable.

Based on Kerry Wong's teardown: http://www.kerrywong.com/2021/09/18/teardown-of-an-owon-hds272s-3-in-1-handheld-oscilloscope-dmm-awg-compared-with-hantek-2d72/ the multimeter functionality is galvanically isolated from the usb connector.

What do you think?

First time trying the poll feature, hopefully I didn't goof it!

Based on Kerry's notes the meter also has the bones of a real oscilloscope (ADC, FPGA, Sample memory, etc..) How performant is oscilloscope it? I don't know yet.... But I am intrigued!

Update: The scopemeter arrived!

Indoors the color LCD looks awesome! For me my multimeter ends up either sitting flat on my desk on in my lap and in both those cases the display is 10x easier to read than a segment LCD without a backlight.

Outdoors with direct sunlight the segment LCD is easier to read than the color LCD.

In the shade outdoors, I think both display technologies are equally legible.

image

Parents Reply Children
  • in reply to scottiebabe
    scottiebabe said:
    Do you still need a rotary selection switch? I don't know...

    For a handheld, I still think it's the ergonomic winner.
    Meter in one hand, turning the switch with the other. Just looking from the corner of your eye is enough to see if it's correct (if you know your meter)

  • in reply to Jan Cumps

    How about a touch screen - operate with just one hand?

  • in reply to dougw

    It may work excellent too. I have some kind of test bed:

    The Keithley DMM6500 has colour display and touch screen. Not a perfect example because it's a bench meter. But in essence a DMM with colour and touch.

    I am fluent with operating it, and think it has a good interface. But I need more attention/focus, and typically am spending all attention to the screen and my finger's actions, when I manipulate the meter. Also for simple actions like a range change. 

    (same with a physical calculator, and a simulator of that very calculator on my phone's screen: I am an order of magnitude slower on the touch screen)

  • in reply to dougw

    Aaaaaaarrrrrrgh! I hate touch screens! In the case of a DMM the screen would be at the mercy of oily fingers, the oil possibly containing metallic microparticles. The fingers might be protected by surgical rubber gloves that have been worn several times previously, and maybe still have traces of solvents on them. And then theres the sawdust, getting wiped off with an oily rag. A rotary switch for me, with the control knob 'dished' so as to reduce the possibility of debris disappearing down the sides. I had a really cheap and not nasty analogue MM once upon a time - it had one 2mm (approx) socket marked with a minus sign, and several other 2mm sockets identified as +5mA, +10mA, +20vDC, etc, into which the user plugged the red probe. No moving parts, no switch to wear out, worked a treat. I've never seen one like that since.