How'd you get those units? I've seen some device before with custom firmware (not just a demo mode) for when they get sent for product photography, the photographer doesn't have the equipment to get the numbers on the screen as the marketing department wants so they make it so you press any button and it cycles through preset displays. If those were product samples from Testo maybe they sent you ones meant for product photography accidentally?
Quite possible. IIRC Testo sent them into the mailbag directly. It also displays all segments and beeps for quite some time when switched on. A test mode would make sense for the Bluetooth symbol as well, an easy way to turn it on for photographs.
@@EEVblog2 If it does have custom photography firmware it was likely programed manually, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a hand written sticker inside with something like "DEMO v0.4".
The fact it doesn't turn off would mean there would be a mod to keep it powered up so if the range switch is accessible it would have a mod. The off mode is done by having the battery power rail on the range switch that connects battery to the power rails in all positions except off. To keep it on would mean a mod was done. This should be easily detectable.
@@tlhIngan Good call but unfortunately many modern meters particularly Bluetooth ones have soft power switches, often to gracefully close Bluetooth connections and save user log data to memory and if they already designed for ultra low power consumption for auto power off they might as well use it and not switch full battery current through the range switch contacts. Shame there's no obvious signs of custom firmware on the PCB, can't think of any other way to show it's not production firmware. The only other thing I can think of is maybe this is production firmware but it's lost the calibration data and so it think it's hot off the production line hence the all segments and long beep for QC, I wonder what would happen if you started to feed it the signals it says on the display, would it start saying "PASS"?
@@EEVblog2 One manufacturing 'defect' I could think of that both of them would have would be swapped battery terminals. So the springy half is usually negative, but what if in this case it was positive and the off state is just a diode preventing power drain? While very weird, I would expect 'garbage' output for weird input.
@@ItsEverythingElse a horrendously confused microcontroller getting reverse fed power turning on a random lcd segment (in this case, the Bluetooth icon)
Take the batteries out then connect up a high current 50v supply to the clamps battery terminals, then switch on and stand well back. Problem sorted ! Works for me every time.😁😁😁😁
I discount anything sold where a proper noun was intentionally improperly capitalized. Wouldn't expect quality control to be any good at that organization.
Probably not relevant, but I'd be curious to know the vintage of these things (when were they made) and what kind of batteries you used. Why? Well, I had a thing happen one time where I pulled an older item (a calculator not a multimeter, but whatever) out of storage after an extended period of time, plopped a fresh set of batteries in it, and turned it on and... it didn't work. Well, not exactly anyway. It powered on, but the screen brightness was all off and wonky and it was basically unusable. I fiddled with this thing for quite a while before the penny dropped and I thought "Hmm... this thing is pretty old and I used the wanky, fancy new Energizer "Lithium" AAA batteries in it. Maybe they're different from regular old alkaline batteries in some small way that's just enough to throw something out of whack." So I popped the wanky batteries out, plugged in a set of el-cheapo alkaline batteries, and it worked like a champ, and has ever since. You might think "an AA battery is an AA battery" or "an AAA battery is an AAA battery'" but in at least my one experience that logic did not hold.
Would it be worth it to remove the batteries and leave the meters sit overnight with the battery Input connectors shorted? Maybe with a real quick shot of De-Oxit on the rotary connector contact surfaces? Shouldn't hurt anything I would think.
Where I worked before, the metrology lab issued a permanent ban on all stuff Testo. Theyr temperature and humidity meters couldn't keep the accuracy after turning off then on again. Assistance from Testo didn't helped. I'd say it's just a garbage brand.
@@LawpickingLocksmith I'm not sure how that's relevant here. I like Louis.. I (and others) were screaming at him in the chat everyday when he was trying to "go up" and rent that crazy expensive store for 11k per month and stay in NY.. and he ended up banning me. In the end I was right and he should have listened. :)
@@calholli We used to rent to do repairs and paid over 12k. Good times paid for it but then things went downhill fast. We need a global right to repair, nothing less!
Probably that RoHS lead free solder forming tin whiskers across stuff inside.. Would account for all the symptoms.. Try opening them up and really brushing/blowing the circuit boards and component leads well and see if it "fixes" it.. If so, a spray of conformal coating may help keep it working over time..
No, you forget that he's in Australia- he's already upside down, so storing them upside-down down under, would actually be right side up... My bet is the lead-free solder strikes again..
The manual indicates that the model 770-3 has Bluetooth ability but the models 770-2 and 770-1 do not. Perhaps you have some kind of prototypes they gave you? A quick search did reveal a service contact link on their website though.
Look at the serial number 863 and date code 0916. There is also the address on the bottom. This is not a current production batch. This must be an early unit, this could even be a prototype or mookup that should not have entered the market.
