Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

RE: Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

DAB — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 19:36:21 GMT

Good Blog.

I always suspected that some of these test devices had the same basic design with just advanced features disabled.

DAB

RE: Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

tin_xdevs — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 16:18:29 GMT

It's always a pleasure to see meters used for extended periods in "undocumented" way, rather than being dumped and scrapped, filling landfills.

And, yeap, it's different problem there, but some correlation do exist. Also lot of test gear is obsolete and not supported by it's manufacturer, even being still capable of doing job just fine after fixing and DIY upgrade to comply with modern world software. There is also another example, being offtopic, as overclocking in PC industry (including modification of hardware and tricking original operation way to run faster), which now become whole another sub-industry within with "gaming" hardware and such.

RE: Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

Robert Peter Oakes — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:34:19 GMT

Doing this for yourself is one thing but the minute you start sharing it or selling it, you get into legal issues including copy write and stealing etc

Scopes (Michael) are not high end crippled to provide low end, they are a single platform made to a single hardware build and rather than sell for only the high end price, the options you would normally pay more for are not enabled. This allows the buyer to get the cheaper scope now but not have to buy a completely separate scope later for way more than just the upgrade and have two. you simply pay for the upgrade on your existing scope.

this is far cheaper than buying a second scope. It is also a way of manufacturers being able to optimize manufacturing and keep the prices down overall as there is only a single BOM (Or minimal changes to the BOM) If they (The manufacturer had to build separate hardware for every model with separate software, all the products would be way more expensive and people would be hard pressed to pick the right model as to upgrade later would be a whole new scope

to "Disable" the other features your NOT paying for and allowing you to buy them later is cheaper for you in the long run and for the manufacturer, it is a win win situation

again, hacking the keys on a scope and telling everyone how to do it is illegal or highly un ethical. if you do it to your own then fine, just don't cross the line and sell or share the knowledge

that same for this Fluke Hack, it is one thing to do it yourself, you cross the line when your publically showing how to get features you have not paid for and the reason fluke did it was not to gouge more money from you but to allow them to provide better products at a better price for all but streamlining their manufacturing processes and practices

Peter

RE: Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

tin_xdevs — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 14:30:55 GMT

I'm sure loyal customers get decent discounts on various special promotions, when they are big enough :) Anyhow, that's somewhat offtopic, which I would rather not go into.

RE: Modification and tricks for Fluke 5x-II series thermometers

michaelkellett — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:08:27 GMT

Very interesting !! (have you thought about selling kits !)

What I find so hard to understand is why don't Fluke (and other manufacturers who do the same or similar things) just make the one meter with the full spec and sell more by offering good value for money - I've given up on Fluke a while ago because the value for money just isn't there.

When this practice bugs me most is on scopes where there are people selling a 4GHz scope crippled by software to low bandwidth and reduced memory - it can be "upgraded" by software key for loads of money. They aren't selling too well I think. As far as I can tell all the bits in the scope I bought (LeCroy) are actually being used.