I was a technician on the line that built those meters. Your video brought back some fond yet frustrating memories. Those little tabs braking and misaligning the switch were common issues in manufacturing.
Use your experience to repair an expensive digital caliper. Turns out the seal around the case had been misplaced in the plastic die cast seat. After dusting off and a clean install, display is back to life! THank you for the tip!
The Fluke 80 series meters are spectacularly reliable. They make the argument for spending more for tools instead of spending again. My 87 is 36 years old, virtually all in the field. At one point, Fluke became aware of a problem that mine did not even have and sent me an entire kit of parts and directions to repair it. Satisfaction!
I had a 70 series until it got stolen, dropped it off ladders, left it on hot machines, blew its fuses. Never had a lick of trouble with it until it got stolen with the rest of my tool kit. Family bought me whatever 80 series I have no, I've had it at least 20 years, tho it receives a bit less abuse now that I'm retired and also not running haunted house attractions in my spare time. ;) Never had a segment go dead or any other malfunction.
Back in the 1980s I owned a manufacturing business making silicone connector strips. Zebra was my competitor. They always made an inferior and cheaper product. The deflection design is critical to the assembly from the display to the circuit board(s). Few manufacturers understood how to use such connectors for reliable performance. I provided holders along with my connectors and assisted with design in reliability. No one gives a shit about doing the right thing these days. It is all deiven by greed, not pride and reliability. Thank you China.
It all comes down to quality of components for anisotropic connectors and the slightly older subclass of elastomeric connectors and the board contacts/display contacts. Of course, cheaper is better to many, which holds down the costs, but also limits the lifetime of the product. I don't blame China because someone wants a $20 meter, rather than a $200 meter, as China didn't invent the market they're catering to, the buyers create that market. My first experience with these connectors and failure modes was with my old Beckman 310, where the plastic clips stretched, allowing oxidation to interfere with the display connections. Fortunately, the Fluke 77 had entered the market around when I was tiring of fixing the meter repeatedly.
@@spvillanomy first job as a technician at a defense contractor the company had a couple Beckmans and a Fluke 75. Not enough meters for the techs though. Very frustrating. I loved the Fluke. So much so that I bought a 75 in 1989 or so for I think $119. Still have it and the box it came in. Still works, made in USA. Got in trouble for bringing it into work because it didn’t have calibration stickers on it and it wasn’t property of the company.
@@billdivine9501 we had a fairly decent spif on the 70 series when they were introduced and I was working sales at an electronics components and equipment wholesaler. Never sold a meter, I put our counter sample meter into a tech's hands with a few resistors and batteries, the meter sold itself. The company owner, notoriously cheap, complained how the meter was now used and he'd lose money - then he saw the sales figures and shut up. Made a sizable increase in my paycheck, but I sold nothing, the meters sold themselves. Bought two, one suffered water damage and the other's switch failed and shredded itself. Miss those workhorses though!
I used to manage a business that manufactured electronic equipment and we all had Fluke meters. I honestly can say that I never encountered a problem with their LCDs. Unfortunately, our corporate overlords decided to get into the multimeter business and started to sell rebranded meters from China. We were no longer allowed to have the Fluke meters. The rebranded meters were junk. They were inaccurate, killed batteries quickly and had displays that flaked out like what you showed. To 'comply' we kept using the Fluke meters but whenever we had corporate visitors, I would collect the Fluke meters and the guys would display the junk meters on their bench. When the visitors left, they got the Flukes back.
Surprisingly easy fix, in fact for me just opening the case and fastening the screws was enough! Who knew. This saved my small kitchen clock and made my day (surprising how hard it is to find a small unobtrusive battery powered radio controlled clock that reliably shows the time and nothing else). Thank you so much!
Those Zebra strips have always been a problem. What you did was the proper way to correct the problem. Some people will even go a little too far and take the Zebra strips off the LCD display which is a big mistake. Oils from handling Zebra strips can cause all kinds of problems. I used to replace them on all kinds of test equipment and learned the hard way.
Just to thank you for posting this repair video. My Fluke 77 had the same issues, and I cleaned the LCD circuit board contacts as you've indicated. Presto! This cleared the issues up completely! Thanks!
Thank you! This helped save my Oxo kitchen scale by visualizing the issue. The LCD was display just like the in the video. The design was different, this used a ribbon cable (not the clip in kind). I squeezed it into the circuit board and the display worked great. To fix the issue, I placed a thin piece of plastic so that it would increase the pressure by a little bit, enough that the display is now perfect.
