Multimeters

[quk@sievers.com (Phil Payne)]

In message <199612172003.MAA07048@sled> steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz) writes:

> > I am looking for a good, analog multimeter to get my Audi for Christmas.
> > Went to Sears and all they was a digital one.  Am considering looking at 
> > Snap-On but they are sooo pricey.

> As a long time EE I love analog meters as much as anyone, but they do have 
> their place.  Given that you want to use it to work on your Audi IMHO there 
> is a much better option ... and it is a digital meter.

Maybe there's another option.
 
As a direct consequence of a careless conversation at an electronics show 
a while back, I recently received a copy of Farnell Electronics' catalogue.
 
(They're on the web, they say, at http://www.farnell.co.uk)
 
Anyway, they list some interesting devices.  Order code 292-849 is an 11-
channel A/D converter that plugs straight into a PC's parallel port.  It's 
shipped complete with PicoLog and PicoScope software, for which they describe a 
variety of logging, oscilloscope and chart recorder functions.

The A/D converter expects 0 -> 2.5v inputs, but voltage dividers are within our 
grasp, aren't they?  It samples up to 15kHz with a 386DX33.

This thing is GBP95 + VAT.  Given that I have had some real wonderful transient 
problems to debug recently, the idea of going out on a drive and chart 
recording 11 channels of system behaviour is extremely attractive.
 
--
 Phil Payne
 phil@sievers.com
 Committee Member, UK Audi [ur-]quattro Owners Club