This is really strange, it seems you have the same "luck" as me, I bought 5 USB sticks, 3 of them don't even connect... It might be a software bug, maybe they have inside a reset jumper or factory reset. Anyway, it's very strange. If they were imported from Germany, maybe they passed through a customs scanner and were damaged, depending on the technology used, by some magnetic waves....
How'd you get those units? I've seen some device before with custom firmware (not just a demo mode) for when they get sent for product photography, the photographer doesn't have the equipment to get the numbers on the screen as the marketing department wants so they make it so you press any button and it cycles through preset displays. If those were product samples from Testo maybe they sent you ones meant for product photography accidentally?
Quite possible. IIRC Testo sent them into the mailbag directly. It also displays all segments and beeps for quite some time when switched on. A test mode would make sense for the Bluetooth symbol as well, an easy way to turn it on for photographs.
@@EEVblog2 If it does have custom photography firmware it was likely programed manually, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a hand written sticker inside with something like "DEMO v0.4".
@@WizardTimNot on the top side of the PCB where there is a programming header.Looks tricky to get the whole board out.
The fact it doesn't turn off would mean there would be a mod to keep it powered up so if the range switch is accessible it would have a mod. The off mode is done by having the battery power rail on the range switch that connects battery to the power rails in all positions except off. To keep it on would mean a mod was done. This should be easily detectable.
@@tlhIngan Good call but unfortunately many modern meters particularly Bluetooth ones have soft power switches, often to gracefully close Bluetooth connections and save user log data to memory and if they already designed for ultra low power consumption for auto power off they might as well use it and not switch full battery current through the range switch contacts.
Shame there's no obvious signs of custom firmware on the PCB, can't think of any other way to show it's not production firmware. The only other thing I can think of is maybe this is production firmware but it's lost the calibration data and so it think it's hot off the production line hence the all segments and long beep for QC, I wonder what would happen if you started to feed it the signals it says on the display, would it start saying "PASS"?
Obviously you turned them on before taking it apart.
Thats the most likely culprit 😉
Thank you for not making this a short!
Well, you got two of them, otherwise i would say it was a fluke.
lol not a Fluke lol, get it, fluke meter
Pretty sure they only work correctly in Germany.
When they were shipped Down Under, all the logic fell out😁👍🇦🇺
In particular, the magnetic field sensed by the clamps reversed .
@@johndododoe1411 No, the magnetic field of the clamps becomes inverse inductance = reluctance or transductance when used Down Under👌😁🇦🇺
The only thing I can think of is a misaligned selector switch. But for both of them to have this out of the box is very weird.
That was my first thought too, but yeah, both of them...
@@EEVblog2 One manufacturing 'defect' I could think of that both of them would have would be swapped battery terminals. So the springy half is usually negative, but what if in this case it was positive and the off state is just a diode preventing power drain? While very weird, I would expect 'garbage' output for weird input.
How would that explain reading full scale or the Select button turning on Bluetooth.
@@ItsEverythingElse a horrendously confused microcontroller getting reverse fed power turning on a random lcd segment (in this case, the Bluetooth icon)
Have they got a coin cell inside for settings and maybe its gonna flat and upset the IO?
You’ve clearly got the Austrian version. Try turning it off, inverting for southern hemisphere orientation and turning it on again.
Take the batteries out then connect up a high current 50v supply to the clamps battery terminals, then switch on and stand well back. Problem sorted ! Works for me every time.😁😁😁😁
I thought your doctor recommended you don't do that anymore?
Demo mode?
Demo Mode? 😂
I discount anything sold where a proper noun was intentionally improperly capitalized. Wouldn't expect quality control to be any good at that organization.
Probably not relevant, but I'd be curious to know the vintage of these things (when were they made) and what kind of batteries you used. Why? Well, I had a thing happen one time where I pulled an older item (a calculator not a multimeter, but whatever) out of storage after an extended period of time, plopped a fresh set of batteries in it, and turned it on and... it didn't work. Well, not exactly anyway. It powered on, but the screen brightness was all off and wonky and it was basically unusable.
I fiddled with this thing for quite a while before the penny dropped and I thought "Hmm... this thing is pretty old and I used the wanky, fancy new Energizer "Lithium" AAA batteries in it. Maybe they're different from regular old alkaline batteries in some small way that's just enough to throw something out of whack." So I popped the wanky batteries out, plugged in a set of el-cheapo alkaline batteries, and it worked like a champ, and has ever since.
You might think "an AA battery is an AA battery" or "an AAA battery is an AAA battery'" but in at least my one experience that logic did not hold.
I remember plenty of devices needing the full 1.5V per cell, not the lower value from NiCd and compatible cells .