I use one of those pencil eraser to clean the contacts first and then I use acetone to clean them. I also clean the ends of the contact strip with acetone and air blast everything clean and dry. Fixes it right up.
The other 30% in 70% rubbing alcohol is water, the very last thing you want to leave behind. Either remove it carefully and completely or use 100%. It can be hard to find in a container but individual foil packets are readily found in electronics or photo supplies. It makes all the difference in the long run. Thanks for your excellent demo.
WOW My fluke 83 has been doing that for about 4 years and its 25 years old. So I asked a question why does it have this problem. In the time it took to watch this video I had it fixed. I can't thank you enough thank you thank you thank you!
Just a few weeks back I found this old R S Micronta digital meter. I'm not sure how I got, but I think it was a defective one someone gave me years ago. I thought OK fix it or throw it out. I have to much stuff and much of it is not longer of use or is junk. So I opened it up and put batteries in it and nothing happened when I turned it on. Dead I thought. So I looked at the insides to see if there was anything on the board worth saving. Somehow in that process when I pulled the board off I noticed that the display panel was not attached with any wires. Weird, I thought, then I saw where contacted the board. Hum, those metal parts in there look like they are tarnished. I cleaned them, and put the batteries back in and the display worked fine. so I have another volt/ohm meter. Sadly, I have trashed several meters in the past due to the display issues. Your video here now confirms what I found out. This is a new type of connection for me. In the case of this current meter, it was in my junk collection I bet more then 20 years. So that alone will have these things tarnish and stop working now that I found this new connection issue. Now for test leads that will last longer and still flexible.
I fixed the broken LCD display on my alarm clock by heating it with a hair dryer and then giving it few taps with my knuckles. Completely restored now.
Thank you for this video, I was able to fix my 9-year old digital scale. Followed your instructions to wipe the connectors with alcohol and now the lcd display is as good as new.
Really well put together Eric. I like the way you fast forward through the boring bits (that other people make us watch) and get right to the essential points. A good learning experience.
I am so happy, You have taught me how to fix or repaired my Fluke 87 multimeter, I am so please. My digital display is showing , just like new. You is a great teacher. Thank you very much.
Just followed your video and was just about to dispose of my FLUKE 73 III It worked brilliantly so thank you for taking the time to help others. I now have a brand new meter ;)
Thanks for the info. I have a Fluke 87 that has been tucked away for about 8 years because of the ghost numbers on the LCD. I always figured it needed a new LCD so I used another meter. Came across your video, gave it a try and brought the LCD back to life. Now I can use the Fluke 87 again. Easy to do and a cheep fix for an expensive meter.
I also use contact cleaner on the pink contact pad that makes contact with the circuit board. It's very amazing how sensitive those LCD's are to a minute amount of voltage drop.
Did Fluke have a lifetime warranty on their meters a while back when they were more premium? Is that no longer offered because the construction quality has been revised for affordability?
It worked - Thanks! I looked at three different videos and each showed a different method (alcohol, silver conductive grease & buying aftermarket connectors) - might as well start with the easiest and see what happens. Glad to have the display back on my 27 year old Fluke 87.
Thank you so much Eric! I managed to fix my watch's LCD that somehow popped out of its plastic latch. As its was my first watch from many years ago, it means a lot to have it up and running again.
Cleaning the contacts with alcohol is good; but then, a very thin coat of silicon grease should be applied to prevent future micro contact corrosion problems. This has served me well thru the years for long term electronic fixes.
Back in the 80’s when I was a.bench tech, we used “soft” rubber erasers to clean contacts. Any loose rubber could be brushed/blown off and there was no moisture or chemical residue.
I've got a multimeter with the same issue that I still use but have to deal with the missing portions of the numbers each time I use it. I'll have to take a look see at this solution. Thanks.
My trusty old Beckman (now over 40 years old) still works fine. How do you suppose they were able to make a lasting digital display all the way back in the early 80's? Could it be they actually took the time to assemble them better? I do know when I purchased the meter (from Baynesville Electronics just north of Baltimore) the salesman told me the tested these by running over them with a truck and dropping them off a building to see if they survived. I own several other brands but when I want to be sure I always go back to the Beckman meter. The reliability is unparalleled. All digits are dark contrast on the background.
The wall-mounted control unit of my swimming pool's salt cell / chlorine generator has one malfunctioning LCD segment. New units cost north of $1k. I will attempt this repair. First I will buy some of the Caig Labs Deoxit that others here recommend. Thank you for the suggestion.
