Talk:Avometer

Design flaw citation expansion needed
"Model 7,8,9 schematics" is a little hard to retrieve as a referernce; have these been published anywhere or do they only exist in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet somewhere? Strange that Avo would persist in this "flaw" if it caused damage - could we get a citation that meters were damaged by this lack of damping? --Wtshymanski (talk) 15:38, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Thirty seconds with Google turns up circuit diagrams a plenty, not to mention a couple of service manuals. You could do the same.  AVO did not persist with the flaw, they added an 'OFF' position to the AC range switch, though this was not added to the text of the article until after your post above (but was visible in the photo).  The user manual did contain a note about NOT switching to AC and DC, but as these instruments were designed to be used by engineers, the chances of the user manual being looked at were vanishingly small!! 86.159.159.194 (talk) 12:38, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * "Just Google for it" is never an adequate citation on Wikipedia. WOuld you be so kind as to cut and paste the URLs you found and put them in the article between a pair of tags? --Wtshymanski (talk) 14:35, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Google itself may not be an adequate reference, but a reliable source found using it - is. The manufacturer's schematic diagram is a perfectly verifiable reference and, because it comes from the instrument manufacturer, it must be considered reliable.  I can confirm that the claim is quite correct, as I have been aware of this problem for the last (god knows how many) decades, though I have long since ceased to be surprised by those that do not.  It is quite simple to 'bang' the pointer against the two endstops with moderate movement of the instrument (In fact I am doing it right now).  That would be original research except that I had checked my service manual before posting the cite and the defect is there to see (though finding your way around the numerous cam operated switch contacts is a bit of a nightmare - once you have worked out which contacts open and close in which switch position).  An online link to a schematic probably won't help too much unless the table of contact operations can be located as well.  You could try this service manual for the earlier Model 8 instruments, but it seems to be a poor quality copy and I have no idea whether it even contains a legible schematic or cam contact table because I lost the will to live long before it had even half downloaded (and over a fibre optic connection so it's not my end). I B Wright (talk) 16:56, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * An interior view of the cutout mechanism would be helpful, if someone could take a picture of the inside of the instrument. I can't think of any other brand of multimeter that had this feature. I'm also curious as to why Avo stuck with *two* range switches when most multimeters had only one. --Wtshymanski (talk) 17:01, 12 October 2012 (UTC)
 * It may be that it was a historical artefact in that the original AVOmeter had two switches. On the other hand, even the latest version of the instrument would have required a 30 position switch to accommodate all the available ranges.  Although such a number of positions is not uncommon on multimeters today, the AVO relied on the switches using 'camshafts' that operated individual switch contacts as the switches were turned.  There is also the issue that users are not particularly receptive to major changes in the way a favoured instrument operates. DieSwartzPunkt (talk) 17:28, 13 October 2012 (UTC)