[volt-nuts] ...a guide to buying the HP/Agilent 3458A

Greg Burnett gbusg at comcast.net
Sun Aug 2 23:27:57 UTC 2009


Danger Signs:
==========

1. The seller states it as "untested" and/or claims not to have even
    bothered to power it up and run self-test.
     ...Note that many such boxes have hardware failures. Your original
        acquisition cost + repair can easily exceed cost of buying a fully
        tested unit.

2. The seller's photo shows it as powered up but you can see "Err" in small
     letters below the main characters in the display.
     ... "Err" means an error was reported and the seller would need
          to hit "Blue Shift" Error to find out which error(s).


Watch out for the Version of its A5 Outguard Controller:
======================================

1. Old version is 03458-66505 (first released in 1988)
      or 03458-66515 if opt. 001

        It has 3 SRAMs, each having a non-replaceable internal battery that
        lasts 10 to 15 years. When the batteries crash, you'll loose your
        cal constants and your DMM won't work. The fix is to either replace
        the 3 SRAMS (expensive) or upgrade to the new ver. A5

        The SRAMS are qty 2 DS1230Y and qty 1 DS1220Y.
        Check the datecodes on them.

        Bottom line: If date codes are more than 10 years ago,
        you're living on borrowed time!

        Firmware might be very old.
       ...depends on age but might be between ver. 2 to ver. 8.


2. New version is 03458-66547
      or 03458-66548 if opt. 001

        Much better! Uses new version Non-volatile RAM
        with user replaceable batteries!

        Has much newer version firmware.  (Probably ver. 8 or later.)

Cheers,
Greg




More information about the volt-nuts mailing list