Fluke out of luck

[Tubetec]

I found a Model 187 at a fair price , had it sent , initially seemed to function fine , but upon closer inspection the positive probe jack showed signs of metal fatigue and poor contact ,a common fault in these series of meter .
From what I gather in the states Fluke, through some of its bigger suppliers will sell you the part ($20 from Newark), but in Europe it apparently has to go back to Fluke's service centre and they dont supply the parts even to 'legit' fluke service agents .
Ebay has the part but  but by the time it adds its tax duty and shipping its ending up more like $60 for a part that weights maybe 10 grams .

I contacted the guy who sold me the meter  and he's agreed to refund me part of the already small money I paid , so that end is all settled amicably. I have of course verified that the basic fuctioning/cal of the unit is according to spec ,
but I still need to fix the unit  in a cost effective manner  , anyone have any ideas?


I did see Pucho's post from around 2012 ,same issue , is that meter still going now  I wonder ?

 

[JohnRoberts]

I found a Model 187 at a fair price , had it sent , initially seemed to function fine , but upon closer inspection the positive probe jack showed signs of metal fatigue and poor contact ,a common fault in these series of meter .
From what I gather in the states Fluke, through some of its bigger suppliers will sell you the part ($20 from Newark), but in Europe it apparently has to go back to Fluke's service centre and they dont supply the parts even to 'legit' fluke service agents .
Ebay has the part but  but by the time it adds its tax duty and shipping its ending up more like $60 for a part that weights maybe 10 grams .

I contacted the guy who sold me the meter  and he's agreed to refund me part of the already small money I paid , so that end is all settled amicably. I have of course verified that the basic fuctioning/cal of the unit is according to spec ,
but I still need to fix the unit  in a cost effective manner  , anyone have any ideas?


I did see Pucho's post from around 2012 ,same issue , is that meter still going now  I wonder ?

you could always hard wire in a positive lead.

JR

 

[pucho812]

I found a Model 187 at a fair price , had it sent , initially seemed to function fine , but upon closer inspection the positive probe jack showed signs of metal fatigue and poor contact ,a common fault in these series of meter .
From what I gather in the states Fluke, through some of its bigger suppliers will sell you the part ($20 from Newark), but in Europe it apparently has to go back to Fluke's service centre and they dont supply the parts even to 'legit' fluke service agents .
Ebay has the part but  but by the time it adds its tax duty and shipping its ending up more like $60 for a part that weights maybe 10 grams .

I contacted the guy who sold me the meter  and he's agreed to refund me part of the already small money I paid , so that end is all settled amicably. I have of course verified that the basic fuctioning/cal of the unit is according to spec ,
but I still need to fix the unit  in a cost effective manner  , anyone have any ideas?


I did see Pucho's post from around 2012 ,same issue , is that meter still going now  I wonder ?

yes, 2019 and that fluke is still rocking and rolling, and is solid.  in all it's time since that post the only thing I have had to do is replace the batteries as it sees regular use. it's a fine meter and does me well.

FWIW, I currently have my probe leads on a 2 pole banana connector for easy insert and removal.

 

[Tubetec]

Well I got the old part extracted cleanly ,the most difficult bit of the operation ,
Im still  infuriated the spare  is only available to the public in the US and not in Europe .
Apparently I can order stock from Newarks catalogue from Farnell here , and they'll gladly relieve me of 30 euro/3 day  shipping for the pleasure , marginally cheaper than Ebay ,but still a feels like extortion .
I could try to  bodge up the old connector but a meter of that quality deserves a proper new part for peace of mind .

Anyone know an EU source for Fluke spares ?

 

[JohnRoberts]

Well I got the old part extracted cleanly ,the most difficult bit of the operation ,
Im still  infuriated the spare  is only available to the public in the US and not in Europe .
Apparently I can order stock from Newarks catalogue from Farnell here , and they'll gladly relieve me of 30 euro/3 day  shipping for the pleasure , marginally cheaper than Ebay ,but still a feels like extortion .
I could try to  bodge up the old connector but a meter of that quality deserves a proper new part for peace of mind .

Anyone know an EU source for Fluke spares ?

its a shame you don't know anybody in america?

JR

 

[Tubetec]

I have a few friends who ended up in the states alright , but Ive more or less lost contact over the 20 odd years .

I have people in Canada alright , might be possible to get it done that way .

 

[Tubetec]

I did see an issue that can arise with the 189 model , it has a supercap for memory back up , this can go both electrically and physically leaky after time and end up causing current draw from the main battery as well as contamination/corrosion  of the board . Its only used to keep volatile memory up during a battery change so the unit functions perfectly even without it . The 187 doesnt have internal data logging so theres no supercap to go wrong , might explain why there seems to be a lot less 187's in the second hand market than 189's .

I have a more modern Uni-T 171B bought a year or so back ,its on a par with the Fluke for accuracy ,but the Fluke is superior in almost every  respect , I did also catch Fred Smiths Uni-T 181 shock test , one hit of his hand held piezo spark and it was lights out for the Uni-T.  :-[ 

 

[JohnRoberts]

I have a few friends who ended up in the states alright , but Ive more or less lost contact over the 20 odd years .

I have people in Canada alright , might be possible to get it done that way .

I would like to think that you have hundreds of friends (thousands?) on this forum residing in the US...

but I have been accused of being overly optimistic.

JR

 

[Tubetec]

Hopefully your right and we all do .

Id be prepared to pay the premium price for importing the part  if I could get a satisfactory explanation why Fluke will supply it third party in the US ,yet apparently not even their distributors/cal shops here can get them ,never mind end users .