Thank you so much, I had that problem for a few months now and lately I was getting frustrated with it that I thought of throwing it in the garbage and buy another one even though they are pricey, thank you again so much😀😀👍👍👍
I know a little of English language, because in my work I have to Know English and French Languages, but I understand your problem, cause I also have sometimes problems with technical words! Then I used to go to the "configurations": in the "right corner of the video Image", click on the "wheel" and after the opening of the "new image", select "legends", click on it and there you have a new "image" with: all the word translation languages, where you can choose your preferred language. I hope have helped you a little, Marcio Amorim Rego ! An embrace from: carlitos
A wary old and effective trick that are being used in the PC repair industri is to use the brown and blue ballpen eraser and some 90-95% Isopropyl-alcohol.
A pink eraser on the PCB contacts, then clean with alcohol has worked wonders on almost all contacts like, switches, pots, mech encoders, TV remotes, etc. also, clean them rubber/carbon push buttons on the fluke with just alcohol.
I find with the zebra strips on LCD displays and carbon contacts in remote controls it's always better to use methyl hydrate then rubbing alcohol though it did work well for you and that's great. Also you might try 99% instead of 70% alcohol. Looks good though.
Nice, fixed my (new out of the box) hygrometer by cleaning the contacts: rubbers, screen and print. Using your tips, cottontips and contactspray instead of isopropanol. Thanks for this 10yo video.
Works like a charm. ALSO I'm sorry you broke off one of your little retaining clips (in your video) But that too was instructive and cautioned me to be watchful because I may have done the same thing as well as being mindful to orient the mode selecting rotary switch during reassembly, So let that be a lesson to would be posters in a "how to video" that your "mistakes can be equally informative and should not be "edited" out Great job and thanks for saving me money and frustration TIM
Totally agree! It's probably not too uncommon for people who are making videos like this to edit out all the little mistakes, simply because they have too much pride to include the mistakes in their videos. But just as we can learn from our own mistakes, we can also learn from other people's mistakes as long as they are being presented to us.
just done my Fluke 73 - this must be one of the easiest wins in electronics. I had put if off for too long and it only takes 5 minutes. NB pcb screw under fat HRC fuse.
Nice. You got lucky. The process of cleaning the zebra's and solder pad surfaces is always a crapshoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So, you won this time. The amount of pressure against the strip is CRITICAL. Can't be too much, can't be too little. Sometimes the strips deform slightly or "shrink" slightly over the years, which can be enough to cause them to loose good contact. Even a few thousandths of an inch of dimensional change is enough for them to not work. So the shimming approach does sometimes work (but use only a TINY amount of shimming. If there is too much, the strip will get "squeezed" too much when reassembly, causing deformation, and the same poor contact problem). By the way, although Fluke no longer sells replacement strips (the woman in Service Parts actually laughed at me when I called--"Sir, your meter is 28 years old, we don't have parts for it anymore"), the strips for SOME models of Fluke DMM's are available from one or two places on the Net if you search hard enough. I bought a few for my 87's a few years back. Heartbreaking to consider trashing a $400 (more now) meter because of 20 bucks worth of silicone. Best wishes.
Nice video.. that system that Fluke and others (LEGO NXT) went to for their displays destroyed their product's lifespan. In my lab I had the generation of fluke meters before they switched to that PRESS carbon pad assembly and every single fluke meter failed within 5 years.. The old ones are still working 10 years later. Was same with Lego who used that system for their robot kits. Had 20 units.. every single one of them had to be replaced by LEGO within 3 years.
I'm curious how the rubber strip comes into play to push allow display on lcd? Is there light shining through the rubber strip? Does the rubber strip have to be perfectly aligned with slots/holes on the strip? etc
There is no light. It is about electrical contact. The rubber is basically a conductor (the black stripes are conductive). The same could be achieved with a ribbon cable or a bunch of individual wires. Each segment of the display requires one wire, plus one more wire for the common ground (or rather common plus contact).
Interesting. I've got a few electronic devices that the same problem is going on. I'll have to try this. One of them is my Icom IC-735 HR rig. The very bottom of the display is blank.
couple years ago i fixed gearbox position (automatics -prnd321 thing) displays in my cars. for some reason it had zebra strips too, lcd like that could be with soldered wires, but no! still works (at least one shows proper gear, another car has offset position indicator for some reason now) , learned that from playing with some calculator doing things like in the beginning in the video.
Great video. I looked into repairing an old 15 kb digital diary. Not so lucky with mine, my ribbon traces were basically petrified when I opened the case and one little touch knocked the whole ribbon connection off the board :(
I have calibrated over a thousand Fluke 85s in the air force. Never found one off-spec. Found 1 with a broken fuse. And a hand full of display issues such as the one you describe here in this video. I used some alcohol as well and this worked very well for me. Fluke 85 is a very reliable high quality Multimeter. But with basic functionality. Absolutely love them.
