Extech tutorial

[Stratz]

Yes. This is the worst display I have ever seen on any professionally designed instrument. To begin with, the secondary information is too small, requiring extreme focal correction for old eyes. With that stupid blurry stuff over it, I have to get within a few inches in order to read it, even in bright light. Or I can remove all correction and use my natural extreme near sightedness. This is a fairly new instrument, and I nearly sent it back. Determining the mode of operation or the frequency is just way too difficult.

I tried lifting a corner, but stopped for fear of making it worse. I am tempted to just remove the plastic all together.

Thanks Mike. This matte finish cover must be something new as the old screen didn't have it.

Joe, I did contact Extech when I got it back. The tech said that they don't sell the meter with a non glare, matte finish screen. No surprise there.

Scott, you can download the software here at the bottom of the page. VER 1.3 (15.6MB) is the newest (perhaps the only version) as far as I can tell. You will need the optical cable (my meter came with it) and a PC with a serial port. I run it on Win XP-SP2 and it works good.

I don't like the new LCD cover it as much as the original but I can live with it.

Thanks to all for your help.
Rob

[SonnyW]

The display on mine is OK, too.

I got mine used off of ebay (really cheap, too!).

Sonny, is there any way I could get that software? I would really like to automate my measurement collection. I measure every pickup for final QC and the hand translation gets old after awhile, as well as providing plenty of opportunities for error.

Thanks,

Scott

That's what I use it for and it is great. You can export to a spreadsheet, set go-no go etc. The software is a runtime adaptation of LabView, I think I read somewhere. Mine came with a CD and a cable. You can download the software free from extech here:

Extech Instruments - Software Downloads

but you will need the special cable if yours didn't have it. It is an optical to serial RS232 cable. If you don't have the cable, you can order both the cable and the CD from TestExtra (which is where I got my meter from. Scroll down to the bottom. It's $19.99

Extech 380193 LCR Meter, extech 380193 passive component lcr meter

[Joe Gwinn]

That's what I use it for and it is great. You can export to a spreadsheet, set go-no go etc. The software is a runtime adaptation of LabView, I think I read somewhere. Mine came with a CD and a cable. You can download the software free from extech here:

Extech Instruments - Software Downloads

but you will need the special cable if yours didn't have it. It is an optical to serial RS232 cable. If you don't have the cable, you can order both the cable and the CD from TestExtra (which is where I got my meter from. Scroll down to the bottom. It's $19.99

Extech 380193 LCR Meter, extech 380193 passive component lcr meter

I think these optical RS232 cables are universal and standard.

You can also talk to a meter with a computer having a real serial port, and Hyperterm. The protocol isn't complex, and is all ascii. Start with a "?". Extech has it documented somewhere.

[SonnyW]

I think there optical RS232 cables are universal and standard.

You can also talk to a meter with a computer having a real serial port, and Hyperterm. The protocol isn't complex, and is all ascii. Start with a "?". Extech has it documented somewhere.

First Joe, let me say you have helped me more with understanding the Extech meter and its uses than anyone else has. I'm very grateful for that. But I have never seen another cable just like this one, and I have seen a lot of fiber cables in my former work. Of course, on the other hand, I don't get around much anymore. The meter has an optical interface that is not TOSlink or anything optical like I have seen before. It has three connections- looks like a transmit/ recieve/ key combination. It might be a universal thing though, in another meter interface world that I don't travel in. Anyway I did a little googling and came up with this cable for $10 that is the same as the one I have. I don't know how many of these he has.

IR2 Optical Interface RS-232C Cable - $10.00 : Bryan Kollar!, The Computer Guy

I'm sure that once you get connected to the meter, it would probably work fine with the hyperterminal interface, but on the other hand the software from Extech is free and already highly developed. One does need to press the button on the meter three times to record all the available data to the PC.

[the great waldo]

Hi All

Does anyone know if it's worth upgrading to an extech lcr200 from their normal model. The test frequencies go up to 100 khz ?

Cheers

Andrew

[Joe Gwinn]

First Joe, let me say you have helped me more with understanding the Extech meter and its uses than anyone else has. I'm very grateful for that. But I have never seen another cable just like this one, and I have seen a lot of fiber cables in my former work. Of course, on the other hand, I don't get around much anymore. The meter has an optical interface that is not TOSlink or anything optical like I have seen before. It has three connections- looks like a transmit/ receive/ key combination. It might be a universal thing though, in another meter interface world that I don't travel in. Anyway I did a little googling and came up with this cable for $10 that is the same as the one I have. I don't know how many of these he has.

