[vcf-midatlantic] Simpson 262 Series E

[Paul Birkel]

As long as we're talking about Simpson 260 multimeters ... I have a Simpson
262 Series E that suffered battery-failure (x2) in its former life.  I'd
like to put it back into service (for the reasons that Dave states, below),
and aside from fixing the corrosion at the battery contacts (pointers
anyone?) I've been "put off" by the problem of finding affordable modern
substitutes for the pair of 15v batteries used in the higher resistance
ranges.  Any suggestions for a suitable substitute for the 30v (total)
battery requirement?

-----Original Message-----
From: vcf-midatlantic
[mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org] On
Behalf Of David Riley via vcf-midatlantic
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2015 10:46 AM
To: vcf-midatlantic
Cc: David Riley
Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] Apple IIe Voltmeter

On Nov 13, 2015, at 11:59 AM, Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic
<vcf-midatlantic at lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
> 
> I prefer analog meters when making "runs" of comparative measurements.
It's easy to see if one reading is "more" or "less" than another, the needle
is literally in different positions.

I prefer them for that and, for diagnosing intermediate or "wandering"
problems (or quickly checking continuity), it's MUCH easier to see a needle
moving than wait for the update of an LCD.

> I've found variations in current measurements among several Simpson 260
meters (and among their scales) I've acquired. My guess is that some of the
shunts were "cooked" by excessive current, or corroded by time and tide. I
have not yet gone to the trouble of diagnosing them, I simply use the meters
that have the best readings through the procedures noted. They are cheap
today.

I've definitely cooked current shunts in both digital and analog meters.
Nothing is immune, even the fused ones (those fuses do have a finite blow
time, which is more than enough to damage something if you accidentally
touch mains).

> Why? Given the "digital is better" bias these days, only a few people call
out the Simpson 260 as a valued instrument - Dave McGuire for instance, in
that email list we used to use.

Digital is marginally better in situations where you need to record a
number, but that's really just laziness.  They can actually be more precise
where that matters, but it seldom does.  And I like the autoranging of
digital meters, but that goes back to laziness.  I have a very nice Fluke
87-V that I use for just about everything, but there are a lot of times I
wish I had a dependable and portable analog meter as a counterpart.


- Dave