What about a problem when lcd contrast goes really bad when battery discharges a bit? All other functions work well, but you have to look at the lcd screen at an angle to see anything. Is it that the manufacturer saved on some components which should regulate the lcd screen contrast?
I have a top of the range Fluke (cost me a lot of money). The RMS function does not work. Instead of pumping a lot of money for repairs, I bought a Chinese equivalent for fraction of the cost with more features and the Fluke is just gathering dust.
I dunno how you kill segments in a Fluke. What are you doing to them? I accidentally exposed mine to very high voltage fields - pulsed RF - and single-pulse EMI fields, and just plain getting dropped - like, a LOT, such as off of eight foot ladders every day. I'm still using it. Did the same to my previous 70 series until it got stolen. I saw a guy throw an older one across the lab into a steel cabinet. Meter still worked, tho I put it out of cal! :D My dude had to find another job tho. :/
Should the rubber strips be cleaned aswell, as I believe they have contacts too that link contact from the circuit board to ones on the LCD.... and should the LCD contacts be cleaned too?
Just replaced the "elastomeric strips" in my Fluke 77 after 30 years due to missing character segments in the display but that wasn't the fix. One of the PCB solder connections to the elastomer strips had rotten lead which didn't respond to contact cleaner. Scraped it with an Exacto knife then more cleaner. Works good now. Save your money and remove the 4 screws holding the LCD tower ass'y so you can examine the PCB contacts and clean them. If that doesn't help then try new strips.
+Eric Wasatonic hioki multimeter are so much mìbetter !!! fluke bullshit ,also for the price check out hioki and you will understood about what im talking ;)
I was a technician on the line that built those meters. Your video brought back some fond yet frustrating memories. Those little tabs braking and misaligning the switch were common issues in manufacturing.
That must be because of low quality and / or recycled material being used.
Use your experience to repair an expensive digital caliper. Turns out the seal around the case had been misplaced in the plastic die cast seat. After dusting off and a clean install, display is back to life! THank you for the tip!
The Fluke 80 series meters are spectacularly reliable. They make the argument for spending more for tools instead of spending again. My 87 is 36 years old, virtually all in the field. At one point, Fluke became aware of a problem that mine did not even have and sent me an entire kit of parts and directions to repair it. Satisfaction!
I had a 70 series until it got stolen, dropped it off ladders, left it on hot machines, blew its fuses. Never had a lick of trouble with it until it got stolen with the rest of my tool kit. Family bought me whatever 80 series I have no, I've had it at least 20 years, tho it receives a bit less abuse now that I'm retired and also not running haunted house attractions in my spare time. ;) Never had a segment go dead or any other malfunction.
Back in the 1980s I owned a manufacturing business making silicone connector strips. Zebra was my competitor. They always made an inferior and cheaper product. The deflection design is critical to the assembly from the display to the circuit board(s). Few manufacturers understood how to use such connectors for reliable performance. I provided holders along with my connectors and assisted with design in reliability. No one gives a shit about doing the right thing these days. It is all deiven by greed, not pride and reliability. Thank you China.
It all comes down to quality of components for anisotropic connectors and the slightly older subclass of elastomeric connectors and the board contacts/display contacts.
Of course, cheaper is better to many, which holds down the costs, but also limits the lifetime of the product.
I don't blame China because someone wants a $20 meter, rather than a $200 meter, as China didn't invent the market they're catering to, the buyers create that market.
My first experience with these connectors and failure modes was with my old Beckman 310, where the plastic clips stretched, allowing oxidation to interfere with the display connections. Fortunately, the Fluke 77 had entered the market around when I was tiring of fixing the meter repeatedly.
What did you do with your business?
@@spvillanomy first job as a technician at a defense contractor the company had a couple Beckmans and a Fluke 75. Not enough meters for the techs though. Very frustrating. I loved the Fluke. So much so that I bought a 75 in 1989 or so for I think $119. Still have it and the box it came in. Still works, made in USA. Got in trouble for bringing it into work because it didn’t have calibration stickers on it and it wasn’t property of the company.
Thank the immigration act 1965 that replaced your people for outsiders
@@billdivine9501 we had a fairly decent spif on the 70 series when they were introduced and I was working sales at an electronics components and equipment wholesaler. Never sold a meter, I put our counter sample meter into a tech's hands with a few resistors and batteries, the meter sold itself.
