You mentioned the model has no back light, have you tried press and hold the yellow button? My cheaper UT61A has back light LCD.
I also found out that despite my model does not come with temperature measurement but if I were to turn the dial somewhere in between say mA and uA, I get temperature (most likely ambiance) reading!
If memory serves, about $4000. It was added to the lab a long time ago though, so I might be off by a bit - my memory for unimportant things isn't very long..
Nice review! I may have to grab one of these. Didn't know these were so darn cheap! I've got a pricey Agilent datalogging DMM, but could use one for basic voltage logging.
It's funny that the unit you reviewed seems more accurate than the more expensive UNI-T-UT70B (although this model has the temperature feature).
I ordered the UT-203 clamp meter from dealextreme. It is okay, but the zero is way off - about 1.5 amps. It has a 'rel' button than can be abused for zeroing however.
The zero is not really stable but it is possible to figure out tens of mA on it. Compared to a rather anonymous brand at work the zero offset is a bit better on that one (half an amp) but still not perfect.
The Uni-T readings match my normal multimeter pretty well though.
I posted that post after researching the price on eBay and a few other sites. I see $62 Shipped on eBay is the lowest price, but I would probably buy from a US seller @ $69.99.
i did 2 amperage measurement sessions (tailcap readings: 10440 on Hi, 10440 on Med) and saved the 2 XLS files, then opened them with Excel2010, deleted the unnecessary columns (DC/AC, Unit, AUTO) and some rows (beginning and end measurements). i copied the Med-amperage (see "D") measurements to the spreadsheet of the Hi-amperage measurements (see "C"), and finally selected both columns and let Excel2010 produce a line graph:
the 2 line graphs look nice (and we can even see the down-step from Hi to Hi-2 after 7mins; f e n i x l d 0 1 r 4 : unregulated driver with 10440's so the down-step must be a time-controlled feature!!) but the x-axis looks wrong:
it should begin with 0.0 (unit time: seconds), and not with "1" as shown
the time difference between 2 neighboring data points is 0.5sec (the runtime of 10440-Med is ~30mins, and not the double "3601" as shown)
the ticks should be 1 tick per 60 seconds (=1 tick per minute)
I will also try to visualize the data with other graphing software (Wolfram, Origin) but if someone is proficient in Excel and knows how to quickly get my x-axis "corrected", then please shoot me. Obviously i am not proficient in using Excel at all
The usual curve in Excel is not a x-y chart, but each value fills one position. If you have a entry at regular time intervals (Like each second), you can just calculate a column with time in second or minutes from start and the use it for "Category" labels. You will also need to edit the axis and define how often to show a value (Like only show 1 in 30 values). This is the method I uses for my runtime charts in my flashlight reviews.
The other solution is to select a real x-y chart, you have to open the full chart type selection to find it (It is called something with X Y). The again you need to calculate a time column and use it as the X value, but this time you do not need regular time intervals.
Hi HKJ, thanks for the tip with X-Y charts. Will try to figure it out now with my Excel2010. At the same time i am downloading Origin. It's easy to generate a 40mins time column with Wolfram but it's not installed on my system.
Looks like Excel isnt the most helpful here..
EDIT: another problem in Excel (or in combination with other software) is the interpretation of comma "," and decimal point ".", argh!!
EDIT2: X-Y charts: Excel returns an error because of some number of rows limitation (255 rows) or freezes. d*mn it. Excel is not recommendable at all if one has to manipulate or visualize thousands of data points!! :(
to whom it may concern, recalibration of the UT61E isnt necessary imho but it is possible. FOI, some users buy a little product called DMMCheck and do the adjustments on their own.
@HKJ or anyone to whom it may concern for the RS232 converters issue
Nowdays serial is obsolete,so connecting to Pc is not possible for those who does not has a serial port,but I found some RS232 convetor to USB in Deal Extreme,many consumer reported that some converters are not working,based upon my observation I found that the better converters are those which has FTDI chips and not prolific chips,since I am not that technically sound plz suggest which will work for Unit 61E,I have chosen these in Deal Extreme based on the customer reviews which are as follows.
Where I have had the most problems with the serial converters is the driver (When I last checked all the supplied drivers was for Win XP), especially with Prolific PL2303.
I solved the problem by buying locally from a company that did supply working Win 7 drivers (Sandberg).
I cannot say which one of the adapter is best or works, that would require that I tested them.