Req for Help: Using frequency Meter

Hi, I have an old Micronta Digital frequecny Counter (red leds yet!) model 22-351.

I can't find a manual or any useful info on the net. I just have a simple question,
since I haven't used this thing in decades, of whether there is adequate impedence
or protection that I can just plug the two prongs into a wall outlet and read 60 Hz?

There are no settings and it worries me a little that one lead is red and the other
is black, usually indicating polarity.

I just can't remember anything about using this meter and what kind (AC/DC)
and range (110 volts?) I can use it on without adding resistors or something.

Any and all advice appreciated,

Old and Can't find it

 

[Nicholas Sherlock]

Cant-Find_it@invalid.com wrote:

I just can't remember anything about using this meter and what kind (AC/DC)
and range (110 volts?) I can use it on without adding resistors or something.

It wouldn't be very exciting to measure the frequency of DC, now, would
it? . I don't know what voltage it can handle, though.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock
-----------------
www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed*
Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
-----------------

 

Cant-Find_it@invalid.com wrote:
I just can't remember anything about using this meter and what kind (AC/DC)
and range (110 volts?) I can use it on without adding resistors or something.

Nicholas Sherlock wrote:
It wouldn't be very exciting to measure the frequency of DC, now, would
it? .

I don't know what voltage it can handle, though.

Good Point! I just keep getting off track by the one red lead and the other lead being black.
I wonder why they would do that with a frequency counter which has no
settings at all?

Hopefully someone will know the voltage limit. I could experiment, but I seem to
always forget something important.

Thanks,
Still Can't find it

 

[Eric]

You can get a manual for that meter for $7 at http://www.vintagemanuals.com/

Whatever the voltage limit is, I'd bet 10 times that $7 it's lower than 115 volts. Frequency
counters are meant to measure volt- down to maybe millivolt signals, not line voltage!

Also at the risk of sounding silly, you already know that if (assuming you live in the USA) you
stick the leads into a wall outlet, it's gonna read 60 Hertz (or catch fire). So why bother? If it
didn't read 60, I'd be more inclined to blame the meter than the power company.

Eric Law

<Cant-Find_it@invalid.com> wrote in message news:AZydnadbF60NLPjVnZ2dnUVZ_q7inZ2d@giganews.com...

Cant-Find_it@invalid.com wrote:
I just can't remember anything about using this meter and what kind (AC/DC)
and range (110 volts?) I can use it on without adding resistors or something.

Nicholas Sherlock wrote:
It wouldn't be very exciting to measure the frequency of DC, now, would
it? .

I don't know what voltage it can handle, though.

Good Point! I just keep getting off track by the one red lead and the other lead being black.
I wonder why they would do that with a frequency counter which has no
settings at all?

Hopefully someone will know the voltage limit. I could experiment, but I seem to
always forget something important.

Thanks,
Still Can't find it

 

[Pete]

I can't find a manual or any useful info on the net. I just have a simple question,
since I haven't used this thing in decades, of whether there is adequate impedence
or protection that I can just plug the two prongs into a wall outlet and read 60 Hz?

It's *very* unlikely that it will accept 115v input. Only connect it
directly to an AC outlet if you want to damage it, and possibly yourself!

The input range is more likely to be no more than a couple of volts. If
you really want to measure 60Hz AC, find yourself a "wall-wart"
transformer with no more than say 5v AC output, and try using that both
to isolate you and the meter from the mains, and to reduce the voltage.

The red and black connections are ground (black) and signal (red).
Nothing to do with positive and negative, or line and neutral.

Peter