The company owner, notoriously cheap, complained how the meter was now used and he'd lose money - then he saw the sales figures and shut up. Made a sizable increase in my paycheck, but I sold nothing, the meters sold themselves.
Bought two, one suffered water damage and the other's switch failed and shredded itself. Miss those workhorses though!
I used to manage a business that manufactured electronic equipment and we all had Fluke meters. I honestly can say that I never encountered a problem with their LCDs. Unfortunately, our corporate overlords decided to get into the multimeter business and started to sell rebranded meters from China. We were no longer allowed to have the Fluke meters. The rebranded meters were junk. They were inaccurate, killed batteries quickly and had displays that flaked out like what you showed. To 'comply' we kept using the Fluke meters but whenever we had corporate visitors, I would collect the Fluke meters and the guys would display the junk meters on their bench. When the visitors left, they got the Flukes back.
If you know, you know. :D I've lived similar stories.
Surprisingly easy fix, in fact for me just opening the case and fastening the screws was enough! Who knew. This saved my small kitchen clock and made my day (surprising how hard it is to find a small unobtrusive battery powered radio controlled clock that reliably shows the time and nothing else). Thank you so much!
Those Zebra strips have always been a problem. What you did was the proper way to correct the problem. Some people will even go a little too far and take the Zebra strips off the LCD display which is a big mistake. Oils from handling Zebra strips can cause all kinds of problems. I used to replace them on all kinds of test equipment and learned the hard way.
Just to thank you for posting this repair video. My Fluke 77 had the same issues, and I cleaned the LCD circuit board contacts as you've indicated. Presto! This cleared the issues up completely! Thanks!
+100nortonfan Your welcome!
Thank you! This helped save my Oxo kitchen scale by visualizing the issue. The LCD was display just like the in the video. The design was different, this used a ribbon cable (not the clip in kind). I squeezed it into the circuit board and the display worked great. To fix the issue, I placed a thin piece of plastic so that it would increase the pressure by a little bit, enough that the display is now perfect.
alcohol.... the solution to all of life's problems
Hobbyists can get 99% Alcohol from Amazon. Pure acetone can be used to clean connections or left over flux.
The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems - Homer Simpson
@TqSNv9R0iG5Ckxew 💪😁👍
I use one of those pencil eraser to clean the contacts first and then I use acetone to clean them. I also clean the ends of the contact strip with acetone and air blast everything clean and dry. Fixes it right up.
The other 30% in 70% rubbing alcohol is water, the very last thing you want to leave behind. Either remove it carefully and completely or use 100%. It can be hard to find in a container but individual foil packets are readily found in electronics or photo supplies. It makes all the difference in the long run. Thanks for your excellent demo.
Some graphite from a 4B pencil does a wonderful job of restoring conductivity on those contacts after giving them a good clean.
WOW My fluke 83 has been doing that for about 4 years and its 25 years old. So I asked a question why does it have this problem. In the time it took to watch this video I had it fixed. I can't thank you enough thank you thank you thank you!
Just a few weeks back I found this old R S Micronta digital meter. I'm not sure how I got, but I think it was a defective one someone gave me years ago. I thought OK fix it or throw it out. I have to much stuff and much of it is not longer of use or is junk. So I opened it up and put batteries in it and nothing happened when I turned it on. Dead I thought. So I looked at the insides to see if there was anything on the board worth saving. Somehow in that process when I pulled the board off I noticed that the display panel was not attached with any wires. Weird, I thought, then I saw where contacted the board. Hum, those metal parts in there look like they are tarnished. I cleaned them, and put the batteries back in and the display worked fine. so I have another volt/ohm meter. Sadly, I have trashed several meters in the past due to the display issues. Your video here now confirms what I found out. This is a new type of connection for me. In the case of this current meter, it was in my junk collection I bet more then 20 years. So that alone will have these things tarnish and stop working now that I found this new connection issue. Now for test leads that will last longer and still flexible.
I fixed the broken LCD display on my alarm clock by heating it with a hair dryer and then giving it few taps with my knuckles. Completely restored now.
Gonna try this one on my motorcycle....
@@stuartracing1 How did that go, Paul?
@@Tom-bf6nm I didn't get any change.. I wish I did,but nothing...
My contacts were slightly different than yours but I followed your logic and actually fixed 95% of my screen! Thank you so much.
Thanks to your video, I was able to repair my Fluke 85. Display is better now than it was 20 years ago.
Thanks so much! You just fixed my jewelry scale just cleaning the adhesive and adding electrical tape. Genius!
Thank you for this video, I was able to fix my 9-year old digital scale. Followed your instructions to wipe the connectors with alcohol and now the lcd display is as good as new.
