Testing an Old Digital Bench AC Power Meter model CP 210A
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- čas přidán 17. 07. 2024
- I found an old Power Meter on surplus and decided to see if and how well it worked. I think it will be a useful tool for me in the future.
Please don't take a drink every time I say 'This Guy' or you'll likely suffer serious health problems. - Jak na to + styl
Haven’t seen you in a while. Glad you’re back.
Really happy to see you back. We all missed you 😊
OMG the entire first minute. That's me every day!
A man with 1 volt meter know his volts and amps. A man with many volt and amp meters is never sure.
Why am I glad I don't have very many. I'll stick with just having five watches. Why do you ask what time it is?
Thanks for bringing back your videos! I learn something from them every time I watch. Interesting content and very well narrated. Well done!!
What happened to you? Battery nerds all around the world are missing you! You had content that we could trust!
I am still around and I appreciate the support! I no longer post videos regularly but intend to continue erratically making a few now and then. I still have many video ideas but personal motivation, practical obstacles, and life seem to get in the way.
@@knurlgnar24 I understand. I have been binge watching all of your videos and they are just so good. Thanks.
Been 3 years since you made a video
I could really go for another video from you.
I'm also recapturing my hobbies. Life and covid put me in a funck. It's easy to lose the passion but like you I'm getting back into mine. I always liked your unique "backup power" vids. With winter and covid near the end I'm finally recovering and glad to see you are too
Nice to see new vids again, love the content.
Keep up the videos really enjoy them , you we're one of first you tubes I subscribed to Cheers Chris from Australia
Glad you are back. Thanks for sharing. Like #171
I am glad you are still doing videos. I am in the process of trying to create a wearable AC inverter for "reasons" and have learned so much from your videos over the years. Thanks sharing your knowledge!
"reasons" are often the best reasons. :)
Reasons reasons reasons! Dare I ask. Or maybe I should just tell?
The year was 2000 something I had just acquired a small battery pack with integrated 50 W inverter I also had a fun contest of dress up you and your animal at the county fair. Something got me thinking suit jacket Plus Christmas lights plus power inverter and battery. I still remember the moment as I was walking into the ring and I hit the switch the crowd went oh ever so briefly.
I was only disappointed by the fact that I was not able to in the time allotted figure out how to lite the goat up.
Your primary things to be worried about is battery weight and that's not so much an issue with lithium now. Runtime versus why did you being used versus what is being powered.
I hope your doing well
I've always heard those things were pretty darn accurate what an interesting video.
"Just need to imbiggen this a bit" lmao!
"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." --Jebediah Springfield
@@StringerNews1 Ah, so I misspelled 'embiggen'. So I see. Unfortunately it was not in the dictionary I am accustomed to using.
@@knurlgnar24 I don't know if you can misspell when you're saying it out loud. I recognized the word as one of many TV tropes from _The Simpsons_ and had assumed it was a made-up word. Turns out it has appeared in literature dating back to 1884.
Now if factoids impressed women, I'd be all set...
Sorry you're "dead"...I miss your thorough and interesting videos. It looks liked you moved and probably have not had the best last year or so. I hope things improve!
A T Burke
very interesting the expensive meter held up very well after so long of not being used.
Expensive equipment like this generally ages well. A person never knows for certain but quality equipment from decades ago tends to be far superior to moderately priced equipment today. This is my experience and others may disagree.
@@knurlgnar24 im always fascinated by these type of videos. Although i enjoy just about any video you make. I think the last one i watched was the Kerosene wick change. I have a couple of older Japanese kerosene heater wicks i have to replace. These are not the radiant type. So i guess i have my work cut out for me. Looking forward to you next video.
Great info. Appreciate the video
Welcome back Im look in on in grenada
You're back!!!!!!!
I keep coming back to your channel. I refer people (mainly on reddit) to your videos whenever lead acid is the topic. Anyway, would be good to see anything new you might have. I miss it.
I thank you for your support. This channel is not dead, it is dormant. I will likely revive it at some point in the future when life allows. CZcams has come a long ways in the past 10 years and I cannot compete with the production quality of most other channels anymore so even if/when I do start posting videos again it will likely be little noticed.
@@knurlgnar24 I understand that CZcams has become almost too professional in the content from top creators. I've never had a problem with any of your content and I've watched it all. I'd hope that other tech people would be happy with the expert content alone rather than fancy graphics and camera angles. Take BigClive who has been doing a very simple format for ages. I know this doesn't work for everyone and I've no idea what being a content creator on CZcams entails. Anyway, hope to see you soon here. I'll remain subscribed and with a notification bell.
