3457A battery replacement at Keysight - not as cheap as I thought it would be!
Last year I went down to Keysight for a course, and got a tour of their cal
labs. I spoke to the person showing us around about the 3457A battery. He
said if the battery was less than £35 or so, it could be replaced free of
charge when the instrument was calibrated.
So despite my 3457A's battery must be on its last legs, I decided not to
bother replacing it, as I thought Keysight would do it free. The other more
serious reason is that I can't seem to find a suitable battery in the UK.
This from Mouser
The Panasonic BR-2/3AE5SPN
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-bsg/BR-2-3AE5SPN/P226-ND/61161
looks like it will do the job, and is less than $6 in the USA, but I can't
get one in the UK.
Anyway, my meter was sent to Keysight for a technical evaluation, and today
I received a quote
- Keysight calibration with uncertainties £140 (GBP)
- Repair (time and material) £289.35 (GBP)
- Total £429.
All + 20% VAT
So far from being free, they now want a serious amount of money to replace
the battery! It's more than a third of the cost of a brand new 6.5 digit
meter, with the complete battery and calibration costing more than 50% of
the price of a new 6.5 digit meter.
With eBay being a counterfeiters paradise, I will not buy a battery from
there. None of the UK companies I find have something that looks suitable.
I might try to find someone in the USA who will post me one by surface
mail. That should avoid all the problems with air transport of lithium
batteries.
Dave
Hello Dave,
Farnell UK have these; http://uk.farnell.com/w/c/batteries-chargers/batteries-non-rechargeable?battery-size-code=2-3aa
Best Regards,
Laurence Motteram
Calibration & Service Manager
Scientific Devices Australia
Ph: +61 (0)3 9569 1366
M: +61 (0)425 765 019
www.scientific-devices.com.au
lmotteram@scientific-devices.com.au
-----Original Message-----
From: volt-nuts [mailto:volt-nuts-bounces@febo.com] On Behalf Of Dr. David Kirkby
Sent: Friday, 25 May 2018 6:42 AM
To: Discussion of precise voltage measurement
Subject: [volt-nuts] 3457A battery replacement at Keysight - not as cheap as I thought it would be!
Last year I went down to Keysight for a course, and got a tour of their cal
labs. I spoke to the person showing us around about the 3457A battery. He
said if the battery was less than £35 or so, it could be replaced free of
charge when the instrument was calibrated.
So despite my 3457A's battery must be on its last legs, I decided not to
bother replacing it, as I thought Keysight would do it free. The other more
serious reason is that I can't seem to find a suitable battery in the UK.
This from Mouser
The Panasonic BR-2/3AE5SPN
https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/panasonic-bsg/BR-2-3AE5SPN/P226-ND/61161
looks like it will do the job, and is less than $6 in the USA, but I can't
get one in the UK.
Anyway, my meter was sent to Keysight for a technical evaluation, and today
I received a quote
- Keysight calibration with uncertainties £140 (GBP)
- Repair (time and material) £289.35 (GBP)
- Total £429.
All + 20% VAT
So far from being free, they now want a serious amount of money to replace
the battery! It's more than a third of the cost of a brand new 6.5 digit
meter, with the complete battery and calibration costing more than 50% of
the price of a new 6.5 digit meter.
With eBay being a counterfeiters paradise, I will not buy a battery from
there. None of the UK companies I find have something that looks suitable.
I might try to find someone in the USA who will post me one by surface
mail. That should avoid all the problems with air transport of lithium
batteries.
Dave
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On 24 May 2018 at 23:43, Laurence Motteram <
lmotteram@scientific-devices.com.au> wrote:
Hello Dave,
Farnell UK have these; http://uk.farnell.com/w/c/
batteries-chargers/batteries-non-rechargeable?battery-size-code=2-3aa
Best Regards,
Laurence Motteram
Calibration & Service Manager
Scientific Devices Australia
Ph: +61 (0)3 9569 1366
M: +61 (0)425 765 019
www.scientific-devices.com.au
lmotteram@scientific-devices.com.au
Thank you, but I believe they are the wrong size. They are 2/3AA, but the
one needed is I believe 2/3A. I know what a AA cell is, but I must admit
I've never come across an A cell, but I guess its bigger than a 2/3A.