Really well put together Eric. I like the way you fast forward through the boring bits (that other people make us watch) and get right to the essential points. A good learning experience.
I am so happy, You have taught me how to fix or repaired my Fluke 87 multimeter, I am so please. My digital display is showing , just like new. You is a great teacher. Thank you very much.
Just followed your video and was just about to dispose of my FLUKE 73 III
It worked brilliantly so thank you for taking the time to help others.
I now have a brand new meter ;)
Thanks for the info. I have a Fluke 87 that has been tucked away for about 8 years because of the ghost numbers on the LCD. I always figured it needed a new LCD so I used another meter. Came across your video, gave it a try and brought the LCD back to life. Now I can use the Fluke 87 again. Easy to do and a cheep fix for an expensive meter.
I also use contact cleaner on the pink contact pad that makes contact with the circuit board. It's very amazing how sensitive those LCD's are to a minute amount of voltage drop.
Superb instructions. I followed step by step with a Fluke Automotive (Fluke 88) and it has restored it perfectly
Glad to help.
Did Fluke have a lifetime warranty on their meters a while back when they were more premium? Is that no longer offered because the construction quality has been revised for affordability?
It worked - Thanks! I looked at three different videos and each showed a different method (alcohol, silver conductive grease & buying aftermarket connectors) - might as well start with the easiest and see what happens. Glad to have the display back on my 27 year old Fluke 87.
Thanks much for this. I ended up lightly scraping the contacts with a precision flathead screwdriver and all segments came back.
A fiberglass tip electronic contact pen works better than a screwdriver.
Thanks a lot, we have the same LCD issue with Casio DQ - 750F Digital clock and we did a alcohol cleaning on BUS from LCD to PCB and it did worked.
Good video, no time wasting and contains usefull information, liked & subscribed.
Thank you so much Eric! I managed to fix my watch's LCD that somehow popped out of its plastic latch. As its was my first watch from many years ago, it means a lot to have it up and running again.
Cleaning the contacts with alcohol is good; but then, a very thin coat of silicon grease should be applied to prevent future micro contact corrosion problems. This has served me well thru the years for long term electronic fixes.
Nice job, one minor suggestion. I avoid 70% isopropyl. Use denatured, or at minimum 90%. It leaves less residue than 70.
I have the same issue with a cb radio but the practical application is exactly the same. Thanks for sharing this video. Kind regards. Paul.
Back in the 80’s when I was a.bench tech, we used “soft” rubber erasers to clean contacts. Any loose rubber could be brushed/blown off and there was no moisture or chemical residue.
An alternative to the alcohol is the small eraser on the end of a pencil. It cleans up those contacts very nicely.
I've got a multimeter with the same issue that I still use but have to deal with the missing portions of the numbers each time I use it. I'll have to take a look see at this solution. Thanks.
I have an old clock radio with this problem. So - I tried cleaning the contacts just like you - It Worked!
My trusty old Beckman (now over 40 years old) still works fine. How do you suppose they were able to make a lasting digital display all the way back in the early 80's? Could it be they actually took the time to assemble them better? I do know when I purchased the meter (from Baynesville Electronics just north of Baltimore) the salesman told me the tested these by running over them with a truck and dropping them off a building to see if they survived. I own several other brands but when I want to be sure I always go back to the Beckman meter. The reliability is unparalleled. All digits are dark contrast on the background.
I wish that I had seen this video years ago. I junked my Fluke multimeter because of missing display segments. It had been my favourite meter.
The wall-mounted control unit of my swimming pool's salt cell / chlorine generator has one malfunctioning LCD segment. New units cost north of $1k. I will attempt this repair. First I will buy some of the Caig Labs Deoxit that others here recommend. Thank you for the suggestion.
Worked for me nicely on my poorly designed exercise bike LCD screen, thank you! :)
Thank you so much, I had that problem for a few months now and lately I was getting frustrated with it that I thought of throwing it in the garbage and buy another one even though they are pricey, thank you again so much😀😀👍👍👍
Thanks so much - this gave me hope on an old machine.
Hey man, thank you very much for helping! I'm not fluent in english so my daughter is helping me, but your video helped lots!
I know a little of English language, because in my work I have to Know English
and French Languages, but I understand your problem, cause I also have sometimes problems with technical words! Then I used to go to the "configurations": in the "right corner of the video Image", click on the "wheel" and after the opening of the "new image", select "legends", click on it and there you have a new "image" with: all the word translation languages, where you can choose your preferred language. I hope have helped you a little, Marcio Amorim Rego !
