#235 

I'm rebuilding a vintage (1960's) high voltage power supply with a analog meter and unfortunately it came with shattered glass. I wanted to be sure it still functioned before looking at replacing it and your video was right on the money. Thank you for teaching me not just how to test a meter, but also how they work. I'm happy to report the meter is fully functional!

The "short and shake" test totally makes sense. I never heard of that before. Brilliant! Thank you.

Wow. You continually amazed with your depth of knowledge, and your clear explanations and demos.

Thanks! As usual, precise, clear and very informative. It's a joy to watch such competence. Best regards

Hey w2aew, this video is pure gold! so entertaining to watch!. I wouldn't personally mind a sequel talking about proper use of these as voltmeters, ammeters, and other applications. All the best.

A great video. You really cracked me up when you said the meter would be "hosed!!" Totally took me by surprise and had me in stitches!

A most helpful video, I especially liked the short & shake part. I've always felt uncomfortable when trying to test these meters, now I know Thanks

I found this video at a very apposite time. I have a project and some lovely old meters; now I know how to incorporate them into the project. 73 and thanks.

Awesome! I tested an old meter I thought bad, Its good! I adjusted it and its back in service. Thank you so much for a great class. Also downloaded meter basic and its great.

Great explanation! I was just trying to find this info a few weeks ago and couldn't find anything this clear and concise.

It really surprises me that while looking (last night and this morning) for information on how these meters work, that I was only able to find this video, and it has told me a lot about how these meters work and how to use them. Thank you for making this video. I will save this for future use! Why it didn't show up in a search last night it beyond me. Maybe I used a different search term or something this morning.

The HP15C at 0:45. Nice. I still have mine after buying it new in 1983. Still works fine. Replaced batteries twice in 40 years.

THANK YOU! Just bought a 40 piece lot of some excellent vintage meters. I plan to clean and calibrate them, then return them to the market so they live on for another 70 odd years. I really appreciate the info.

Thanks Alan. Really enjoying all your videos and have built some of the Sawtooth generators. I just recycled a n old dB meter from a very old (dead) induction loop tester and was able to test it 100uA FS using your instruction. Great stuff.

Excellent video. Very good advice. Now I can reuse a lot of old meters that I thought were of no use. Keep up the great videos.

Excellent, thank you! I knew how meters worked but was pondering the best way to simply and properly determine their full scale deflection for exactly the types of applications you discussed. Very nice, professional, succinct... what can I say?! Thanks again.

This has to be one of best introductory videos I've seen concerning analog meters. I hope you will add to this presentation with how to build a meter for a specific task/project!!! :-)

Thanks for the short and shake test and the link for the meter faces. Also, I like to put diodes going both directions across the meter terminals in case of accidentally putting too much voltage into it. The diodes will limit the voltage to the drop of the diodes. Most meters reach full scale long before the .6 voltage drop in the diodes, but although that much would peg the needled abruptly, the meter would still live through it. Germanium or Schottky diodes could be used for "more" protection. I also use an auto ranging dmm in the ohms setting and the small current from the meter is enough to safely "fs" the meter.

This was quite good. Even after using them for 40 years I have learned something new.

Thank you for the nice brush up and handy circuit for testing unknown meters.

Wonderful and thorough explanation to start working with these meters. Thank you.

Great video as usual Alan. You , Paul Carlson and Sharhair put out the best content!

Excellent video. Explained everything perfectly. I picked up some old tube tester gauges this weekend and was wondering how I could repurpose them. This saves me a lot of time.

The best explanation I've seen so far

Best explanation I found. Have already put to good use. Thanks!

You always have a video on something I'm trying to figure out. Very informative video!

Very useful. I learned this stuff so young that it got fuzzy when the 8000 series CPUs ate the world. Nice to get it back into memory.

Alan you do great videos,you would be a great teacher

Great video as always; I have had a couple of VU meters from an old cassette deck lying about for years. I now know their both 200uA meters! Many thanks.

