I have an old Radio Shack multi meter, 22-166A. I talked to Radio Shack about betting it fixed, and they said that for something this old I'm pretty much out of luck. Does anyone here know of a source of parts and repair for old Radio Shack equipment?
Do you know Spanish?
A definite source? No. Doubt one exists.
I'd take it apart, see if you can spot the problem. If not an easy fix, try sci.electronics.repair. Someone there might know something we don't.
Good Luck, P
"Law Without Equity Is No Law At All. It Is A Form Of Jungle Rule."
Depends upon what is wrong with the meter. It could be as simple as a blown internal fuse or something that would cost more to fix than the meter is worth.
Parts would be available at Radio Shack, or online:
I don't know there part numbers by heart. What exactly is this. Digital, with a needle?
What he said. What's wrong with it? Does it work at all?
Is one setting not working? That could be a burned out resistor. It might say on the resistor what the value is, but if that part might be burned off. You maybe can measuere the resistor for the settings on either side, and the one burnt out with be the, I forget what you call it, but if the ones left are 20 ohms, 200, 20000, 200K, the one in the middle that is burned out is 2000.
Also
On 2/27/2009 4:39 PM mm spake thus:
Problem is, you can't just drop a new resistor into a meter and call it done. The resistors inside them are high-precision: at least 1%, sometimes more, and sometimes weird, completely non-standard values. (You might get lucky and be able to replace one, but that's not a sure thing.)
We need to hear from the O.P. just what's wrong with the unit.
Besides, it may be that it just isn't worth it to fix it. Radio Shack (Micronta) multimeters are mediocre quality at best. Better to get a
*real* meter, like an old Simpson, Triplett, etc.
I wouldn't mind having an old Simpson. Those things are bricks - you can use them in place of a hammer and they still work :)
So - the fuse is not blown. The unit turns on (it's digital), display appears. I switch to ohms, the display shows 11M with the leads disconnected. If I plug in a set of test leads and squeeze the tips with my fingers, it shows an erratic display, indicating that it's trying to do something. I put a 12k resister across the leads, and it shows 10.00M with the ones digit flashing off and on. All other settings result in -1000v with the one flashing on and off. I put a battery across it, nothing. I put the leads across a 120vac source, nothing. It is effectively non-responsive except in ohms mode. There isn't much to this thing - it was not a high quality unit to start with, and there are only a handfull of components in it. There is no obvious sign of damage. Is it worth fixing? Probably not. But it belonged to my Father and it has some sentimental value. I'm willing to give it a shot.
The 22-166A is a small digital only meter. It has five settings, DC V, AC V, ohms, diode test, 200mA. There are no other settings or controls.
Uh, have you replaced the battery?
If a digit is flashing off and on, get away from it. it's going to explode.
Hurry!!!!
I see now that it's flashing on and off. That's not dangerous at all. I thought you said it was flashing off and on. That's when you have to worry.
I have saved everything my father had too, that my mother had saved. His shaving kit bag has been my sewing kit bag for the last 45 years.
I have his cane from 1936 Shriner's convention. His fez from some other Mason or Shriner event. His shirt collar, from the days when shirt collars were separate from the shirt. His spats. And his diplomas on the wall from 1912 (high school) and dental school. Etc.
I would want to save this too, but I can't help you fix it.
On 2/27/2009 6:04 PM Zootal spake thus:
You've answered your own question there. Probably the majority of the circuit, including what's damaged, is in one ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Not a replaceable part.
Get a new meter.
Maybe it's not as old as I thought. I cut my teeth back then TTL was TheNextBigThing and these surface mount new fangled things hadn't been invented yet. I still have a couple hundred old 14 and 16 pin TTL chips laying around. This meter has the NJU9207F, and I don't have the equipment to replace it. ....
Pots? Have you seen inside a DMM made in the last twenty years? They don't have any potentiometers.
The only thing worth checking is the battery connection and the fuse.
Otherwise, replace the part called "DMM". Runs about $10 and is a 100% replacement.
On 2/27/2009 11:46 PM AZ Nomad spake thus:
$10? I got my last one for *$3* at Harbor Freight! Has more functions than the O.P.'s broken one.
Hi, RS never sold a meter worth fixing. Just chuck it if you can find a problem inside like worn out battery or fuse. I saw a digital meter with clamp on AC current probe for 9.99 in a local store. My meters are Fluke, Amprobe, and Simpson.
All those symptoms add up to a high probability of a bad lead, probably the black one. Hold the plugs and pull on the wire. If you see any stretching of the insulation, that's where the break is at. Red
I have the 22-166B model, which I bought back in the mid nineties IIRC. Still works, although I've gone through a few sets of leads and fuses on it of course. There was also an incident with a battery that leaked solution all over the inside of the thing, but after cleaning it up it's still running strong.
Not my primary meter any longer, but I still use it when I need to use multiple meters to measure something.
Jon
RS hasn't sold much of *anything* worth fixing for a very long time. I stopped buying Radio Shack products years ago because I got tired of them breaking or otherwise going bad. A long time ago Made In Japan products used to have a bad reputation (ok, I'm dating myself). Now it's the made in China stuff, which is just about everything in Radio Shack, is even worse.
I took the thing apart, and found two pots I need to check. I have a half-dozen meters already, so I think I'll put this back on a shelf with the rest of the stuff I don't have time to sort through.
With chinese stuff, it depends on the engineering. The engineering of the product and of the manufacturing process is rarely chinese.
Radio shack like the lipstickonapig approach. The crappiest products, but with a pretty case.
4+ hours left now, but there is no Buy it Now. I didn't think that would happen, especially since it's still only 1 bidder at 30 dollars.
The old Simpson meters (c. 1960) weren't particulaly accurate. Their accuracy was expressed as "Percent of full scale."
Thus, if you measured a nominal 10 volts on the 100 volt scale, your reading could be up to 1 volt in error with a 1% full scale accuracy meter. Use a
2% meter (Most Simpsons were 2%), and you can be off by 20% on a 10 volt measurement on the wrong scale.I didn't take that seriously until I had to make a LOT of measurements on microwave diodes and found that my "simpson" meter readings were so inaccurate as to make my data worthless.
You can pick up a digital meter from Harbor Freight for less than $5 that's more accurate than any "analog" meter.
You might want to keep the old meter around as a curiosity (or in case you fear that WWIII will fry everything electronics) but except for "fun" purposes, they aren't worth fixing.
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