Great to see the Solartron 7081 being given an airing! I designed the analogue circuits (1979-1983) and Brad Wilson did a lot of the software - all assembler in those days. It was a treat to work on it under the late John Bloomfield. The voltage reference had an analogue quadratic temperature correction circuit. Production testing and calibration was automated using Commodore Pet computers - leading edge stuff, believe it or not!

On the question of "Re-Cap or not?" my answer is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I always enjoy your videos.

Let me remind you of the 1st rule of engineering; Don't fix what's not broken. Thanks for the videos and your subtle humor.

Idk why, but your video style is some kind of German ThisOldTony! I love it!

Marco reps posted, time to drop everything!

I added a Brymen BM869s to my kit about 2 years ago. It is a TANK. It's been dropped from an antenna tower and it just bounced. It is one of my very best and favorite meters of all times...

Love the Brymens! My 869S is my favourite handheld unit. Found Welectron yesterday, will try to buy from them next time.

A distributor sending you an old, used piece of gear for a video? That's actually really cool of them! It may also be not the best idea to recap the meter, since you may not be able to recalibrate it.

I love your videos and I already binge watched them all shortly after subscribing a few days ago. keep posting often please!

Thanks for the info on the Brymen! I've been looking for so long to a multimeter that will serve me well but that doesn't cost an arm and/or a leg and/or a kidney. Now if only I knew what I was doing.

I love these videos. Educational and calming. 🤗

Those will keep rain, dirt and falling video lights off the sensitive circuit....? Wait what? Oh never mind.

Worked with same model Solatron back in about 1987. We had one as our local primary standard in a repair lab in Silicon valley. Was a nice meter, but as you say very slow in highest resolution mode.

Love your commentary and humor while being very informative.

Love the video and your incredible sense of humor. That take on opening up the meter... its what i do... I LOL for a good minute. Really put a smile on my face.

There is something about your videos, that makes one feel at home and cosy.

Love the fresh humor, very cleverly done... well done .

I know it's an old video but such a nice, informative and tastefully entertaining one; thank you.

On the topic of the front panel connector, it needs a Fischer Connectors - S 104 A053-130+ I believe to plug into that mystery connector. Someone else did the repair for one and documented finding the connector. That is one hell of a cool meter.

YEA ! All the new meter must be dissected to replace the fuses . I like this set up..

2:42 - I almost invariably take things apart before powering them up, particularly with mains-powered devices to make sure that they are safe. Non-mains devices are opened up just to satisfy my curiosity.

Ive Brymens 867S and 257S, used Fulkes many many years (nope, I was happy too and keep my nice-old Fluke's). Brymens are really nice multimeters and everyday-horse guys: no any issues, all works fine (its maybe 6 moths daily work with). 257s is a little bit faster compared to 867s, but 867s is more accurate as well, so, its ok for me. I ordered Brymens at Welectron too..;-)

I always support welectron. Best prices in Europe and outstanding personalised service. Not once but 5 times!

I use to be a Fluke only guy but after getting my first Brymen that has changed! Now I'm not saying the Brymen is better because they are really equal, BUT the Brymen gives more bang for your buck and is very well made so in that respect I would say the Brymen is a better.

Wonderfull Sunday entertainment. Great video, great sense of humor too !

lmao the reaction to those hand soldered spots ^^

My probemasters just arrived today and WOW they were so soft and flexible and just luxurious.

That abstractions are on point :)

Nice little review. I’ve had my Brymen 869s for nearly 2 years. It has been flawless. It my favorite multimeter, mostly because it has a logical layout and an awesome display. I don’t dislike my Fluke 87v or my 28ii. I just like the usability of the Brymen better.

Thanks for another great video Marco.

I really liked you replacing that old Varta battery with those supercaps.

Received a new BM257s from Welectron at today. It was sent exactly in same cardboard box with same packaging paper around as you had yours :)

I just realized that I have a Solatron 7071 its 7 1/2 smaller brother just laying around... It was throw in the trashbin at a reorganization of the R&D department, I did put up a hard fight to keep it in the inventory. But it was decided to go as "old and obsolete"... Now it resides at my home lab instead.

The Brymen meter looks OK but it's just another DMM - another halfway there test tool. I keep hoping that a DMM will come out that includes inductance, cap ESR, *cap EPR*, and cap polarity tests. These are very common test requirements for electronics work, and I can think of no reason why a DMM can't do them all in a similar form-factor. Grr.