Recently had a stuck D'Arsonval on a Yaesu I bought. I readjusted the pintle set screw; loose direction first & then just a little past the original setting and that fixed it. Also got a tip to just exercise the meter via a signal generator or nearby strong station. Of course if the meter is out of the rig, then you could do that via a PS. Burden voltage is also a concern on cheap ammeters when checking FS current. But not an issue on your to die for equipment. Nice Vid.

Thanks Alan there was some really useful information there and very well presented.

Big thnx to you - got my old meter dropped from 300k to 24k and now have a nice DC 24V meter instead of 300V .001A SENSE

Absolutely very helpful video! I'm thinking about making a wide analog meter panel (with about 10 analog meters) for on top of my monitor to keep an eye on all sorts of network information in a fancy way. I'll place RGB LED's as backlights so I can highlight the most important events with RED but I love the good old yellowish backlights as default :) Thanks for this great video!

I enjoy your channel quite a bit alan, a lot of knowledge !

Fantastic video as always Alan, keep up the great work. Karl

Thanks for your presentation and tips Alan...

Thanks Alan, as always very well presented.

This is a nice video indeed. Gonna have to dig out some of my old meters and see if they work now. You have super nice hand-writing, btw :D

Thanks for the tip on opening in a clean environment.

Meters, meters, meters everywhere. But did I ever know how they worked or how to test? Nooooo. I do now. Thanks for sharing your knowledge on this topic.

Very good Video, Can the meter be used from 0 Ma. to 1amp? Resistor size?

Alan, thanks for the excellent video!

Excellent job 👏 I really needed this info

I ask myself why high quality channels have few inscriptions while s#*% ones have millions?!!!! Alan, I wish you a healthy, long and prosperous life, but are you working to keep your legacy alive forever? We need it!!!!!!!!!!!

Darn YT notifications caused me to miss this one. Great video Alan. Very well done and very informative. Sometimes when I print the scale I turn the existing face over and attach to the back, since the face is mostly the same. On a few rare occasions I have re-wound the coil to get some meters back working but it is a lot of work. And good watch repair techs and replace those springs :) Thanks again for the video.

Great video Alan as usual. Takes me back to one Spring day in Soph EE lab where we learned about analog meters (essentially the only kind available to us in '74 :-) so we'd understand how and what we were really measuring. I *like* and in some cases *prefer* an analog VOM over a DVM. Don't get me wrong - sometimes I need to know if I'm looking at 2.45 or 2.55 volts, but many times a quick look @ an analog VOM "Yep about 2.5 V," is close enough. Thanks again for a good refresher. Gives me a good topic to discuss when I go melt solder with my nephew ...

Very educational and informative? Reminded me of the basics I learned in college.

👍 loved the "short and shake" trick 👌

Thanks for the tips Alan.

Very Good Alan, Being working in a Meter company for years, analog and digital, We would be Proud To shown this Video to New Hiries . One thing would like to add is even tho the cal point at full scale show correct one thing that might be a problem , is that how it is to be mounted and unit not reading properly. That being cal poise factor, meter laying flat verse meter upright.If you find that there is a Different it can be corrected by repoiseng the unit.on either Tail, or cross arm of its weights .Meters that are made poise is thee Factor in a good meter with its tolerance to Spec. Hints checking Tail poise unit turn at 45* where pointer is Horz and laying on zero, and Cross arm check meter pointer straight up vertical looking at Zero.I did not mean to carry on so just to add to info for those that may have had problems in such, poising movement across the scale. Enjoyed it very much keep them coming Yep thumbs UP in deed, Looking at your Hits Hummmmm great Job . Two Great Shows Here and Mr Carlson labs Boy the knowledge a person can get .. 73's Dale

Really great video.

This was very useful, thank you!

