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PRODUCT SHOWCASE
4000 count digital
multimeter
The first 3½-digit multimeters were
referred to as "2000 count" instruments, meaning that the maximum
reading on their display was 1999.
For some years now, 3½-digit multimeters have been available in "4000
count" versions and this means that
their maximum display reading is
3999.
This is a very useful increase and
means that more readings can be taken
before a given range is exceeded. The
result is that many readings can have
much better resolution; ie, four digits
displayed instead of three.
This 4000 count multimeter from
Dick Smith Electronics has a wealth
of features and includes 32 measurement ranges, all of which have overload protection. The meter is housed
in a rugged yellow case and is further
protected by a yellow rubber holster.
The meter probes have anti-slip ribbing and a guard ring to help prevent
accidental contact with the metal
prods.
The rotary selector switch has 30
settings: five AC voltage ranges from
400mV to 750VAC; five DC voltage
ranges from 400m V to 1000V; four DC
current ranges from 400µA to 400mA,
with the 40mA range also serving for
the 20A range; three AC current ranges
from 400µA to 400mA and again, the
40mA range doubling for the 20A
range; six resistance ranges from 400Q
to 40MQ; a diode test range; a frequency meter setting which gives four
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SILICON CHIP
ranges (autoranging) from 4kHz to
4MHz; a logic range; and four temperature measurement ranges.
A "peak hold" button can be used
to hold and store the reading on any
range. The meter is supplied with a
standard type K thermocouple for temperature measurement in degrees
Fahrenheit or degrees Celsius.
If the meter range switch has not
been used for 25 minutes, the meter
automatically powers down to conserve the battery. Moving the range
switch or pressing the power button
will turn the meter on again. Battery
life is quoted as 300 hours with a
standard zinc carbon 9V battery.
The liquid crystal display has
17mm-high digits for easy legibility
and has the usual range of annunciators to indicate the mode of measurement. An interesting touch is the inclusion of the full range value underneath the decimal point on every
range. For example, if you are on the
40kQ resistance range, "40" will appear under the decimal point. This is
a handy reminder.
All told, this multimeter has a good
range of features and is ruggedly made.
It is priced at $179 from all Dick Smith
Electronics stores (Cat. Q-1542).
High speed
oscilloscope card
Non-contact AC
voltage probe
This little probe is
ideal for checking for the
presence of high AC
voltages in wiring or circuits. It has the distinct
advantage that its probe
is insulated so even if you
touch the wiring directly
with the probe end, there
is little chance of electric
shock.
It is powered by two 1.5V watch
batteries and has a red LED and
audible beeper to indicate the presence of an AC voltage above 120V.
For example, if you run along a
mains power cord or place it di-
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rectly over a mains switch, it will
give an indication in the form of a
continuous modulated tone.
Recommended retail price of the
probe is $16.95 and it is available
from all Dick Smith Electronics
stores (Cat No Q-1531.)
Gage Applied Sciences Inc has released a 100 megasample/second digital storage oscilloscope card for PCs,
for applications requiring high speed
acquisition and storage.
The Compuscope 250 runs at 100
Ms/s on channel A or at 50Ms/s on
channels A and B simultaneously sampled. The Compuscope 250 is a two
channel card, with AC or DC coupling, but has the capability of driving slave units to provide up to eight
channels at 100Ms/s or 16 channels at
50 Ms/s. The card can trigger from
channel A, channel B, externally, or
from the keyboard; and with its onboard memory, will allow mid, post
or pre-triggering to capture relevant
waveform information, even at full
sample speed. The timebase is inde-
pendent on all channels and can sample from 1Hz to 100MHz in a 1-2-5
sequence.
Oscilloscope software is provided
with the card and will allow independent scrolling of all channels, horizontal zoom, dT & dV cursors and
zero reference. Printer output is supported as well as ASCII, Asyst,
DADiSP and Lotus 1-2-3 file formats.
Software modules are available, to run
with the oscilloscope software, which
allow processing of the data acquired,
including such functions as FFT, differentiation, arithmetic etc.
The card fits any PC-XT/AT/386
and has available drive software for
incorporating the Compuscope 250
into the users own software. More
information is available on this and
other Gage Compuscope equipment,
with a demonstration card available
for trial.
For further information, contact
Boston Technology Pty Ltd, PO Box
415 , Milsons Point, NSW 2061. Phone
(02) 955 4765 .
64-pin test clip for
microprocessors
Doing any sort of voltage checks
around microprocessors or other LSI
chips is fraught with danger. If you
short two of the pins together while
trying to touch one with a meter or
scope prod, you could fry the chip.
The safe way is to fit one of these
spring clips over it. These make it
easy to make safe electrical connections to any of the pins. This one is a
64-pin job but they come in various
sizes. It retails for $49. 95 and is available from all Rod Irving Electronics
stores.
Postcard-size interfaces
for GPIB Instruments
National Instruments Australia has
released two new RS-232-to-IEEE 488
boxes that require virtually no desktop space, and can be considered ex-
Inductance
meter
The Hioki 3510 HiTester measures inductance values down to
0.0lµH and dissipation
(loss factor) to four decimal places, and also provides a corresponding Q
indication (1/D). It includes a comparator
function and a monitoring function for applied
voltage and measurement current.
Also available is an optional GPIB interface.
For further information, contact
tensions of the GPIB and RS -232
cables. Both have built-in 115 or 230V
AC power supplies and built-in 256K
RAM buffers.
The GPIB-232CV-A is a GPIB-toRS-232 converter that links either a
GPIB controller to an instrument with
an RS-232 port, or a GPIB device to a
computer through its serial port. It
transparently converts data between
the two ports so that control codes or
special commands are not required.
Its switch-selectable interface parameters include GPIB address, transfer
rate, parity, stop bits, word length,
and termination mode.
The GPIB-232CT-A is an RS-232to-GPIB controller that turns any computer terminal with an RS-232 port
into an IEEE 488.2 controller. It implements both normal and extended
Talker and Listener, Serial and Parallel Polling, Service Requests, Pass and
Receive control functions, and remote
programming functions in three
Nilsen Instruments Pty Ltd, PO
Box 930, Collingwood, Vic 3066.
Phone (03) 419 9999. Fax (03) 416
1312.
modes of operation. In two of the
modes, either the GPIB or the RS-232
is configured as the controlling interface. In the third mode, the GPIB232CT-A can be configured to operate
in a custom application by the addition of new functions to the programmable IBCL operating system.
The GPIB-232CT-A is software-compatible with the company's GPIB232CT. The GPIB-232CT-A uses the
National Instruments NAT4882 chip
for complete compatibility with the
IEEE 488.2 standard, which defines
data formats, status reporting, error
handling, and common configuration
commands. It performs all Controller
functions specified by the IEEE 488.2
standard. High-level Nl -488.2 driver
software for DOS and Windows is
available.
For more information, contact National Instruments Australia, PO Box
466, Ringwood, Vic 3134. Phone (03)
879 9422.
VIDEO & T.V.
SERVICE PERSONNEL
TV & VIDEO FAULT LIBRARIES
AVAILABLE AS PRINTED MANUALS $85 +P/H
BOTH MANUALS T.V. & VIDEO $145 +P/H
· OR AS A PROGRAM FOR IBM COMPATIBLES OR AS AN
APPLICATION PROGRAM FOR D-BASE 111 PLUS
FOR MORE INFO. CONTACT TECHNICAL APPLICATIONS
PO BOX 137 KENMORE 4069 OR FAX/PHONE (07) 378 1064
APRIL
1993
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