Wet tantalums don't bother, they will be fine so long as they are the glass seal type. Rubber seal ones replace on sight, they will be dead. Wet slug ones work till the point they leak through the case from the outside corroding away, inside the silver plate and the PTFE carrier holds the slug in place well, and provided you do not over volt them or reverse polarise they will be fine.

After Meter Joe gave his stamp of approval to the bryman i got one. I have an 87v as well. I find myself grabbing the bryman more often though it might be because i use my meters in pretty dirty places and i dont want the fluke getting messed up:)

At 3:12 I had to rewind this video several times and still can't stop laughing. This really made my day! :-)

Oh look! It's a Marco Reps video; always welcome.

Marco reps and GreatScott! uploaded videos together Yay!

So true about nanovolts. And it's not the worst, try Fluke 8508A in resistance. 3 minutes per sample :P. Recap ofcourse :) If you up to the challenge (in shipping, that is), I can calibrate your K2001 at no charge.

That bit at 5:00 had me laughing out loud at work, thanks for making me feel awkward when looking at my colleagues surprised faces.

That vintage multimeter is ❤️❤️❤️

Your vids are always the best, I love watching this while I eat my lunch (Rain, Dirt and falling video lights LMAO)

I use Solartron 7075. Had to replace that front Fischer probe connector with DIN-5.

Nice to see AA batteries in the Brymen 839. I have the big brother 869s and it uses a 9V battery.

I just came to see the solartron. I have fluke and field piece on my bag for meters. That thing looked like a beast

Thanks for sharing. Interesting as allways :-)

Herrlich wie immer :D:D

Love the Solarton meter.

LOL love your humor!! That about the digits were particular funny:-)

Thanks Marco

That meter is older than you? Thanks, I feel old now. Great video. Thanks kid :)

Tektronix made a beautiful 500,000 count multimeter in about 1999, dual display for volts and frequency, or AC & DC, with a protective case design that is still the best I've seen, and, yes, AA cells for power, batteries and fuse accessible, but interlocked with the input sockets, so that the "hot" section was not accessible with a probe in any of the sockets...optical data port, too...just too bad that I can't find one. Cheers!

I'm still working on my 7081. The supercap mod is ideal, though we chose somewhat different part numbers. Half of the capacitors on my board were bad, so I suggest replacing all the electrolytics, shotgun style. The power line detection PLL had high jitter, so I implemented a slower digital FLL circuit. Replacing the power line inlet module is also a good idea.

@Marco Reps Keysight is just about the only one who does handheld dmms discretely

I am probably way wrong, but I say don't recap the radials. I have repaired a bunch of early 80's arcade boards and always suspected the caps. The only cap that I *had* to replace was physically beaten with a leg ripped off. However, more modern equipment I wouldn't hesitate.

Really nice meter. Didn’t know about them. Would love to get such a thing of beauty in m lab

I’ve got a fluke 89 4 that seems to have more functionality than the 5 you have. Also has the dual display and takes AA cells. And you can replace the fuses without breaking the calibration seal.. 89 5 seems a backward step, although I think they Marigot have renamed it a 189 when the the 89 v was released.

I would check the caps. They are deceptive, too, one in a Keithley 2001 started sneakly leaking

The Fluke 87 V is an awesome mulitmeter, but I always considered the 189 as the gold standard.

Watching your videos is a constant dilemma, either what you are saying is sarcastic or real😂😂 And I still struggle to differentiate😛

You got to love the Solartron. It has that '80s character.

hahaha! I completely lost it at the "Right here at your fingertits" bit xD

Aah, what i nice weekend ending. A new video.

Great review Marco, could you post details of your little test jig with the binding posts they look as though they are floating. Class set up.

The 87v also has a conductivity mode.

I always enjoy the humor.

I've got a fluke 77 from the 80's and 87v, both with lifetime warranties. I send them out to fluke every year for call and for 50$ they recondition and calibrate. I use them everyday and they have never failed me. I'll stay with what works, fluke all the way

that clip of the multimeter falling down was from a video by "I Did A Thing"

I have a Japanese calculator built in 1972 with the original electrolytic caps in it, they still work fantastically. Yes 47 year old electrolytic caps that still have a very low esr, wish I could get a hold of more of them built that well.