IR2 Optical Interface RS-232C Cable - $10.00 : Bryan Kollar!, The Computer Guy

I just looked at my Extech and it too had the three tubes interface, which physically differs from the D-connector outline on my Tek multimeter, so there are at least two families. I bet the optics are the same, and are all based on some chip, probably the same as is used for optical serial links (RS232-fiber-RS232). The Black Box catalog has many such things.

The photo at the Koller site is too blurry to tell if the interface is plausible.

I'm sure that once you get connected to the meter, it would probably work fine with the hyperterminal interface, but on the other hand the software from Extech is free and already highly developed. One does need to press the button on the meter three times to record all the available data to the PC.

I wanted people to know that there is a simple alternative if one wants to automate. There are lots of simple ways to talk to such instruments.

[ScottA]

Sonny,

Thanks, man.

It looks like the cable is discontinued and I couldn't find anybody with them in stock. Apparently it is still supplied with new meters, but I talked to Extech and they said I couldn't get one.

I just grabbed this one, I hope he still has it! It's cheaper, too!

Also, I see that you can get the software online.

Scott

First Joe, let me say you have helped me more with understanding the Extech meter and its uses than anyone else has. I'm very grateful for that. But I have never seen another cable just like this one, and I have seen a lot of fiber cables in my former work. Of course, on the other hand, I don't get around much anymore. The meter has an optical interface that is not TOSlink or anything optical like I have seen before. It has three connections- looks like a transmit/ recieve/ key combination. It might be a universal thing though, in another meter interface world that I don't travel in. Anyway I did a little googling and came up with this cable for $10 that is the same as the one I have. I don't know how many of these he has.

IR2 Optical Interface RS-232C Cable - $10.00 : Bryan Kollar!, The Computer Guy

I'm sure that once you get connected to the meter, it would probably work fine with the hyperterminal interface, but on the other hand the software from Extech is free and already highly developed. One does need to press the button on the meter three times to record all the available data to the PC.

[ScottA]

I like the 380193, but if I was going to go with a new meter, I'd probably go for one of these:

U1700 Series Handheld Capacitance and LCR Meters | Agilent

Hi All

Does anyone know if it's worth upgrading to an extech lcr200 from their normal model. The test frequencies go up to 100 khz ?

Cheers

Andrew

[jmaf]

I like the 380193, but if I was going to go with a new meter, I'd probably go for one of these:

U1700 Series Handheld Capacitance and LCR Meters | Agilent

What are the goodies on that one? Have you had experience with it?

[Joe Gwinn]

I like the 380193, but if I was going to go with a new meter, I'd probably go for one of these:

U1700 Series Handheld Capacitance and LCR Meters | Agilent

I read the users guide, where the specs are documented. Its accuracy specs on inductance are for Q no less than unity, so it ought to work for guitar pickups. And Agilent makes very good instruments.

For pickups, the 100 KHz is useless, and the 10 KHz is questionable, as these are above typical pickup self-resonant frequencies.

Anyway, the U1732C body is US $360 and the optical RS232 cable is US $31, and you will want a manual or two, so we are talking $400 or so. (The Extech is about $200.)

U1732C 100Hz/120Hz/1kHz/10kHz Handheld LCR Meter | Agilent

[ScottA]

What are the goodies on that one? Have you had experience with it?

No, I haven't. The new Extech doesn't have data logging capability, though, at least not built in. That would be one of my primary needs for a new system.

Thankfully, I (hope I) scored that cheap cable above.

[Mike Sulzer]

Here is a snapshot of the Extech display with blurring coating, compared to another similar cheap display.

[David Schwab]

Here is a snapshot of the Extech display with blurring coating, compared to another similar cheap display.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19270[/ATTACH]

Yuck. Are you sure that's not supposed to be removed?

[Mike Sulzer]

Yuck. Are you sure that's not supposed to be removed?

It is not a typical peel off coating. If it is intended to come off, it is not obvious because it does not peel back.

Is anyone else having trouble logging in? It just took me about a dozen attempts, some with browser restarts.

[Stratz]

Here is a snapshot of the Extech display with blurring coating, compared to another similar cheap display.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19270[/ATTACH]

Yup that's what my new screen looks like, has the same fingernail scratch mark in the top corner too.

That picture is not exaggerated by flash either, it really looks that bad.

No problem logging in. Firefox 12