[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
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