That's a lovely desktop multimeter

3:12 best part of not just this video but any ever produced. 😂😂😂😂😂

0:57 EEVBlog #66 Wow, oldskool!!

Have a similar Bryman. find it a bit annoying in daily use, particularly the combined resistance/conductivity/contunity setting where you have to cycle through the almost-never-used conductivity to get between the very commonly used resistance and continuity.

I haven't actually "laughed at loud" while watching a video in a long time, but "Protected by the thick chin on the Hell Boy bumper" got me. Thank you

The "hurk" at the bad soldering got me xD

Always reliably awesome. Here is my question for you,: in what common applications are nanovolt measurements handy? Thank you.

Yes for the recap, maybe video about it together with the mod?

Nice review 👍

Yes! Mod it till it breaks! (not actually though...)

I couldn't stop laughing when you seen the manual soldering inside and made that puke sound 🤣

Tony Stark after watching Nat Romanoff: 'I want one!' Me after watching Marco's ES121: 'I want one!'

Marco great video, I am very interested on your high voltage capacitor tester set up. Do you mind to share the diagram? Thank you.

The caps look like Sprague caps. So I would keep them. The old Sprague seemed to me very robust. Had them in an HP power supply from 1960. All in perfect condition.

The Brymen can be started with a key combo press and then it stays on and does not auto power down.

Pretty nice!

I would suggest recapping just to be safe. Those caps might last a good while longer, but if they don't you probably wouldn't want to risk any of those parts that would be damn near impossible to obtain having a catastrophic failure.

I think with it's history alone, i would recap, give it back some of it's old glory.

Well done video

Regarding the recap question: if it ain't broken don't fix it.

Marco. Love your vids. Absolutely top notch wizardry. I have a question. I bought a cheap bench power supply. Topower chinese brand. It malfunctoned recently. I turn it on and it spike to 24v and then nothing what so ever. I have basic electronic skills but no diagram for this. Do you have a tip to lead me in the right direction ? Thanks

Have you ever used a Testo multimeter? I've had one for a while now, and I'd prefer if it had a rotary dial, but other than that I think it's actually better than the Fluke's we have at work. I almost exclusively use DC volt, resistance and continuity checks.

BRYMEN is an excellent multimeter, I wish they sold it directly in USA and I wish data link cable was priced more affordable. In USA they rebrand Brymen and sell it under names like Greenlee and EXTECH and charge ARM and a LEG.

Special oven for testing thermocouples?

I’ve had my Brymen since 2016. My only complaint is the lack of the Fluke-style Auto-Hold function.

When in doubt, recap

1:18 that sudden switch made me jump a little inside because I thought you were touching the tip of the soldering iron, was that jump cup intentional?

Hi. What is the motorized screw driver, very nice and small factor, and what is the name of that one

Oh, the 7081. I bought one of those back in around 2002 for about $1500. This was our poor man's HP 3458A. I built several precision shunts to add current capability, and wrote a bunch of Met/Cal procedures to automate the measurement taking and uncertainty calculations. It came with a couple sets of proprietary leads (5 wire and 3 wire). I'd be interested to hear how you find its reliability. I found it very finicky. The calibration stability never quite lived up to its claims, often being out of spec when it was sent out for cal. One of the advertising features was "calibrated for life"; they had some mathematical formula (and an accompanying graph) showing that after something like 7 years, the drift was so low as to be ignored. I don't know how that reconciled that with potential component failure. The AC voltage was especially fussy. There was one high frequency adjustment you had to do by way of pushing a resistor back and forth (seriously, this was an instruction direct from the factory service center). The specimen I had displayed a very bizarre aspect of not being able to measure voltages at the exact frequency of 45Hz. Some kind of resonance issue; the reading would slowly drift up well past the specified limit of error, pause, and then drift down to about the same magnitude below the limit of error. I'm talking orders of magnitude on the specified uncertainty. If you varied the voltage just slightly, it was rock solid. I got around this by writing into my Met/Cal sub procedure for 7081 AC measurements to throw an error if you tried to measure at a frequency of between 44 and 46 Hz. Good times. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Noticed one of the resistors (the big green ones) was covered in heat shrink, what would be the purpose of this? the others directly adjacent didn't have the same...