Need Large display DMM for biasing amps


Hi tube aficionados

The need to bias some amps accurately with an outboard meter, has my attention expressly as of late. My particular needs are for a meter whose display is either really big, or one that can be displayed onto another screen Ie., LCD, CRT, or PC.

Anyone have any knowledge of a DMM which has a large high contrasting display? Or One that can be used with a monitor or PC?

Characters over one inch for sure is definitely needed . 1.5 inches or larger would probably work fine. Accuracy of the meter function of course, is important too.

Any suggestions in this regard would be a big, big, help.

Thanks very much.
blindjim
Blindjim, Radio Shack used to make an excellent talking digital multimeter which I still own. The following individuals may have information about magnifying or talking DMMs:
Marc Riccobono, Ann Taylor and Stephen Booth at NFB Baltimore: 410-659-9314.
Ken Gould of Audio Nexus: (908) 277-0333.
Chris Chamberlyn (audiogoner Frontier1) of Frontier Computing: 416-489-6690.
Bradley Hodges and Jay Leventhal of AFB: 212-502-7600.
Marc Mulcahy of Levelstar: 800-315-2305 (x.701).
Larry Skutchyn ()pron Scootkhan) of APH: 502-895-2405.
Steve Barkeley of AROGA: 604.431.7997.
Marvyn Sandler at Independent Living Aids: 800-537-2118.
Rwwear
Thanks... I'm seeing several online at various sites but I'm wondering if the info being sent to the PC isn't past tense info... I would need real time, "right now" feedback viewable as it changes on the screen...

I did glean the triplet, and Fluke cust service #'s late last night so I'll be in touch with them Monday.

Guidocorona
Whoa. Thanks very much.
The only talking meter I've seen anyone talking about online, was one made by Omega, and is now out of production. In fact there was a blog by one buyer who had issues upon receipt of his and he let it slip he was visually impaired (not knowing that would matter), and Omega would not repair the unit for him and insisted on him ONLY returning the meter to them.... as Omega said the "talking meter" was not intended for use by blind, or visually impaired people, as such use posed a hazzard to the user... and apparently, Omega wanted no part of it at all.

I will start calling those numbers Monday and see what's up with what. thanks again.
In microbiology labs, "Quebec Colony Counters TM" used to be used to quantify microbial colonies on agar plates. These simply provided a backlit grid over which a petridish was placed. Above the dish a magnifying lens was suspended. I'm guessing, but magnification is on the order of 10X??? (don't have access to one at the momment. Would some sort of mounted magnifying lens help with visualization of read out from a conventional meter?

CA
Sounds good BlindJim, let me know how the quest goes. . . there are many ways to skin this particular cat. Ghosthouse, yes there are dedicated magnifying lenses and mono/binoculars for visually impaired people. Problem with magnifying lenses is that they tend to distort the image. A better solution may be to place the display of a regular DMM under one of the many electronic magnifyiers for VIPs available from such companies as Humanware, Freedom Scientific, Optalek, Guerrilla Technologies and so forth. These things used to be Huge, but now they are sometimes smaller than a paperback book and are quite flexible in their applicability.
Ghosthouse
yes. Either 1.5 inch characters are the now need... or some other gizmo is necessary.... and I may have one that I had not thought of lately as it sees such little use..

Guidocorona is right. As magnification increases the field of view diminishes... and distorts some as well. usually it will remain legible or at least intelligible... enough. Under severe mag, as the field size drops you can end up getting down to just one character, or even a portion of it. So be it.

That is truly not too much the issue... the issue is hands free determination of the integers being displayed... as one hand is busy holding the bias switch, and the other turning the screwdriver.

I recently acquired an "AMIGO" portable blower-upper. Rechargeable battery powered. Super huh? Nope.

No good. Why?

The back light of the meter itself. It blinds the CCD chip inside the AMIGO and covers the area with a big spot which hides the numbers… but it’s a fine device for non back lit things… and costs about the price of a nice sub, or good DAC. >$1500.

The current RAT SHAK meter numbers are about 0.5 or 0.6 in tall.... and if the light weren't on when the meter is on, I'd have a shot then.

But hey, it's nothing but a thing. It'll all work out. It always does. I just gotta do some serious leg work and seek another path. Nuttin' to it.

... and a large read out I think is the ticket. I got enough beeping, booping, buzzing, and talking stuff around here already.