Fluke 52 II calibration sequence

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Supposedly, there is a way to calibrate the Fluke 50 II series at by myself. But i'm a bit lost as to the way to do it. Following Fluke's service manual to the best of my ability, I still can't seem to get this thing calibrated correctly.

http://us.fluke.com/usen/support/manuals/default.htm

Here is what's happening. Gradually, this number goes down. The lowest it went down to is -E836 degrees C before it went back up to -E880's and now it's going back down again and is at about -E878.




What am I doing wrong? How do you calibrate these thermometers? Do I just wait for the temps to go down? I know that after -Exxx it goes to -dxxx...and i don't know what's after that but it just gets closer to A...after which I assume (hope) that it goes to normal temp reading.

Update: as of right now, it's at -E242 and very slowly falling.
EDIT: -E210

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Bump. Is this the way people usually calibrate their thermometers?

When I'm not in calibration mode, it reports any temp as -0L degrees C. I'm guessing that's what it displays when the thermometer cannot detect such a low temperature as -E242 (which would probably equal around -3242 degrees C if the -fxxx, -Exxx, -dxxx all represent -1000 degrees.)

[Jort]

put small pieces of ice into a glass, pour in a littlebit of water.

it should say 0.0°

or boiling water 100°

[Entsafter]

or boiling water 100°

That's definitly NOT true...
The boiling point of water depends on pressure -> the level above sea is really important for the boiling point...

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Here it is in the water



Me pinching the end sensor to display the "difference" between my body heat and the water (notice nothing changed )


Here's the end of the thermocouple. Could it possibly be a result of me having a shot thermocouple?

[[XC] Lead Head]

Here it is in the water


Me pinching the end sensor to display the "difference" between my body heat and the water (notice nothing changed )

Here's the end of the thermocouple. Could it possibly be a result of me having a shot thermocouple?

the red wire, it doesnt look like its attached to the thermal couple at all

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the red wire, it doesnt look like its attached to the thermal couple at all

Is it supposed to be touching the tip? 'Cuz it's not... I tried pressing it against the tip but it didn't do anything. At normal room temp under calibration mode, the temp reading fluxuates constantly, ranging between about -f999 to 5000C! The weird thing is that at times it goes to readable temps in normal, non-calibration mode.

This is starting to sound more like it's the thermocouple to me. Does anybody else agree?

[n00b 0f l337]

Yes definetly.

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Alright, looks like the thermocouple is the problem. Thanks a lot guys! I'll get a new one and let you guys know how it turns out for future reference (as if any of you need any haha)

[wdrzal]

you probably fubar'd the calibration. you can adjust the offset to 0c to elimanate error in thermocouples. But the calibration can not be done in a ice bath AFAIK . Calibration is done at many points thru out its operating range to prevent glide and give accuracy.AFAIK this requires a calibration meter.

you may set it 0c for freezing but it may be off at 100c or -100c.

your probably going to have to send it to fluke if you opened the calibration program.if your in the offset program only get a new couple and set to 0c.

[Jort]

That's definitly NOT true...
The boiling point of water depends on pressure -> the level above sea is really important for the boiling point...

http://www.biggreenegg.com/boilingPoint.html:

calculate it then

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you probably fubar'd the calibration. you can adjust the offset to 0c to elimanate error in thermocouples. But the calibration can not be done in a ice bath AFAIK . Calibration is done at many points thru out its operating range to prevent glide and give accuracy.AFAIK this requires a calibration meter.

you may set it 0c for freezing but it may be off at 100c or -100c.

your probably going to have to send it to fluke if you opened the calibration program.if your in the offset program only get a new couple and set to 0c.

Yeah, i'd thought of that. Oh well...I'll have to put it touching some DICE or something and make sure it reads -70C

I'll probably send it in to Fluke though.