An embrace from: carlitos
had one of these fluke 85 with a issue with screen for over 30 year and 5 min after watching your video its fix thank you
My fluke 87 was saved by this video. Thank you uploader, for sharing this video.
A wary old and effective trick that are being used in the PC repair industri is to use the brown and blue ballpen eraser and some 90-95% Isopropyl-alcohol.
I have exactly the same issue with my multimeter and thought all was lost, but no! Thanks for the tip.
Excellent! I hope I can fix my pedometers for my stationary bike. The digits are completely screwed up.
A pink eraser on the PCB contacts, then clean with alcohol has worked wonders on almost all contacts like, switches, pots, mech encoders, TV remotes, etc. also, clean them rubber/carbon push buttons on the fluke with just alcohol.
Excellent. I am having same problem in my Fluke 87
Thank you for making that video. I could finally fix the display of my kitchen scale I really depend on!
I find with the zebra strips on LCD displays and carbon contacts in remote controls it's always better to use methyl hydrate then rubbing alcohol though it did work well for you and that's great. Also you might try 99% instead of 70% alcohol. Looks good though.
Just saved an old expensive Digital Vernier Caliper from the scrap heap using this method. Thanks.
Thanks for putting this up ! I have a fluke 88 that was doing the exact same thing and the cleaning of the contacts fixed it.
It worked very well for me, thank you
Wow! Thanks. Fixed my old Fluke 79.
Nice, fixed my (new out of the box) hygrometer by cleaning the contacts: rubbers, screen and print. Using your tips, cottontips and contactspray instead of isopropanol. Thanks for this 10yo video.
Works like a charm. ALSO I'm sorry you broke off one of your little retaining clips (in your video) But that too was instructive and cautioned me to be watchful because I may have done the same thing as well as being mindful to orient the mode selecting rotary switch during reassembly, So let that be a lesson to would be posters in a "how to video" that your "mistakes can be equally informative and should not be "edited" out Great job and thanks for saving me money and frustration TIM
Totally agree! It's probably not too uncommon for people who are making videos like this to edit out all the little mistakes, simply because they have too much pride to include the mistakes in their videos. But just as we can learn from our own mistakes, we can also learn from other people's mistakes as long as they are being presented to us.
Fixed my old 7-segment clock thanks to this, much obliged good sir!
just done my Fluke 73 - this must be one of the easiest wins in electronics. I had put if off for too long and it only takes 5 minutes. NB pcb screw under fat HRC fuse.
Thank you! Fixed the display on my fish scales with this. Adding a bit of sponge on the back of the display works well to keep it flush to the screen.
Nice. You got lucky. The process of cleaning the zebra's and solder pad surfaces is always a crapshoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So, you won this time. The amount of pressure against the strip is CRITICAL. Can't be too much, can't be too little. Sometimes the strips deform slightly or "shrink" slightly over the years, which can be enough to cause them to loose good contact. Even a few thousandths of an inch of dimensional change is enough for them to not work. So the shimming approach does sometimes work (but use only a TINY amount of shimming. If there is too much, the strip will get "squeezed" too much when reassembly, causing deformation, and the same poor contact problem). By the way, although Fluke no longer sells replacement strips (the woman in Service Parts actually laughed at me when I called--"Sir, your meter is 28 years old, we don't have parts for it anymore"), the strips for SOME models of Fluke DMM's are available from one or two places on the Net if you search hard enough. I bought a few for my 87's a few years back. Heartbreaking to consider trashing a $400 (more now) meter because of 20 bucks worth of silicone. Best wishes.
Nice video.. that system that Fluke and others (LEGO NXT) went to for their displays destroyed their product's lifespan. In my lab I had the generation of fluke meters before they switched to that PRESS carbon pad assembly and every single fluke meter failed within 5 years.. The old ones are still working 10 years later. Was same with Lego who used that system for their robot kits. Had 20 units.. every single one of them had to be replaced by LEGO within 3 years.
a pencil eraser to clean the pcb contacts before the use of alcohol will also help if the contacts are arced
Cleaned and now it works again thanks for the video
Thanks. Your video helped me bring back my FLUKE87 display. Thanks again!!!
I’ve had good success using spray contact cleaner to clean the contact points.
I'm curious how the rubber strip comes into play to push allow display on lcd? Is there light shining through the rubber strip? Does the rubber strip have to be perfectly aligned with slots/holes on the strip? etc
There is no light. It is about electrical contact. The rubber is basically a conductor (the black stripes are conductive). The same could be achieved with a ribbon cable or a bunch of individual wires. Each segment of the display requires one wire, plus one more wire for the common ground (or rather common plus contact).
