meter advice repair or new

[iwol]

hi guys just a bit of advice please,i rarely use my meter but do from time to time,now when i do need to use it i have two problems

1 the battery life is poor (but then it alwaya has been)
2 the main problem is my backlight doesnt work,whick makes it very hard to see sometimes

now the question is do i get it repaired which i imagine would be costly,or do i buy a cheap new meter, ive see the satlinks and the fs1,but whats your advice/comments guys













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[cdtronix]

what meter is it ?

To extend battery life on meters, if you do not use it that much best to disconnect the battery when not in use.

 

[iwol]

sorry forgot to mention its a satlook micro+ upgraded to g2

 

[vma]

If you know how to solder, you could probably repair the backlighting yourself. The battery, as mentioned, will discharge itself on any meter and you either use your meter regularly, or you need to charge it the day before. Even if you don't use your meter, you should charge it every night (according to different manufacturers). I charge mine at least once a month.

After 2 years batteries will become faulty and unreliable anyway, so thats when you need to buy new ones. In your case, you will find cheap prices on eBay. Replacing the battery is easy on all Satlook meters.

Cheers,
vma

 

[iwol]

thanks for that vma but it looks like the backlight is built into the display and the battery pack is made of none standard sized batterys neither aa or aaa

 

[vma]

Battery can be bought here: _http://www.emitor.de/product_info.php?pName=akku-fuer-satlook-micro-g2-und-hd-2400mah-p-848&cName=zubehoer-c-437]Akku fr Satlook Micro+, G2 und HD 2400mAh ::. EMITOR Instruments / SATLOOK, messgerte, combolook, digiair, digisat

Indeed, I couldn't find any right now on eBay, but they do exist. Anyway, if you go to an electronics supply shop (real life or internet) and ask for the specs shown on the offer above, you will get the battery pack cheaper. You might have to solder the connector, eventually.

The screen is probably a mainstream LCD-module, available at RS or Farnell. Does it have any reference number written on it (you probably need to disassemble the meter)?

Try searching this as images on Google: 3" lcd module b/w

See if any of the results look like your screen.

I still think that you could repair the backlighting eventually.

The official repair of the screen would cost you probably around 110 Euro (see here: _http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=71180522). Add another 50 Euro for the battery and you might as well buy a new meter, indeed.

Cheers,
vma

 

[iwol]

thanks vma now what cheap meter is any good

 

[vma]

I am not fond of "cheap" meters. They normally tend to be just the equivalent of a TV and sat receiver within a small package: practical to handle and for the occasional alignment, but certainly not a "meter". You won't be able to do any kind of diagnostics when problems arise.

Regards,
vma

 

[Channel Hopper]

I am not fond of "cheap" meters. They normally tend to be just the equivalent of a TV and sat receiver within a small package: practical to handle and for the occasional alignment, but certainly not a "meter". You won't be able to do any kind of diagnostics when problems arise.

It does depend on how you much experience you have with them. I've had very good results with cheap and cheerful and a tea-towel before now.

 

[rolfw]

Have a look at this thread iwol, may be of use. http://www.satellites.co.uk/forums/...multi-meter-satlook-micro-g2.html#post1025807