Awesome video! I never knew anything about analogue meters yet what you just taught had me captivated right through and now I am interested to learn more! Like some of the other posts say "you have a good way of teaching" and put things in laymans terms very well. Thank you for sharing...Oh aye...subscribed too....and you don't need me to tell you what to think of the thumbs downers! NOWT! :)

Excellent demonstration of testing meter heads. Your killing me though. I searched for 4 years for the Harrison power supply meter you have there. Purchased 3 of there power supplies and one of them had a broken volt meter. Finally picked up one at a HAM fest several months ago after years of searching. :) One tip on stuck meter movements in really cheap meters used in chicken band radios. The meter movement pivot pin screws have thread lock applied to them and trying to adjust them to loosen a stuck meter movement almost always results in stripped screw heads. A drop or two of GC radio and tv cement solvent quickly disolves it, you can then loosen the screw about 1/4-1/2 turn to free up the movement and then the thread lock dries again so no need to reapply. Mike

Very helpful video. And timely, as well. I've been watching fleabay for vintage 0-15 V DC to use in a power supply I'm building but there aren't many to choose from. There are a whole bunch with other voltage ranges and I was wondering if they could be modified for my use. Thanks to your video, I know they can!

Excellent content!!! Subscribed!!

Very informative! Thank you very much sir!!

Valuable tutorial.Thanks.

Excellent video, easy to understand, well planned ! Thanks Alan ! How about a video calculating current shunts ?

great presentation, thank you!

great video!!

Excellent video! Thanks :)

Great video. Thanks!

Clear and concise information, thank you for posting this! If the coil leads are broken, can it be repaired or is it a tosser? 🤔🙂

The fog is clearing. Great video!

I used to work on a lot of pyrometers and hi-pot testers with meters and found if you pull off a plastic meter face, do not clean it if you don't have to. I've cleaned plastic meter faces and had them develop a static charge that pulls on the pointer and can makes it stick to the meter face. A anti-static cleaner may fix this problem but I've never tried it.

Thank you. I've gained a few old meters and I now know how to test such. This old dog can learn new tricks. Hi Hi.

Good video Alan, good info and tips....................Berni

Question for VU Meters: I found a Sony tape machine with two VU meters, one for left and right channels, and when I first input signal the left VU meter gradually went straight to maximum and stayed there. It persists without any power or signal. Does that mean I have a faulty meter? Is there any way to fix the meter without tracking down replacement parts?

I am still looking for a way to put a 5 digit led display in a Drake L7 power supply. It needs to be able to read from 0-5KV. I have Analog Panel Meters but I am building a new supply and wanted to go with LED's. I have one for the 240v that also shows the Hz. Any Ideas on this Alan?

Really good hand drawn meter.

Thanks for the explanation! Do you know how sensible VU meters are against pegging? Can they break easily when they pegging at the full scale?

Om 님 잘 보고있습니다. 감사합니다. 73

Excellent Sir! Vy tnx.

Great video & very handsome clamp board :-)

Hi and thanks for all your nice videos! I hope you see this question, and answer if you will :P I want to know if it is possible to build a test setup using of-the-shelf components to measure the resistance of tracks on a PCB. I mean using some voltage meter chips and microcontrollers, some shielded cables and stuff...since I do not have access to any quality measurement gears. I want to try with 4 wire measurement and maybe double kelvin bridge...is there any chance or I will just waste my time?

To use these as a power supply indicator, would you simply wire it in parallel with the load? I seem to have a 1mA FS, 0-20V one...

hi Alan, can you make a video for micro strip line and matching circuits

Hi Alan. I recently acquired an Metrawatt MA4E analogue meter, but one with active circuitry (op-amp to create voltage-to-current circuit), with a nice 10MOhm input impedance on DC. I realized that the meter is non-linear, to the proportion that is out of specification of +/-1.5% I suppose that would be of the reading, but have to admit I have not checked the user manual on that point. I have tried adjusting the gain and offset, but could not get it right over the whole scale. The deviation is just to big for my taste. So I have looked in a lot of parts of the electronics, but at last I tested the meter movement itself, to realize that the problem is there. The meter is not linear. It is a 30uA classic d'Arsonval movement. When looking at 0-100 scale, when on 10 it needs 2.8uA and on 100 it needs almost 32uA. The values in between roughly follow the function y=5*ln(x)+76.6 So the scale is like compressed. I don't have much experience with galvanometers and am very curious to solve this puzzle. One more gentleman that also acquired the same type multimeter with similar serial number noticed the same problem, so we are emailing back and forth with our individual findings. First we thought it is something in the circuitry and the op-amp, but now it is clear which part of the meter is responsible for the deviation. Could it be the Hook's law, non-homogeneity of the magnet or... and how to fix this issue? Glad to hear your opinion.