Your selling yourself short the people who watch your content know very well that you know your stuff. To say your content isn't of production quality is complete rubbish. I keep coming back regularly to either rewatch or check if you've posted. Keep doing you though and post or dont post. Have a good day! :)
Your New Year’s resolution should be to make at least one video. Have a fantastic day :)
Nice video... it's been a minute still
Good to hear you though
I was pretty optimistic that the "scientific" grade instrument would work properly.
Excellent right there is excellent
Just what I needed, thanks. Superb video in all respects as expected .... boring boring boring !!
quite interesting
Do you think you two a video on the difference between a programmable lab power supply and the standard one that you use in your battery reconditioning video
Glad to see this guy back making videos. I've learned a lot from him over the years. Is the video bumper music here the old "Beavis and Butthead" theme, or am I crazy?
I don't know. I haven't seen that show in a long time to compare but it's called 'strange ways' from the youTube music library.
Nope. It is not. Once you hear it it's actually not even close and you'll feel sad and ashamed for thinking so. Lol kidding of course. But yeah, it's not.
I'm really looking forward to a teardown and repair of that rather nice power supply at the bottom of the pile, knurlgnar! Do you think the power supply fairies might move it to the top one night while you sleep? ;-)
Still like your videos
I wonder what amperage this would draw I like the experiment you did with the refrigerator I would suggest you figure out whether you could also plug a refrigerator if you find out it is capable of finding out the refrigerator actually pulls and starters in general.
I'm guessing your charger's power factor will be worse when running on a real sine wave. With a flatter square wave the capacitors shouldn't need to charge and discharge as quickly, reducing the RMS current. I could easily be mistaken but it might be worth checking out.
This is a good observation.
do videos on High Quality inverters - Run tests - show Real specs -
Build quality etc -
me buy Good Once never think about again -
some Tiny tripods w good flex arm / Ram ball mount will make
filming easier /faster - Lav mic to audio recorder -
Do you still fix inverters? I have a go power 2000 watt that needs some work.
Use some electrical eyes like you would use on a 120 or 240 dryer for that size wire I'm sure you can find them you can buy them at Walmart real cheap but he really careful you can also buy some insulated c Leeds around that and then tighten those down be careful don't ever mistaken it as your input or always make sure it's your output circuit when you power something on such as that instrument you have there good luck on what you're doing?
Not sure if you will respond to this comment. Many thanks for your videos, they have helped my understanding over the years. Question: What does one do if a battery still accepts a charge but the run time is getting less after each charge? Thanks in advance
If sulfation isn't the cause of degradation and water levels are good and not contaminated then your battery is simply 'wearing out' and nothing can be done to improve it. This could be due to plate shedding, plate corrosion, or other processes that I'm less familiar with. Battery life is limited and sometimes there isn't much to do about it.
@@knurlgnar24 Many Thanks for your reply. Some background, I live in South Africa and we have "Load Shedding". This currently means that we are without power for two four hour slots and one two hour slot each day and over the last year have been effected by reduced power for at least 2 hours per day for 173 days out of the current year. My batteries are not surviving. So if I understand you correctly: I should try and desulfate the batteries as basically this is the only option. A question please: Should I fully recharge my effected batteries using my normal charger after they have been discharged and then charge them using a variable power supply at a higher than normal voltage, or just use the variable power supply at a higher voltage from the start. Many thanks again. John
@@johnm7316 Your batteries are dying, nothing to do with sulfation.
I had a unmarked inverter so assumed it was a modified sine wave but when I compared it with several other modified sine wave it would always match 60.00 hertz the others were up and down from 59.89 to 60.3 does that mean it is a pure sine inverter?
It is possible that your inverter is a modified sine and just has a better oscillator controlled frequency than some of the cheaper ones.
It might be an old electrical analyzer too for testing certain electronics and electrical appliances such as bench power supply that you may have not discovered yet so there might be a high voltage low voltage power supply in this case maybe don't know what the voltage might be then again it could be 200 it could be 300 depending on where you are and what's your experimenting with.
I Hoped you would be in better shape by now and could resume your interesting videos.
A T Burke
Digital power meter? The cross-needle was good enough for my father, and his father; it's good enough for me!
