Review: EDU34450A - 5½ Digit Multimeter

EDU34450A Digital Multimeter Review - John Porter

The digital multimeter (DMM) is arguably the most important equipment on any bench and can be found in any electrician’s tool belt or toolbox. The Keysight EDU34450A is a solid bench multimeter, loaded with features including many which are found on higher end models. The EDU34450A performs very well, and the DMM’s 5 ½ digits are more than ample for most applications. It is a good fit for the Keysight Smart Bench Essentials and provides all the expected measurement functions and more:

• DC voltage
• DC current
• AC voltage
• AC Current
• Two and four-wire resistance
• Frequency
• Continuity
• Diode test
• Temperature (Thermistor only) and
• Capacitance

As is consistent across all four of the Keysight Smart Bench Essentials, the EDU34450A includes the large 7” color display which is very easy to read and provides a clear view of display readings, even from a distance.

Settings can be saved internally, on USB or to Pathwave BenchVue Function DMM software. Firmware can be updated by USB or over the network using the Keysight Basic Firmware Update Utility, I used the network utility without issue followed by activating the self-test feature to validate all was good.

The controls are clear and straight forward, white buttons light up along with screen labels to display what measurement is selected. The options on the screen adapt to the measurement at hand and display any relevant settings.

High end digital multimeters allow adjustments to the measurement aperture in number of power line cycles (NPLC) that pass by for each measurement. Faster measurements deliver quick response over fewer NPLCs, slower measurements provide greater resolution and noise rejection over higher NPLCs. The Keysight 34461A allows five ranges of NPLC for example. The EDU34450A does not provide direct adjustment of NPLC, however the aperture can be changed by setting the resolution to slow, medium or fast settings. The use of slow, med, fast provides the base functionality but with reduced complexity. According to Keysight, the slow setting is approximately 10NPLC, medium 1NPLC and fast is approximately 0.06NPLC.

There are no rear inputs on the EDU34450A, which is perfectly fine for this series – it is preferable to use the front inputs as it allows students to quickly see what is plugged in, and where. The fuse is conveniently located on the front panel, allowing for easy changes and is helpful for instructors when students blow these, as they tend to do frequently. The DMM uses auto ranging by default, however manual ranges can be set with ease with a dedicated range button..

The EDU34450A allows display of a variety of secondary measurements. I was surprised to see that this DMM allows both voltage and current to be displayed simultaneously, no other DMM I have worked with supports both at the same time. The concurrent measurement of voltage and current requires careful placement of three leads and is susceptible to increasing error as current increases, however this may help eliminate the need for two DMMs to measure both voltage and current simultaneously.

The EDU34450A includes probe hold, high/low limit alarms, data logging to a respectable 5000 points, and statistics. I use the statistics often to display min, max and average values. The run/stop button is only available for data logging and does not stop measurements during normal acquisition as the 34461A does, I miss the capability to freeze the acquisition to take a reading and would put that on a feature request list.

Help is available almost everywhere, pressing and holding most buttons will bring up a help menu which explains what the applicable functions are. The readily available help will allow students to quickly learn and understand to be efficient with the EDU34450A.

The EDU34450A is closely related to the Keysight 34450A bench DMM, even sharing the same model digits, however the EDU version has a the large 7” color display in place of an OLED display and includes Ethernet connectivity among some other differences. The EDU34450A is $253 less expensive than its OLED cousin.

Key Specifications and comparison of the Keysight EDU34450A to the Keysight (Agilent) 34461A and competitive education packages

Performance

The EDU34450A performs very well and is well suited for its role as an educational tool. Resolution settings of slow/medium/fast introduce students to the concept of aperture while providing very usable, common settings.

I stacked the EDU34450A up against my Keysight (Agilent) 34461A, it was well within tolerance and provided very close results compared to the more expensive 34461A, only falling short when measuring a very low 2-wire resistance. It is worth noting that the EDU34450A arrived calibrated, and my 34461A has not been calibrated in several years – accordingly, the EDU34450A is assumed to be more accurate. For the most part, similar features are available in both, however the 34461A has ‘more’ of nearly everything - and supports advanced measurements beyond education and standard bench use.  More aperture settings, temperature capabilities, graphs, digits, statistics, inputs, ranges, measurable current limits, etc.

Software - Pathwave BenchVue DMM

In almost every case, I preferred the web interface over the BenchVue application as the web closely duplicates the display and controls. While you can’t turn the DMM on or off or move cables around, you might as well be sitting right in front of it. The advantage the BenchVue DMM app brings is that it enables enhanced logging and graphical charts. However, control is limited to basic functions and the display is less informative than the front panel. Test flow is not available. I did notice more digits of resolution in the logged data, up to seven – not sure where the extra resolution comes from? And confusingly, often more or less digits on the app vs the DMM during live view. I had hoped the Pathwave BenchVue DMM app would bring integrated test flow and cloud-based control of the devices – sadly it is not to be, perhaps more function will arrive in future releases.

Conclusion

The Keysight EDU34450A is a solid bench multimeter, loaded with features including many which are found on higher end models. The EDU34450A performs. 5½ digits are more than ample for most applications, however may be limiting to those looking for high end precision. It proves it's value within the Keysight Smart Bench Essentials or on it's own. 

Favorite features

• Large 7” color display with large digits and detailed display
• Full of features found on higher end digital multimeters
• Many measurement functions, including the common measurements plus four wire resistance, temperature, capacitance, frequency, and diode
• Measurement speed can be set to slow, medium, fast
• Data logging and graphical display of logged data
• Web interface and remote control is excellent
• Pathwave BenchVue DMM software allows for advanced data logging and remote device management
• Performance is close to higher end equipment, albeit at 5½ digits
• Price is reasonable considering the features
• Can save up to five configurations as default, or to recall as required
• Measure voltage and current simultaneously 

Needs improvement

• Occasional system lockup when viewing dual display over web interface
• Run/stop button only works for data logging, it would be helpful to expand the run/stop capability to normal acquisition
• With no input on certain combinations of dual display, the DMM struggles to autorange and causes excessive relay clicking
• Pathwave BenchVue DMM can use more features and refinement. Cloud-enabled control, test flow, full-feature control and device interoperability are lacking. Ethernet connection can be finicky.

This blog of the EDU34450A  is one in a series of reviews covering the Keysight Smart Bench Essentials. Return to the principal review here.