Another great video, Alan, thanks. Question - I have a Weston Model 901 DC Ammeter and at the bottom it states to use it with an external 50 MV shunt. Can you explain the units of this shunt? Wouldn't this be a shunt resistor? I think also have the shunt somewhere but need to dig it up. The ammeter has two scales 0-15 and 0-150 with no switches anywhere. I presume I would need to use two different shunts differing by a factor of 10 ohms?

Great Video I think there are two different kinds of analog meters, Type 1 shows the needle proportional to the current (I) Type 2 shows the needle movement proportional to the square of the current (I^2) Yours seem to be all only linear, right? How do you know you have a meter that reacts to I^2?

I did this to boost HP in my car, it used to say 12.4v after a few days of sitting outside due to the Corona Virus. After I did the face plate mod, it now reads 14.6v, enough to start my car even with the low battery CCA. I was able to overtake many EG hatchbacks.

your microphone sounds fantastic!

instructive video

Great video! I was wondering if those meters can be calibrated or is the only adjustment available is the zeroing of the meter? Thanks

How do you test panel meters if they are good or bad because when you measure the ohms of a panel meter it measures very low ohms like 10 ohms so I don't know if the panel meter is good or bad. If a panel meter measures watts how is the panel meter connect to the circuit in series or in parallel? If the panel meter is bad not working can I connect my fluke DVM meter across it in parallel to act like a current or wattage panel meter?

Hi, I like your video! My question is how to use a new style vehicle speedometer (that sweep tests with computer) in a analog circuit like a cb radio watt meter? Thank you!

Hi there, liked your video and efforts to explain. I've checked the website, the address link is invalid, but if you choose the main domain address, you're fine, or just use the aforementioned address but leave the 2 out that'll work .. cheers

Nice presentation, the big meter at the opening with the rise and fall is a Scientology E-meter. It is used to fleece people of their money. My apologies to Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

Me too, into the supply closet to pull out all the old meters so they'll be marked properly, there goes the weekend! ;-) 73 - Dino KL0S

Thank you.

excellent, thanks

Have you ever compared a Cb type modulation meter to a scope? And also wondering how those modulation meters work. Possibly the increase in voltage from the unmodulated signal. Wonder if 100% is actually 4x.

Excelent!

Nice e-Meter meter.😀

I liked your video. I have a 0 - 10 Amp analog meter, and a 0 - 15 volt analog meter. I tested the voltmeter and the needle wanted to move backwards when in reverse. Could I adjust to have 0 centered at the top? I would like to use these meters on my HO train layout.

how do you troubleshoot equipment that uses those analog panel meters, how do you know if they are good or bad because using a Fluke 87 DVM meter on ohms mode they will measure 10 ohms across the analog panel meters so I don't know how to tell if its good or bad. Older equipment in the 60's and 70's used those analog panel meters to measure voltage, current, wattage, etc. But when measure the ohms across the analog panel meter when using my fluke 87 DVM meter it will measure very low resistance. When an analog panel meter is to measure a voltage what is the difference between an analog panel meter to measure wattage or current its the same thing the analog panel meter is either in series or in parallel. I'm not sure if the analog panel meter is internally different to measure voltage, current, wattage, power, etc.

My problem on a Weston model 685 is that the meter movement is actually burned out or open. So this testing procedure won't work. And there is no FS printed on it. How do you find the full scale value in an instance like that?

I'm working on a Drake MN7 and the meter was not working. This video helped me troubleshoot the meter! Thanks so much.

All of my ammeters have a millivolt rating for full scale. 75 mV. It would be nice to know the current flowing through the meter at full range. Thanks for the info.