Was using a P3 to test
Take a voltmeter and see if the first power in those positive and negative terminals check that switch every now and then to make sure if that's on and off switch for the power supply itself if you activated the first part now activate the second part and see for it but be careful he's light light loads or just maybe a meter to find out how much voltage it is then you can discover whether how many amps you have or what you can run and what you can't run?
Can you take a look at the Reliable (company name) 3000w pure sine wave inverter? I heard those ones were actually good for what you're paying for.
I've heard that as well and I purchased a 4kw model a while back. Haven't tested/reviewed it yet but I did open it up and it looks legit.
@@knurlgnar24 Yea they seem to offer their inverters in a wide range of voltage inputs, which is why I’ve looked into them since I have some 36v hybrid bus batteries. I could take them apart and rewire them into 48v or 24v, but I’d rather keep them in their really nice enclosures.
@@knurlgnar24 sure glad you’re back online …missed watching your weekly videos lots!!
Yah
New video
I'm about to release a video on my channel that features an HP 6050a electronic load that is perfect for calibrating power supplies and other similar equipment. Thing is bloody expensive for an 1800 watt load
Fancy to see u here. Both u guys keep up the good vids
That switch is a 20 year old joke, thanks for the laughs.
Also, you're a monster. Its lefty-loosey, righty-tighty... You twisted that spade terminal on spinning it against your wires. Hah. You knew it would bug me, :P
Thanks for the video!
@@jamess1787 It actually annoyed me too!
Hi Knurlgnar I see it is a long time since you did a Video. I just watched your 2 part series on AGM or lead acid or lithium. I have six of those big orange batterys like you have, But mine are the 190f's I was hoping to get some limited power on at my cabin in Australia. Was hoping to run a Fridge with them. But i am considering a bigger battery bank for general power, Eg: Computers, Fans, and maybe an air con while the sun is blaring. I was considering a 12v 1200 amphour Nickle Iron battery from China. Could you possable do a video on chinese nickle iron batterys before i invest 10k.
I would recommend avoiding nickle iron battery tech. Both lead acid and LiFePO4 are better chemistries in my opinion.
There's some pretty good recommendations on czcams.com/users/WillProwse
Even though he might've gotten a large quantity of people angry over letting out a few secrets and jacking up prices in the recycled DIY battery community.
Hi knurlgnar. I am hoping you can help me. I can't find anything about this online. I have a 2000w Eliminator modified sine wave inverter. I have had it a long time but didn't use is. Today I hooked it up to two 120 AH batteries in paralel and it started squealing right away. If I turn it on it works but seems under powered. Turn it off and it squeals again. I was wondering if you have any idea why it would do this and if it is worth fixing? Any information would help. It has the same wiring I used to test it years ago. Double 4 guage wires.
Is it a Motomaster Eliminator? I had one of those and it was a very nice inverter. I don't know the problem but it sounds a lot like bad batteries. If you're sure they're good then I'm not sure.
@@knurlgnar24 Batteries are good. Today no squeal but it will turn on but no AC power. Yes it is a Motomaster Eliminator. I will have to unhook it and bring it inside to see if there is something obvious. Thanks for the reply.
I don't think this is what's going on but depending on the design and switching I've had some when turned off it briefly thought it was going through low voltage until the capacitor is drained. So maybe the internal capacitors are going bad? If it's older it might've gotten the capacitor plague. Could also be drying out due to not being used for a while.
@@imark7777777 I took it apart because it just outright quit. There were a bunch of mosfets popped. I haven't looked at it since but I might look again soon.
Hi may I suggest you a few questions your generator projects was awesome I built one now I purchased from a RV salvage yard a 6500 watt Kohler 4cylinder gas powered generator which cost me $300 and just wired by a license electrican to wire the home to a switch in my cleaning closet in the case the basement flooded and redid the exhaust putting 1 Chevy 60 with a 350 and nice and quiet but on your may I suggest get a dryer hose to outside with the metal door Aluminum now when on it opens but when not it's closed you can take off the hood and to make it bug proof 1 threaded rod I threaded my should rod threaded eyelot nylon lock nut a strip of metal or paint stick a washer and wing nut
Drill hole in lid put eyelit through grease threads put on nut (might have to cut the extra thread bend rod to a L end slip through eyelit make rod long enough to have a piece inside garage to open loosen rod slide exhaust tailpipe through pipe. And when running it's open when shutdown it's closed to shut it tight put L rod through eyelit tighten the wing nut
That sounds like a nice setup! I use an aluminum powervent setup sometimes. Not ideal but it is simple and effective.