Interesting. I've got a few electronic devices that the same problem is going on. I'll have to try this. One of them is my Icom IC-735 HR rig. The very bottom of the display is blank.
Thank you. Cleaning its contacts worked with my digital watch. 👍
couple years ago i fixed gearbox position (automatics -prnd321 thing) displays in my cars. for some reason it had zebra strips too, lcd like that could be with soldered wires, but no! still works (at least one shows proper gear, another car has offset position indicator for some reason now) , learned that from playing with some calculator doing things like in the beginning in the video.
...and yes; the contact buttons will make contact thru the silicon grease...
Great video. I looked into repairing an old 15 kb digital diary. Not so lucky with mine, my ribbon traces were basically petrified when I opened the case and one little touch knocked the whole ribbon connection off the board :(
I have calibrated over a thousand Fluke 85s in the air force. Never found one off-spec. Found 1 with a broken fuse. And a hand full of display issues such as the one you describe here in this video. I used some alcohol as well and this worked very well for me. Fluke 85 is a very reliable high quality Multimeter. But with basic functionality. Absolutely love them.
Genius! Thanks to you I found a simple fix to my exercise bike speedometer. Many thanks!
Thank you! You just saved me from having to buy a new LCD watch!
Thanks for your help..... I used alcohol and cleaned up the strips really good and it all works perfect.
Thanks again...
What about a problem when lcd contrast goes really bad when battery discharges a bit? All other functions work well, but you have to look at the lcd screen at an angle to see anything. Is it that the manufacturer saved on some components which should regulate the lcd screen contrast?
Gently with an eraser works well sometimes, I used to keep one in my box. (Old radio engineer in my late 20s in 1981)
I have a top of the range Fluke (cost me a lot of money). The RMS function does not work. Instead of pumping a lot of money for repairs, I bought a Chinese equivalent for fraction of the cost with more features and the Fluke is just gathering dust.
Instead of alcohol, I'd use "tuner cleaner" to remove and neutralize any oxidation on the contacts.
“.. ut.. ut-oh..” sums up a temporary disappointment perfectly 👍
GREAT !!! I make exactly what you show and ... my Fluke 85 display return OK !!!! Thanks a lot !!!!!!! (& GOOD YEAR !!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I dunno how you kill segments in a Fluke. What are you doing to them? I accidentally exposed mine to very high voltage fields - pulsed RF - and single-pulse EMI fields, and just plain getting dropped - like, a LOT, such as off of eight foot ladders every day. I'm still using it.
Did the same to my previous 70 series until it got stolen.
I saw a guy throw an older one across the lab into a steel cabinet. Meter still worked, tho I put it out of cal! :D
My dude had to find another job tho. :/
Will use in BP monitor display... Same problem here
Thanks Eric, fixed my Fluke 73 perfectly using your vid
It's probably less of a dirt issue as it is with Oxidation. DeOxit might work better if IPA doesn't fix the problem.
Should the rubber strips be cleaned aswell, as I believe they have contacts too that link contact from the circuit board to ones on the LCD.... and should the LCD contacts be cleaned too?
Awesome video, worked perfectly. 8sed a hair dryer instead of toaster and the screen is perfect again
Just replaced the "elastomeric strips" in my Fluke 77 after 30 years due to missing character segments in the display but that wasn't the fix. One of the PCB solder connections to the elastomer strips had rotten lead which didn't respond to contact cleaner. Scraped it with an Exacto knife then more cleaner. Works good now. Save your money and remove the 4 screws holding the LCD tower ass'y so you can examine the PCB contacts and clean them. If that doesn't help then try new strips.
perfect. what if the crystall screen broke .how to fix it?
CONGRATULATIONS! 😍❤️💯👏🥇
I had tried this hack with my multimeter but it never worked
Thank you very much. You saved me 332 USD from the pirates at Fluke. They want 200 for service ?!?!? and 132 for mandatory calibration. CROOKS
Great tips Mr. Eric! very useful and informative. I'll try that with my bushnell yardage pro 1000 where the middle digit is getting washed out.
This method worked for me on different make multimeter. Thanks for sharing.
Use 95% isopropyl for all electronic cleaning.
Nice repair. How long did you wait for the alcohol to evaporate?
Thanks. It was only a few seconds to evaporate.
when the screen went bad as you accidentally lifted the other connectors also showed a place to look for corrosion.
+Eric Wasatonic
hioki multimeter are so much mìbetter !!!
fluke bullshit ,also for the price
check out hioki and you will understood about what im talking ;)