Would it be worth it to remove the batteries and leave the meters sit overnight with the battery Input connectors shorted? Maybe with a real quick shot of De-Oxit on the rotary connector contact surfaces? Shouldn't hurt anything I would think.
They had batteries removed for years.
You HAVE to have the leads in first
Where I worked before, the metrology lab issued a permanent ban on all stuff Testo.
Theyr temperature and humidity meters couldn't keep the accuracy after turning off then on again.
Assistance from Testo didn't helped.
I'd say it's just a garbage brand.
Open both, they may have the same faulty component, a capacitor ?
Do you remember why you have 2 of them? Possibly you knew they were from a faulty or recalled batch and you wanted to know why?
IIRC Testo sent them into the mailbag directly.
Different models 770-1 and 770-2, both of these are without Bluetooth. Only model 770-3 is with Bluetooth.
now i'm waiting for the tear-down video to appear. 😁
How about some sort of programming mode? Maybe they never completed the firmware or calibration.
Have you pulled out the batteries yet? And then put them back in after an hour. Looks like some firmware bug to me
I'm in the US and it is nice to see someone else complain about a faulty item
You didn't pay your subscription fee. 🤣
I would say just pull them apart.. It's probably something obvious in the switch mechanism.
Hmm, Pumpkin colours, Spooky ghost in my multi meter, good glitch :-)
Search for actuall marketing photos. It looks like these are marketing units.
damp or corrosion on PCB maybe
It’s because you turned them on before tearing them apart
Maybe it's stuck in some sort of demo mode
I always suspect Bluetooth, it should be white.
Those are "dummy" ones.
...you like electronics ..fix em! lol :P
the old have you tried turning it off and back on again doesnt really apply here!
Better things to do right now...
He's trying to outsource the "fixing" part to us.. Not a bad move when you don't have time. :)
Dave has become the Louis Rossmann of Australia: Ride the wave of fame and preach like an LDS preacher.....
@@LawpickingLocksmith I'm not sure how that's relevant here. I like Louis.. I (and others) were screaming at him in the chat everyday when he was trying to "go up" and rent that crazy expensive store for 11k per month and stay in NY.. and he ended up banning me. In the end I was right and he should have listened. :)
@@calholli We used to rent to do repairs and paid over 12k. Good times paid for it but then things went downhill fast. We need a global right to repair, nothing less!
Made in germany hardware, but looks like Made in China firmware 😂
China is way ahead of Germany for this kind of stuff.
they are haunted!
Bad firmware?
Probably that RoHS lead free solder forming tin whiskers across stuff inside.. Would account for all the symptoms.. Try opening them up and really brushing/blowing the circuit boards and component leads well and see if it "fixes" it.. If so, a spray of conformal coating may help keep it working over time..
Easy!! He had them stored upside down so all the electrons have fallen out.
No, you forget that he's in Australia- he's already upside down, so storing them upside-down down under, would actually be right side up...
My bet is the lead-free solder strikes again..
Someone didnt do the proper end of line Testo
Electronic pcb is complicated .I tried figuring out why voltage was reading off and could not trace past three transistors I think it was 3 layer pcb
My guess is mode switch is in the wrong place because someone “took it apaaart before turning it on”
Bit rot in the firmware? Get a real multi-meter with nixie tubes, or an analogue meter, none of this software-controlled rubbish ;P
The manual indicates that the model 770-3 has Bluetooth ability but the models 770-2 and 770-1 do not.
Perhaps you have some kind of prototypes they gave you? A quick search did reveal a service contact link on their website though.
Look at the serial number 863 and date code 0916. There is also the address on the bottom. This is not a current production batch.
This must be an early unit, this could even be a prototype or mookup that should not have entered the market.
Or the third option it's from the future!
This is really strange, it seems you have the same "luck" as me, I bought 5 USB sticks, 3 of them don't even connect... It might be a software bug, maybe they have inside a reset jumper or factory reset. Anyway, it's very strange. If they were imported from Germany, maybe they passed through a customs scanner and were damaged, depending on the technology used, by some magnetic waves....
Plenty of fakes around with false capacities and/or loaded with malware.
Did you try turning it off and on again 😂
Made in Germany?? Doubt that. But like Volkswagen they do sort of work after software update number 347......
I'm not a fond of Testo and Gossen products at the nuclear power plant I work, i prefer a lot our Fluke gear
Homer Simpson also works at a nuclear power plant.
@@Okurka. And?
@@pxidr There was no reason to mention the place you work at.
@@Okurka. If I want to, I do, if it doesn't please you, ignore my comment
Something is VERY off here... more than your regular OFF!
Maybe fakes?
oh shiiii ,I just bought one
Gaarbeije
German quality again 😅
Deflating baloon