Hey, you made a claim in some video about desulfating lead acid batteries that I have been thinking about. You said that they can be stored with a constant float voltage but that there is a lot more to it than that for optimal life span. (I cant find the video, so I'm wildly paraphrasing.) Can you make a video about battery storage or tell me where I can read about this?
Erik
I actually do remember that comment oddly though I don't remember the video. In any case manufacturers usually recommend a specific float voltage for practical reasons and leave out the more complicated parts because it wouldn't help them sell more batteries and it wouldn't be useful to the majority of their customers. When using previously damaged batteries or older batteries like I am here the cells are never going to be matched and will have different self discharge rates as well as different capacities, levels of sulfation, levels of water, and levels of internal resistance. The only way to properly maintain such a battery bank is to periodically cycle it, then equalize it and record data on battery/cell health. If left on a simple float for long periods of time you'll find individual cells drift apart in specific gravity and voltage resulting in water loss and sulfation. Float storage only works in relatively new battery banks that started perfectly matched and were never damaged in any way. Real life simply doesn't work that way and more effort is needed to get optimal life out of them. I see many comments from people who are disappointed in their batteries performance due to this reason and some simple maintenance that goes beyond charging and floating would rectify the situation. Hope this ramble helps explain some of the reasons why I don't agree with floating a battery bank and not using it for long periods of time.
Well I remember hearing that and I know it's one of these three.....
czcams.com/video/6x-JfckAt20/video.html
czcams.com/video/NcH-TwXJPmU/video.html
czcams.com/video/qlU3ew4bwPw/video.html
Would definitely love a follow up. Found myself trying to recover a auto battery although I highly doubt it will recover as I cannot get it to stay above 9V.
Personally I will charge up my SLA packs and then let them hang about for a little while. Top them up and do a cycle by rotating them through when I need or periodically. I've also had really good luck with NOCO chargers, I had a severely discharged battery I struggled with and was about to get rid of when I got my first charger. I managed to get another five years out of it; it was already at least 10-15 prior to that.
On the other hand I had a cheapo SLA charger which I think was killing them.
So a lot has to do with your charger I think.
love this guy video so much i missind them do anyone know if he is ok
Haven't heard from him in ages. I have no idea.
@@knurlgnar24 Glad to see you're still alive and kicking, Knurlgnar.
Any new video soon?
No new videos in the works at the moment, my apologies. I intend to make more videos at some point in the future but that all depends on various other factors in life. I appreciate the question.
One inverter that seems to be getting a lot of traction lately are the GIANDELs Full Sine Wave inverters. They look to be pretty well built and from what I've seen on CZcams, the sine wave holds up pretty good. The harmonics don't seem to be too crazy based on the only test I could find that looked for it. It reminds me of the Tiger Claw tests you did except they have a more granular range like the Samlexes. (Not saying their level of quality and sophistication is in with the Samlexes). I wish I could test like you do.
They have a following due to a popular youTuber but I also have not seen a useful teardown and test of them to date so I cannot say anything positive or negative about them.
I have a question that pretty much has nothing to do with this video but I don't want to burn my house down and I don't know of anyone else who could give an answer I would trust. Lets say this is a hypothetical question so there's no legal responsibility involved. Could I use a fan speed controller rated at 120v 15 amps to dim two 100 watt LED grow lights without damaging them or starting a fire? From what I can tell the fan speed controller just reduces the voltage. The specific products I'm talking about are the Cdmall Electronic Fan Speed Controller to dim a Mars hydro TS600 and a FREELICHT FLD-1000 from Amazon. I can provide links if you like. I didn't want it to look like I was trying to advertise stuff. If you don't want to answer I completely understand. Thanks either way, I really enjoy the channel.
Without doing a bunch of research into the particular products I can say traditional fan speed controllers are triac based dimmers which chop off a portion of each half-cycle of AC. This reduces RMS voltage but results in a nasty waveform. Works for fans though. Modern light dimmers usually use more sophiticated tech and there's a whole tech race between LED light manufacturers and dimmer producers and it's nearly impossible to guarantee any dimmer works properly with any particular light. Usually the best strategy is to purchase good quality lighting equipment which works with most any dimmer. Personally I'd first verify that your light is rated to be used with a dimmer - if not then I wouldn't even try. If it works it will likely reduce life, run hot, etc. If the light claims it is dimmable then I'd just try the speed controller you have and if it works, great, if not you might need to purchase a purpose made lighting dimmer. Looks like they sell a dimmable version of the light for a little more money but given you're asking the question I assume you already own the non-dimmable version.
