[volt-nuts] volt-nuts Digest, Vol 77, Issue 15

[new]

I'm thinking of doing non-commercial 'calibrations' for
folks like us volt-nuts.

  Since I have three 3458s, three 732As, a 732b, a 4214,
an sr104, a 4210, all NIST cal'ed and I could do front-panel
adjustments for the 3457.

  Would anyone here like to do that? I would start by
replacing the cal battery, too.

   I could give the 'as found' and 'as left' numbers too,
for the meters that arrived with 'alive' batteries.

  Probably best to do it on fleabay to protect everyone
involved.

  If this post is a violation of volt-nuts policy, please take it down!

Willy



On 1/31/2016 12:00 PM, volt-nuts-request at febo.com wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
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>     1. Re: 3457A - should I preserve SRAM contents, or purposely
>        corrupt them by removing power?
>        (Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd))
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2016 10:54:10 +0000
> From: "Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd)"
> 	<drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk>
> To: Discussion of precise voltage measurement <volt-nuts at febo.com>
> Subject: Re: [volt-nuts] 3457A - should I preserve SRAM contents, or
> 	purposely corrupt them by removing power?
> Message-ID:
> 	<CANX10hCqOeK9n+A0PinrZdzvc3b4d7TWYzTkUZvx_n9NmWcnUw at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>
> On 25 January 2016 at 11:12, Dr. David Kirkby (Kirkby Microwave Ltd) <
> drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> As noted in another thread, I want to replace a battery in a 3457A that
>> has not been replaced in at least 11 years. The instrument has not been
>> calibrated in that time either. At the time it was purchased from a dealer,
>> I was told it was within specification, but if I wanted it calibrated I
>> would need to pay. I never did have it calibrated, so have no historical
>> data about this. I've no idea when it was calibrated, and have no cal
>> certificate, so have no idea of the errors at the time of calibration.
>>
>> I now want to change the battery, *and* send it to Keysight for
>> calibration - I have a healthy skepticism of 3rd party labs, so would
>> rather pay more and get the job done by Keysight.
>>
>> I'm wondering if I would be better purposely removing the battery, and
>> putting a short across the SRAM so I ensure the contents are definitely
>> lost. My logic is that
>>
>> 1) If I send it to Keysight and the cal data is corrupt, they will set the
>> meter correct.
>>
>> 2) If sent to Keysight, with the cal data in tact, then if its within
>> specification they will not adjust it. So if the limit on some parameter is
>> 1%, and the error is 0.5%, then it will not be adjusted. But if the SRAM is
>> corrupted, the error will be huge (if it will read at all), so it would
>> force Keysight to adjust it to the correct value.
>>
>
>
>> At that point the error should be effectively zero
>>
> <snip>
>
>> Thoughts?
>>
> Someone sent me a private email, saying that if by purposely removed the
> power from the SRAM  caused the 3457A to fail its self-tests, which is may
> well do, then Keysight may consider the 3457A needs repair, and so offer a
> fixed-price repair. Hence my "trick" to get this calibrated as accurately
> as possible would have backfired, and I'd be out of pocket. In fact, on a
> 3457A, the fixed-price-repair would probably cost more than the instrument
> is worth, as these are not worth a lot now.
>
> Hence I would not do this before getting clarification from Keysight. It
> might be possible to get them to set it right, even if within spec, but I
> think their calibration routines are very automated, so its probably not so
> easy to get a special calibration, whilst paying for their cheapest
> calibration service.
>
> Dave
>
>
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> End of volt-nuts Digest, Vol 77, Issue 15
> *****************************************
>