[volt-nuts] 3457A battery replacement at Keysight - not as cheap as I thought it would be!

[Dr. David Kirkby]

On 24 May 2018 at 21:41, Dr. David Kirkby <drkirkby at kirkbymicrowave.co.uk>
wrote:

> Last year I went down to Keysight for a course, and got a tour of their
> cal labs. I spoke to the person showing us around about the 3457A battery.
> He said if the battery was less than £35 or so, it could be replaced free
> of charge when the instrument was calibrated.
>
> So despite my 3457A's battery must be on its last legs, I decided not to
> bother replacing it, as I thought Keysight would do it free.
>

After the initial quote of £289.35 (GBP) from Keysight to replace the
battery, Keysight have now agreed to do it for £99. That's a lot more than
free, but at least it's a significant reduction from the original price
given.

I had worked out that had I paid Keysight £289.35 to get the battery
replaced, plus another £140 for the calibration, the total was more than
60% of the cost of a brand new Keysight 34460A 6.5 digit meter.

I must admit, I have not done a detailed comparison between the 3457A,
34460A  and the more expensive 34461A 6.5 digit multimeters, but I have
decided to begrudgingly accept the £99 charge for the 3457A battery
replacement.

Dave