[volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and solartron

Steve Krull steve-krull at cox.net
Fri Oct 7 13:48:02 UTC 2011 

Joe,

Yes, FlightSafety it is. I took ground school in 1964/65 and then 
discovered cars and girls. Probably should have stuck with airplanes...

In 20 years in the AF (8 active duty as a metrologist, 12 in the ANG as 
an F4 simulator engineer, metrologist, and finishing in a combat air 
control squadron) the only aircraft I ever flew in was a C-47 that 
didn't belong to us.

I now have a hearing disability that prevents me from passing a flight 
physical so I get my flying strictly in simulators, and little enough of 
that for the last 10 years as I was more in demand for dealing with the 
regulatory authorities.

Good luck with the meters. I got my first 3458A some years ago but was 
forced to sell it less than a year later. My second one was discovered 
by a stroke of luck, just after I got a 3457A and a pair of 3455A's from 
a local aircraft manufacturer's surplus outlet. The 7081 came from the 
same source. Those days are long gone now as they don't seem to be 
getting rid of things as much as they either trade them in on new or 
consign everything to a dealer who puts them on ebay.

I did discover the cal key for my 7081 has disappeared so I need to dig 
around a bit for that or look for a replacement. I almost bought the 
7081 manuals in paper but decided the pdf's will work for me for now.

Steve



On Thu, Oct 6, 2011 at 10:31 PM, J. L. Trantham wrote:

