2016. július 23., szombat

Multimeter nightmare

I've scored a nice 6,5 digit bench multimeter back in December 2014 on the eBay. A Schlumberger Solartron 7061.

I felt, that is a good idea.
It was not.
The root of the problem is the missing test leads.What is the problem with it, you may ask. Go to the shop buy some cheap Chinese leads or spend a fortune on some Fluke or Keysight leads and done.
Unfortunately it is not so simple. Schlumberger used some weird connector instead of the usual banana plugs.
This one:

You can tell: This kind of animal doesn't exists. But it does. It is right on the front of my multimeter.
First of all, I tried to find test leads on the net, on eBay, etc. All of my attempt failed.
After this, I was looking around, what kind of connector is this. Some internet sources told that this is a Mini XLR.
I bought a few of this:
Won't fit.
Next iteration: reading through various forum posts, I found the exact correct type:
Fischer Connectors S 104 A053-130+
I was looking around, the only place I found it was a US company unknown to me, for SIXTY FIVE bloody dollars. Are you out of your mind? It is just a connector!
Even I should pay the shipping and the customs. NO WAY!
Ok, lets go further.
I went to the Alibaba and later Aliexpress, where I found a company, what manufactures the clone of this Fischer Connector product line, but not this exact pin configuration.
I wrote to them if they are able to produce this connector:


I think it isn't a bad assumption to say, they will never provide this connector to me.
At this point I gave this up for a while...

...beginning of this year I wrote to my list, to handle this issue.
Went back to the US site I found it. They had no stock left. Ouch.

Next try:
Wrote a letter to the manufacturer, if they are able to sell it to me directly.
They directed to me to the Hungarian distributor.
We had a few mails, agreed on the exact product, price.
At the end I forgot to answer their last question about the invoicing.
A few month later it pop into my mind, but didn't wanted to write an apologizing letter. So I let it go.

Final try:
On the first day of my vacation came a newsletter from Farnell, that they are included Fischer Connector products into their portfolio.
Searched immediately, and YES, they have it on stock.
After arriving home, I ordered it, arrived:


Now, I have to create some banana breakout box, test lead, something out of it to be able to use.

P.S.: Just tell me, who on earth is so idiot to design an un-insulated, metal test lead connector to a multimeter with high voltage capability????