My biggest concern about buying batteries is getting counterfeits. That's
why I would rather stick with a reputable supplier like Farnell, RS etc.
But I can't find anything local.
look to be battery specialists in the UK, but I have never come across them
before. I have emailed them, along with Panasonic directly. I've said to
Keysight, if they will sell me the battery, I will buy it from them. I know
Keysight is not going to be a cheap place to buy batteries, but given the
difficulty in getting one, I would not mind buying directly from Keysight.
But I am not paying nearly £300 for them to fit a battery.
Dave
You can buy litium batteries at conrad. They have axial wires and fit into allmost all hp , philips equipment. The length is half an aa cel. As the current is so low, only the leakage counts. I never understand why they charge so much for calibration. It is for equipment with a stability of 30 ppm. A good calibrator with voltage and restistance standard give you about 3 ppm. I use fluke 5700 with datron voltage an esi resistance standard. Yes the voltage was calibrated. The resistance is difficult for the reason that only a national standard lab has a better uncertenty. Use to had 2 of these standards and the difference i found was in the order of 0.1 ppm of actual value compared to each other.
Regards
Met vriendelijke groeten,
Frans
info@electronicsandbooks.com
electronicsandbooks.com
Netherlands
discere ne cesses
Op vr, mei 25, 2018 om 1:03 schreef Dr. David Kirkbydrkirkby@kirkbymicrowave.co.uk: On 24 May 2018 at 23:43, Laurence Motteram <
lmotteram@scientific-devices.com.au> wrote:
Hello Dave,
Farnell UK have these; http://uk.farnell.com/w/c/
batteries-chargers/batteries-non-rechargeable?battery-size-code=2-3aa
Best Regards,
Laurence Motteram
Calibration & Service Manager
Scientific Devices Australia
Ph: +61 (0)3 9569 1366
M: +61 (0)425 765 019
www.scientific-devices.com.au
lmotteram@scientific-devices.com.au
Thank you, but I believe they are the wrong size. They are 2/3AA, but the
one needed is I believe 2/3A. I know what a AA cell is, but I must admit
I've never come across an A cell, but I guess its bigger than a 2/3A.
My biggest concern about buying batteries is getting counterfeits. That's
why I would rather stick with a reputable supplier like Farnell, RS etc.
But I can't find anything local.
look to be battery specialists in the UK, but I have never come across them
before. I have emailed them, along with Panasonic directly. I've said to
Keysight, if they will sell me the battery, I will buy it from them. I know
Keysight is not going to be a cheap place to buy batteries, but given the
difficulty in getting one, I would not mind buying directly from Keysight.
But I am not paying nearly £300 for them to fit a battery.
Dave
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On 24 May 2018 at 21:41, Dr. David Kirkby drkirkby@kirkbymicrowave.co.uk
wrote:
Last year I went down to Keysight for a course, and got a tour of their
cal labs. I spoke to the person showing us around about the 3457A battery.
He said if the battery was less than £35 or so, it could be replaced free
of charge when the instrument was calibrated.
So despite my 3457A's battery must be on its last legs, I decided not to
bother replacing it, as I thought Keysight would do it free.
After the initial quote of £289.35 (GBP) from Keysight to replace the
battery, Keysight have now agreed to do it for £99. That's a lot more than
free, but at least it's a significant reduction from the original price
given.
I had worked out that had I paid Keysight £289.35 to get the battery
replaced, plus another £140 for the calibration, the total was more than
60% of the cost of a brand new Keysight 34460A 6.5 digit meter.
I must admit, I have not done a detailed comparison between the 3457A,
34460A and the more expensive 34461A 6.5 digit multimeters, but I have
decided to begrudgingly accept the £99 charge for the 3457A battery
replacement.
Dave