How to mod a meter?

[longhaireddwb]

I have this new in the box Micranta power/swr meter that was given to me. It works great for SWR and AVG wattage.

I wish it would do PEP also. Does anyone know what it would take to put a switch on it to read pep?

Or would it be worth doing?

I'm wanting a good power meter that does both with accuracy and not cost me an arm and a leg.

What do you all think?

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Not going to happen with that meter. Most meters you see that have a pep/avg switch simply switch a capacitor in that charges to the peak value of the voltage sampled and holds the meter a bit higher in pep mode than in average mode. These same meters will actually tell you that they do not read TRUE pep and only about 70-80% of the true pep value.These meters are easy to tell because they claim to measure pep but do not require a power source. Some may require power to simply run a meter lamp but that is not the same thing as requiring power to run the meter. A true pep reading meter requires an electronic circuit that requires a power source to operate it and that circuit is dependent somewhat on the actual meter being used.

 

[jazzsinger]

I have this new in the box Micranta power/swr meter that was given to me. It works great for SWR and AVG wattage.

I wish it would do PEP also. Does anyone know what it would take to put a switch on it to read pep?

Or would it be worth doing?

I'm wanting a good power meter that does both with accuracy and not cost me an arm and a leg.

What do you all think?

I'm thinking you might want to consider limb amputation a bit more,theres no such thing as a CHEAP/ACCURATE power meter.Even a bird 43 is only accurate to 5%.

 

[GnG8d]

Even a bird 43 is only accurate to 5%.

Actually, +/- 5% of full scale.

 

[longhaireddwb]

+ or - 5% is good enough for me! Come on guys. Perfection is out the window years ago. I'm old now!:blink:

 

[Beetle]

Actually, +/- 5% of full scale.

And if you have the 43P, it's ± 8% FS.

 

[Shockwave]

One company named Hi Res made a peak reading kit for $25 that could work in nearly any meter depending on the full scale deflection current and resistors used. The kit was called the PDC-1. I'm not sure if the company is still in business because their website did not work tonight when I checked but the board gets good reviews online.

 

[mackmobile43]

One company named Hi Res made a peak reading kit for $25 that could work in nearly any meter depending on the full scale deflection current and resistors used. The kit was called the PDC-1. I'm not sure if the company is still in business because their website did not work tonight when I checked but the board gets good reviews online.

This is what I use.

Peak Wattmeter Boards