Or just try dimming the non-dimmable ones and see what happens. It's not something I'd recommend in general but it does sound like something I'd do just to see how it works. From experience I know that non-dimmable LED lights CAN be used with dimmers in some cases. No guarantees on function or safety. Whenever you go outside of intended design parameters it is 'at-your-own-risk' of course.
@knurlgnar24 Thank you. I know that the LED's and the boards they're mounted on are the same as the ones in the more expensive dimmable model. What's different is the driver that is controlling or changing the power being delivered to the board. The dimmer switch on the dimmable model is just a linear passive potentiometer pretty much the same thing as a guitar volume knob. That's all I know. I have no idea where in line the potentiometer goes, if it changes the current before it gets to the driver or if it would go between the driver and the board. Thanks for taking the time to answer. Plan B is to increase the distance of the lights from the plants by taking all the crap off the closet shelf, rip it out and mount the lights to the ceiling instead of the underside of the shelf. Thanks again! =D
Yes sure hypothetical sure grow light sure.... I know where this is going..... Next you're gonna be saying something like let's meet at 420?
Having a bit of experience in the LED lighting world what a headache. A non-dimmable LED will try and turn on when the voltage is above its minimum. some usually just act like they're slightly darker as and adapt to the wide voltage range they can accept. Below a certain point they will turn off and if you hit the sweet spot Will flash and strobe. Same thing with CFL's.
Will it damage anything to Test probably not my only concern would be the capacitor if there is one. There's a lot of talk about LED compatible dimmers and I've seen a lot of things that certainly advertise as being LED compatible the truth is most standard dimmers will work. And there's been a few that have added customizations like minimum and maximum dimming levels that are sellable in someway. however there's a minimum load and maximum load the maximum load was critical with incandescence. The minimum load is where it falls into LED territory and with a handful of LEDs is still way under and they will stay on. Sometime you can get away with a smile like 7 W incandescent light light as a dummy load.
Of course then there's the lights with integrated dimming control that's either doing something fancy where it's watching the Waveform or it's most likely if it's got a potentiometer it's just varying the current or voltage on the DC side.
I spent a few months tracking down an issue which turned out to be a on-demand water heater causing interference bikes on the way form which made the LEDs flash after the dimmer what a nightmare they finally sent me a third control board which fixed it.
HI I have this osp tiger claw 1500w inverter the trace that connects the mosfets burned up. Could you please take a picture with the inverter connections + - terminals facing you looking on the left side of the board it has the big capacitors on it. I need the heat sink removed that's where the trace is q 13 and the one next to it. I can send pictures of what trace is burned if you give me an email .thank you
Please an updated 12v generator.
.
Do you have an email you can be contacted at?
Not sure what you mean by your statement. I do have email but I don't publish it.
HI good to see you knurlgnar24 did you see my comment about the tiger claw pure sine wave 1500w the output fets blew 2 of em. The trace for the input burned up can you send me a picture with the heat sinks removed. I wont be able to fix it with out the pictures as the trace burned off the board between the 2 fets on one side it was not my fault only had a 100w load yes 100w. please help a fellow tech out. thank you
Do you still do repairs
I sometimes do repairs but not as often as I used to. It seems more people have taken an interest in such matters and now bid up the price of repairable electronics. The new tax laws that hit sellers on sites like eBay extremely hard pretty much put an end to any profitability in that practice. Into the trash it goes. Such a waste, but the government doth demand it.
I am trying to find someone to repair my coteck 3000 watt inverter 48 volt like the one you had any suggestions
Long time no videos, are you okay?
Debatable, but thanks for asking. I always intend to make more but things seem to get in the way.
have not seen you post in awhile? what happened?
Life I suppose. I'm not dead and will post again eventually. I sometimes think I should retire and just make videos for fun. I dunno.
Ya life happens for sure.
I’ve learned a ton from you and hope to learn more. 👍👍👍👍
Hope all is well 😊
Are you waiting for something!!
Did U abandon the channel
Did he die?
Who?
@@knurlgnar24 Opps! you are alive :D Good!
You still alive?
I am not.
@@knurlgnar24 bummer 😕 back to your old videos I go
@@knurlgnar24 I also find your content very interesting let us know when you come back from your slumber.
Algorithm bump
It was quite boring until you showed us how to create perpetual power free energy devices LOLOO.
Be careful with those nails they don't want to have to worry about a tetanus shot
Waste of time here.
Agreed.
@@knurlgnar24 Dont listen to him!