resurrecting Avometer 8

[lazybones]

I’ve inherited an AVO Avometer 8 MK II, apparently manufactured in the early 1960s. It APPEARS to be functional – I can read voltage & current from a D cell. The device takes a D cell (now replaced fresh), and an Eveready EVR-411 15V battery. The 15V seems to be a bit of a strange bird and hard to come by, and some websites say that it is discontinued by Eveready.

My questions for you:
a) Can I MacGyver standard consumer cells into a suitable facsimile? Would I just duct-tape 10 1.5V cells together and run +/- to the poles of the battery compartment?
b) Does anyone know of a source for reasonably priced replacements in North America (preferably Canada)?

[olddawg]

Don't really know what an Avometer is, but 15vdc is 15vdc as long as you don't have some wierd internal resistance problem with the battery requirement. You also might consider building a dc power supply with a small transformer, a pi filter, and a 15v monolithic regulator IC.

[Alex R]

I think the voltage and current measurements will work fine without either battery.

[drewl]

Hey, I think I remember them....I used to work on meters and test equipment.
Instead of the discontinued 15v cell, can you use two 9v batteries in wired in series?

[lazybones]

I tossed this question out on another forum as well. I got a suggestion to use 2 Eveready 504 15v batteries wired in parallel to give the same mA lifetime as the original battery. I'll still have to get those by mailorder, so right now I guess I'll try duct-taping a bunch of consumer cells together.

My father passed away in April, and when my Mom asked what I wanted I said "anything electronics". I played with this thing as a child but had no idea he still had it, so I'd really like to honor him by getting it up and running :-)

Avometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Enzo]

Before you go nuts with the batteries, as someone mentioned, it ought to measure everything except ohms without the batteries. And the 15v is probably only for certain ranges of resistance at that. Bor example in the Triplett meter I recently found, the 30v battery in that is only used for the Rx100k range.

[drewl]

Yup, I remember them.
A-v-o-meter
Amp, volt, ohm meter

[Tubebass]

We still have one like that at work. Probably the most accurate multimeter we have.

[Enzo]

Just can't seem to get the autorange to work.

[Steve Conner]

Best meter in the world!

They are British made, which is why you don't see them in America. The American equivalent would be some sort of Simpson. Our technicians still have a couple in their workshop. I had one, but I dropped it and broke the movement.

Yes, everything except the ohms ranges will work without the batteries. And anything you can cram into the battery compartment that gives the right voltage is fair game. The 15V battery powers the Ohms X 100 range, and I would try two 9v batteries in series to replace it, with some sort of gizmo in series to drop the excess volts. Maybe 4 diodes, or a LM385-2.5 reference, or a blue LED or whatever.

[drewl]

We still have one like that at work. Probably the most accurate multimeter we have.

Bah! Simpsons rule!

Anyway, I have an old old Simpson that also used an odd battery for one of the Ohms ranges.
I used like a C cell or something and shimmed it with a washer so it would fit.

[Alex R]

Before you go nuts with the batteries, as someone mentioned, it ought to measure everything except ohms without the batteries. And the 15v is probably only for certain ranges of resistance at that. Bor example in the Triplett meter I recently found, the 30v battery in that is only used for the Rx100k range.

Yep mine's fine except the diode tester won't beep.

[lazybones]

I found watch batteries in packs of 5 at the dollar store, so I bought a bunch. I taped them into a cylinder with a piece of paper and alligator-clipped it to the poles of the battery compartment. I got movement from the needle, so I know it works, but I can't adjust the zero. While it is semi-functional, looks like it still needs professional recalibration before it is actually useable. In any case, it sure looks sharp on my bench!