> Steve,
>
> Flight Safety?  I got my Private Pilot's license in 1968, an ATP in 
> 1992,
> and now about 4500 hours later I am still flying.
>
> I did find a 3458A that should be here next week.  It was advertised 
> as
> fully functional and comes with a 30 day return guarantee.  For what I 
> paid,
> I will be able to return it to Agilent for repair and still be ahead 
> of what
> I have seen on theBay.  Hopefully, all it will need is a return for
> alignment/calibration.
> If Solartron is 'on schedule', I should have the 7081 back before
> Thanksgiving.  I just hope there is not hidden disaster that makes it
> useless.
>
> I got the paper manuals today for the 7081 and they appear to be in 
> good
> condition but I am a little suspicious that they are copies rather 
> than
> original.  But very good condition and very legible.
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com [mailto:volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com] 
> On
> Behalf Of Steve Krull
> Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2011 8:39 PM
> To: Discussion of precise voltage measurement
> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and 
> solartron
>
> Joe,
>
> Yes, aviation it is. 34 years with one of the largest trainers of 
> corporate, commuter, private, and military pilots and mechanics, with 
> flight attendants thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately it 
> involves a lot of travel as I'm the interface with the aviation 
> authorities around the globe.
>
> My 7081 is sitting on the bench warming up and I hope to do some 
> comparisons against the 3458A before I get called out of the country 
> again.
>
> I hope they provide a good report with the return of your meter. Let 
> us know how it turns out.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Steve
>
>
> On 10/4/2011 9:53 PM, J. L. Trantham wrote:
>> Didier,
>>
>> I will upload the 7061 manual later tonight.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
>> [mailto:volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
>> Behalf Of shalimr9 at gmail.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 05, 2011 3:07 PM
>> To: Volt-Nuts
>> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and 
>> solartron
>>
>> Joe,
>>
>> I am interested in hosting your manuals on my web site.
>>
>> Let me know if that's ok with you.
>>
>> Didier KO4BB
>>
>> Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless thingy while I do other things...
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: "J. L. Trantham"<jltran at att.net>
>> Sender: volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com
>> Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:41:25
>> To: Discussion of precise voltage measurement<volt-nuts at febo.com>
>> Reply-To: Discussion of precise voltage 
>> measurement<volt-nuts at febo.com>
>> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and 
>> solartron
>>
>> Steve,
>>
>> You must have something to do with aviation.
>>
>> My meter just arrived in Oak Ridge yesterday.  Hopefully, it will be 
>> on
> the
>> way to England later this week.  Their turn around time estimate is 4
> weeks.
>> Hopefully, I will have it back by first part of November.
>>
>> I found the folks in Oak Ridge very friendly and helpful.  The lady I
> spoke
>> with offered to try to find a manual for the 7081 but did not have 
>> any.
> She
>> did, though, have an operating manual for the 7061 that she sent me 
>> in
> .PDF
>> form.  If anyone wants it, let me know.  It is about 1 MB in size.  I 
>> have
>> not looked to see if one is posted anywhere around the net or not.
>>
>> Also, I found a complete set of used manuals for the 7081 (Operating 
>> Part
> I,
>> Operating Part II, and Service) at Manuals Plus and bought them. 
>> They
> have
>> yet to arrive.
>>
>> I am anxious to see what they find in England and how it performs 
>> when it
>> gets back.
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
>> [mailto:volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
>> Behalf Of Steve Krull
>> Sent: Tuesday, October 04, 2011 1:15 PM
>> To: volt-nuts at febo.com
>> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and 
>> solartron
>>
>>
>> Joe,
>>
>> I was within a couple of hundred yards of your 7081 this past week, 
>> if
>> it shipped to England without any delay! The Ametek/Solartron 
>> building
>> is just up the road from our pilot training center at Farnborough
>> Airport and I was there for meetings this past week. I had intended 
>> to
>> wander up the road and see if there was anyone left from the test
>> equipment group but time got away from me. The closest I got was 
>> driving
>> by the entrance to the industrial park.
>>
>> While in England I did manage, through a friend, to pick up a set of
>> Solartron test leads with banana plugs, and he's going to see if he 
>> can
>> find his Kelvin clip set and probe set too. With the leads, good 
>> food,
>> good ale, good weather, and good company, it was a great trip. I
>> generally have at least one meeting a year at Farnborough and Gatwick
>> airports so I hope to eventually make it up the road to
>> Ametek/Solartron. Not sure if I want to take my 7081 in my luggage 
>> but I
>> may yet.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 11:31 AM, J. L. Trantham wrote:
>>
>>> Fred,
>>>
>>> I have recently acquired a Solartron 7081 and have had a lot of fun
>>> getting
>>> to know the meter.  In an effort to get it 'calibrated', I chased 
>>> down
>>> the
>>> US branch of AMETEK, the company that now apparently owns Solartron.
>>> I
>>> shipped my meter to them yesterday and they will ship it to England
>>> for
>>> calibration, repair and alignment, as needed.  The 7081 ceased
>>> production in
>>> 1998 and full support ended in 2008 but it is still supported, 'best
>>> endeavours'.
>>>
>>> When I was on the phone with them this AM to give them my credit 
>>> card
>>> information, I asked if they still supported the 7061, remembering
>>> this
>>> thread.  She said the 7061 is still on the list of supported
>>> equipment.  So,
>>> worst case scenario, you could contact AMETEK and see what options
>>> might
>>> exist for your 7061.
>>>
>>> Joe
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com 
>>> [mailto:volt-nuts-bounces at febo.com]On
>>> Behalf Of Fred Schneider
>>> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 5:35 PM
>>> To: Discussion of precise voltage measurement
>>> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] Serious problems fluke 731A, 720 and
>>> solartron
>>>
>>> The voltage collapses. I have to measure how much but not just a few
>>> uV.
>>> More like 200 mV if I remember it right. I know it is a resitive
>>> divider but
>>> the influence on each other is getting worse if it is on 24/7,
>>> another sign
>>> something is wrong. The 1V influences akso the 10 V so you keep it
>>> adjusting. If i set 10 V correct and then the 1 V's the 10 V is off
>>> again.
>>>
>>>
>>> The 845 AB had its nicads removed and they placed a big zener 
>>> instead.
>>> The
>>> most important thing, I made a regulated and good filtered
>>> powersupply. I
>>> placed the pcb for that in the space the nicds were mounted.
>>> I also have a HP frequency standard that had a batterybox. But they
>>> were
>>> dead and i did not needed that so now i build a trimble thunderbolt
>>> into
>>> that space and used the 100 KHz output of the HP for the 10 MHz. 
>>> That
>>> is the
>>> advantage of having gear with a battery option ;-)
>>>
>>> I can think i can fix the solartron Problem if I can find a service
>>> manual.
>>> But now I can not even check the powersupply voltages because I do 
>>> not
>>> know
>>> them. Filtercaps are good.
>>>
>>> Fred
>>>
>>>
>>>> Fred,
>>>>
>>>> What happens to the 10 volt position of the Fluke 731 when you 
>>>> attach
>>>> a 10
>>> MegOhm input Voltmeter ?
>>>> I am sure you know that the 1 volt positions are just resistive
>>>> dividers
>>> and any loading of any kind will drop their value.
>>>> Also, could you give details on what modifications you made to the
>>>> 845AB ?
>>>>
>>>> thanks,
>>>>
>>>> Bill....WB6BNQ
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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