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PICOTEST
M3510A
6½ Digit Multimeter
The M3510A is a fast, accurate 6½ digit bench-top multimeter with
4-wire resistance measurement, thermocouple support and a USB
interface. Its maximum ratings are 1000V DC and 10A and it can
take up to 50,000 readings per second.
Review by Nicholas Vinen
www.siliconchip.com.au
siliconchip.com.au
April 2010 75
T
he PICOTEST M3510A benchtop multimeter has an impressive array of features. It is a
great deal more accurate than a typical
hand-held multimeter and comes with
a calibration certificate.
Precision figures are provided for
each measurement mode over various
lengths of time, up to 1 year. Accuracy
for most readings is in the order of
±0.01%.
It has a very fast measurement update rate; up to 50k samples per second. While the display is not updated
anywhere near that rapidly, it is still
noticeably faster than most other multimeters – even other bench meters.
When it is in auto-ranging mode you
do not have to wait long for it to find
the correct range for your measurement. Alternatively, you can select the
appropriate range yourself using two
front-panel buttons.
To take maximum advantage of the
fast measurement rate you need to
connect it to your computer – more
on that later.
While a bench multimeter takes up
more space than a hand-held unit, in
some ways it is more convenient to
use. The controls and connections
are easier to access and the display is
easier to read.
They also tend to have more features, better performance and since
they run off mains power, you never
need to worry about a flat battery.
The main body is 227mm wide,
305mm deep and sits 150mm high
with the handle set up as a tilting bail.
It has a 2-line orange-on-black backlit
LCD with quite a wide viewing angle
which is better to the left than to the
right.
Since the connectors are on the right
side, this means it is best located on
the right side of the bench.
On the rear panel are BNC trigger
inputs and outputs, a USB socket, an
IEC power socket, an earth screw and
the optional GPIB/RS-232 interface
connector. Two high quality needle
probes are provided in the box.
detectors) and thermocouples are
supported. The M3510A is supplied
with a K-type thermocouple and it has
internal cold junction compensation.
This is a major selling point for
this unit as temperature can be read
out with up to four decimal places,
although the actual accuracy of the
reading is only about one degree.
Measurement modes
Interface and useability
The main modes are DC volts and
amps, AC volts and amps (with true
RMS), 2-wire or 4-wire resistance,
capacitance, frequency, continuity,
diode test/forward voltage and temperature.
In DC volts mode, the input impedance is 10GΩ (gigaohms) for ranges up
to 10V and 10MΩ for higher ranges.
This can be overridden if you want
10MΩ impedance for all ranges.
The 10GΩ mode is very handy for
measuring voltages with a very high
source impedance. This is because
much less current is drawn from the
point you are measuring than a typical
hand-held multimeter.
The 4-wire resistance mode allows
for much more accurate measurement
of smaller value resistors, with readings down to 0.1mΩ (milliohms).
Practically speakingthough, readings below 10mΩ are hard to make
accurately, due to temperature drift,
noise and probe resistance, even in
the 4-wire mode.
To use the 4-wire mode you will
need to add another pair of probes or
buy one of the optional accessories
such as the OPT07 Kelvin Probe Set
or OPT08 4 Wire Test Probe.
For temperature measurements
both RTDs (resistance temperature
Using this multimeter for basic
measurements is a joy and its fast
updates are a revelation after using
typical handheld digital multimeters.
Its capacitance mode ranges from
fractions of a picofarad up to thousands of microfarads – very handy indeed. Connect virtually any unknown
capacitor and you will have its value,
although larger capacitances can take
several seconds to measure.
The frequency measurement mode
is very accurate but does not have a
very wide range – only 3Hz to 300kHz.
The update rate is automatically adjusted and is quite fast except when
measuring very low frequencies.
The interface is easy to use and it
responds instantly to button presses.
Pressing each button generates a beep
but that can be disabled.
All the most important functions
take just one or two button presses.
There is also a menu system, which
is used for changing the configuration
and to enable the various mathematical modes.
Sometimes it isn’t entirely obvious
where a given option will be in the
menu but there are not so many that it
takes very long to go through them all.
Options available through the menus include changing the ADC sample
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This oversize photo shows the supplied thermocouple: it’s
tiny (the silver blob at the end of the wire). It’s so small
that at first, we didn’t think it had been supplied.
76 Silicon Chip
13:12:00
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The charging current flowing into a small SLA battery. Current
measurements were taken once per second and when finished
we imported the CSV file into OpenOffice to draw the chart.
siliconchip.com.au
period, ratio measurements, averaging,
limit testing, min/max readout, mX+b
readout, dB readout and auto-hold.
More commonly used mathematical
operations such as offset nulling and
filtering are provided directly via buttons on the front panel.
The “DIGITS” button allows for
selectable precision in all modes. As
you increase the number of digits, the
update rate slows down but even in
6.5-digit mode it is quite fast.
In addition there are several filter
settings which can be used to further
adjust the speed/precision trade-off.
The 2-line display means that in
virtually every mode it is possible
to make two measurements at once.
However, because the acquisition circuitry is shared, the ground reference
terminal is common and the update
rate is reduced in dual display mode.
While it is very handy, for the aforementioned reasons the dual measurement function isn’t quite as good as
having two separate meters.
For example, you can measure
voltage and current at the same time
but they must both be relative to the
same point in the circuit. While in
dual measurement mode, a relay click
is evident each time the display is
updated, unless one measurement is
from the thermocouple input.
Computer interface
While some high-end hand-held
multimeters do provide computer
connectivity, the M3510A takes it to
a whole new level.
Plugging it in means, essentially,
that you have added a very accurate
and high speed ADC to your computer,
with all the front-ends the multimeter
provides.
As already stated, to make use of the
maximum 50k sample rate you need to
hook the multimeter up to a computer
via the provided USB cable. This allows you to use it as a data logger.
You can use the fast sample rate to
record what happens in a circuit over
a short period or else set the rate lower,
for long-term logging.
The software provided is simple but
does the job. You can select any of the
main measurement modes from the
GUI and once you choose an update
rate and click “play” it begins logging
data. It can later be imported into Word
or Excel via a CSV (comma separated
variable) file.
The drivers on the provided CD
were too old to work with Windows
7 64-bit edition but a newer version is
available for download which solves
this problem.
At the time of writing, the software
does not support logging multiple inputs in one session but we have been
informed by the distributor that a new
version, which can do so, should be
available around the time this goes
into print.
Overall, we are impressed with the
PicoTest M3510A. Its ease-of-use, accuracy and features combine to make
this a powerful test instrument.
Availability
The M3510A is available from
Westek for AU$825.00 plus GST and
delivery. The M3511A model with
10k/s sample rate and no thermocouple input is AU$692.00 plus GST and
delivery.
In both cases the standard warranty
is one year but it can be extended at
additional cost.
To contact Westek, call (03) 9369
8802 or e-mail info<at>westek.com.au.
For further information visit www.
westek.com.au
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