Bench Multimeter that Mr. Carlson was recently taking about …

Could it be the UNI-T UT8803E ?

I purchased one myself after his video 😉

My proper experience : it is a very nice and versatile instrument, but I have 2 remarks:

1. the hFE measurements are carried out at a way too low collector current, especially with power transistors, which causes irrelevant results.
2. The UT8803E has a very interesting feature [DQR] to measure the loss and ESR of a capacitor. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to set the frequency at which the measurement is carried out. It somehow selects this frequency automatically on its own. Being able to select the measurement frequency might be relevant when checking out capacitors in an audio section.

I tried to quickly find the video, but could not find it back either…

Have a Look at VIDEO 146 (17 JUN 2022) A Great Bench Top DMM For You

@paulvo I bought one as well. The manual gives no information regarding setting the frequency for DQR, which leads me to believe it’s not user-selectable. As much as I’d hoped to use this function, I’m not sure I trust it. When I’ve tested the R setting, I’ve gotten readings considerably higher than on my other ESR meters — almost twice as high. I can’t say the others are high quality, but they are pretty close to each other at least.

I bought one and it is a great upgrade from my other meter. I also noticed testing a transistor in this, the pin out does not match what reads in my 575. I have to flip it the opposite direction to read in the meter. Also wish the sample rate was faster. Then again, I have not looked into if these are adjustable settings. Anyone else notice these things?

@paulvo 

I received the UNI-T 8803E last Friday hopping for a good addition to my test bench what a disappointment . First thing i was getting intermittent test measurements Vac, Vdc resistance traced it to the positive test probe supply with the meter defective probe .It only went down hill from there.

The diode function showed conduction in both directions tested a lot of diodes. the Vdc and Vac showed lower reading tested against my fluke 87 and a bk precision. the Cap reading were wrong would only show the 1st digit like a 2200uf showed 2uf tested a lot of caps very slow measurements. tested a 10000uf

cap read OL . my 12.00 dollars component tester worked no problem

Then I plugged in the USB to PC interface it did work but when i was done with that unplunged the USB cable the meter would not respond . so I cycled power but the meter was still locked up that was bad. did it a few more times no response so i turned it off came back a hour later started working again. At this point i was not happy. All that was in the first hour of use I used it over the weekend and called uni-t on Monday requesting a Rma shipped it back on Tuesday. I don’t want unreliable test gear.

I watched Carlson review he didn’t do any testing and I’ve never seen him use the thing in any vids??? For me 168.00 can be better spent.

I would contact the seller and request to return your unit, it sounds like it is defective. I have no personal knowledge of this meter, but it sure doesn’t sound like something Paul would recommend if it was performing like yours is.

@vdubbub Sadly the are knock off of China copycats that I have ran into from Amazon and AliExpress.
I have been told they do not have control over the suppliers.
Hopely they get a replacement.

I wish you a positive resolution

@jpklitz : I would advise you to have the meter replaced. My UT8803E is not showing any of the problems you described.

For the hFE testing (or beta), the value indicated is not corresponding to the value indicated by the Chinese TC1 Component Tester. Unfortunately, the UT8803E is not indicating the collectorcurrent and Vbe at which the measurement is executed…

And as already mentioned, for capacitors the D-Q-R measurements indicate the frequency at which it is measured, but do not offer the possibility to manually select the measuring frequency. For these measurements I would recommend the handheld UT-612 instead ! This allows to measure theta, which is the angle between the real (=resistive) and imaginary (=reactance) part of the impedance, and also the frequency between 100-120-1k-10k-100kHz at which this measurement is carried out.

@jpklitz : I would also advise you to have the meter replaced. My UT8803E is not showing any of the problems you described. But I obtained it through a Dutch vendor, who is distributing all kinds of measuring instruments (as I live in W-Europe).

For the hFE testing (or beta), though the UT8803E has a nice plug-in adapter for this, the value indicated is not corresponding to the value indicated by the Chinese TC1 Component Tester. Unfortunately, the UT8803E is not indicating the collectorcurrent nor the Vbe at which the measurement is executed…

And as already mentioned, for capacitors the D-Q-R measurements indicate the frequency at which it is measured, but do not offer the possibility to manually select the measuring frequency. For these measurements I would recommend the handheld UT-612 instead ! This allows to measure theta, which is the angle between the real (=resistive) and imaginary (=reactance) part of the impedance, and also the frequency between 100-120-1k-10k-100kHz at which this measurement is carried out.

If I read correctly, @jpklitz had already returned the product or begun the process, but for anyone who remains interested I’ll add that mine (mentioned above) also came very soon after Paul’s video from a vendor in Poland (to the U.S.) and has had none of the reported glitches — but one matching characteristic is that the diode tester reacts the same way regardless of polarity. I assumed this was a design decision rather than a bug, though an inconvenient one that drove me for my Fluke handheld meter on many occasions. I’ve never connected the UNI-T to a PC so I checked online for firmware updates, thinking perhaps they’d changed it, but there’s only one, V1.0, dated 2017. Bear in mind that this meter was already obsolete when the video posted, and I took that into consideration at the time.

As it happened, I saw the video immediately after Paul put it up, and knowing how quickly his recommended products vanish or become inflated in price, I jumped on it. Overall, I don’t regret it at all.

Just a quick note about the meters, they read diodes in both directions as a feature. If you look at the top of the screen in the right corner, it willl show you the direction you are testing the diode in according to your lead orentation. This diode symbol will display between the green and red dot only when a diode is being tested. The green and red dots represent your test leads (green is in place of black, as black doesn’t display on an LCD.) Don’t get this diode symbol confused with the diode below the red dot, that diode symbol is just telling you that you’re in the diode test mode. This is a real nice feature, along with showing you the forward in both directions, so you don’t have to flip leads around all the time. When buzzing through a board quickly, usually just the forward voltage tells you what you need to know.

* Edited: In the right corner looking at it (the display) straight on.

I purchased the “house brand” version of this meter from Newark (TENMA 72-13620) and it works very well. (I believe Newark is discontinuing the TENMA name and now going with “multicomp PRO.) The only issue I have is with the “beeper” that sounds when doing continuity testing —- it is extremely quiet. When I do these tests, I have to revert to a Fluke hand-held meter because it is much louder.

@tone-c Hi, regarding the beeper being very quiet. One thing I’ve learned over the years with any Chinese, Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore electronics. Because they are mass produced in huge quantities the Quality control doesn’t always happen! If you open the unit and look for that piezo speaker there could be 2 scenarios: 1. The components layout on the board is too crowded so a component could obstruct that little hole on the speaker. or 2.

When the piezo speakers are fabricated there is almost always a little white sticker on top of the whole so the dust or other foreign things won’t go inside before it is soldered in place. So sometimes the workers on the assembly line (being always in the hurry) forget to peel off that sticker. Again over the years I came across this situation many many times.  

I’m not trying to say is guarantied one of the 2 above but…. it is worth a try. You never know.

PS: at one instance I found a “blob” of silicone obstructing a speaker because they used it on a near by electrolytic capacitor at it smudged the speaker next to it so…..  🤔