Buh Bye Little Beckman

[Randall]

Some things you have to learn the hard way. I have this little Beckman toolkit meter that I have used for 30+ years. Today I rebuilt the filter cap section in a Slivertone 1483, tedious to say the least. Once finished I went about bringing it up slow on the limiter, and all sorts of bizarre behavior ensued. Strange readings, loss of power, loud hum with no output tubes, a red plating 5Y3, it drove me nuts! I figured I must have screwed something up, so I double and triple checked my wiring, but it all looked good. bang, then a fuse blew. Then I wasn't seemingly getting any filament voltage with the rectifier out, nothing made sense. At one point I simply touched my little meter to the power switch and BAM the GFI tripped.

I reset the GFI and started to take a hard look at this meter, which if I think back I thought it was making a noise like a groan at some point. I put it on Voltage and plugged it into the wall and BANG! Spark! Dead. Now the switch won't even move. So as it turns out, powering up the amp without that dying meter hooked to it, it works just fine. I bet I spent 2 hours trying to find my mistake, and all the while it was this meter shorting out. I'm glad I didn't get hurt or break the guys vintage amp somehow.

I thought I would tell this tale because I have never heard of this kind of failure in a meter. Was great while it worked.

[The Dude]

The manual has a schematic and layout included. Maybe you can fix it.

http://bama.edebris.com/download/bec...-DM73-DM77.pdf

[Randall]

Nah. It had a long and useful life, but I could never trust it after that. Time for a new one anyway.

[Enzo]

Wow, I had that exact same model meter when it first came out. !970s? I have seen it with many brand names on it. I think mine was Extech. I loved that little meter. The numbers were right next to where I was probing, no head turning. And it fit in my little zipper pouch basic tool kit. It lasted for years.

[Mick Bailey]

I had my old Fluke model 12 give up on me after about 25 years of daily use. It was sorry for the loss of my old friend. Despite the inconvenience of no current measurement it easily made up for it wit the fast auto-ranging, auto flip from ohms to volts and single-hand use. It had been dropped so many times and chucked around, and carried the scars of battle. I had a string of other meters, but nothing fitted the way I work as well as that Fluke. Maybe it was the other way round - perhaps It had it subverted the way I work and conditioned my behaviour around itself.

Anyhow, I kept an eye on Ebay and nothing, so I gave up and moved on. Then one day I was searching for some meter leads and happened across a brand-new, boxed Model 11 (same as the 12 but without the peak-hold function) for £28. Got it. Even better, it had come from a aircraft/space company and despite the age had been tested and calibrated immediately before going on sale.

Funny how you become attached to stuff.

[Enzo]

"We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us."
--------------Marshall McLuhan (and others)

[nevetslab]

Ah...that little 'probe-style DMM. I still have mine...haven't used it in many years...tucked a way in my box of probes. Never did have problems with it, but never used it for everything either. I still use my Fluke 8060A Audio DMM, with a second one for back-up at home. I never did see Fluke come out with one as good or better in a hand-held that was like those.