test&measurementZONE Products for the week of May 22, 2006

Agilent Technologies Says . . .
34405A: Feature-Rich Benchtop Digital Multimeter Designed For quality But For Cost-Sensitive Users

Agilent Technologies Inc. introduced a new affordable digital multimeter specially designed to help manufacturers and educational institutions control costs on test and measurement equipment.

The new Agilent 34405A is a 5.5-digit benchtop digital multimeter that provides accurate and fast measurements. It provides a broad range of measurement functions with expanded capabilities, such as temperature and capacitance measurements, and comes with built-in USB 2.0 interface.

"Our customers have been looking for entry-level products that deliver fast and accurate measurements at the same level of reliability that Agilent is well-known for," said Ee Huei Sin, vice president and general manager, Agilent Basic Instruments Division." We are proud to launch this new digital multimeter, which will meet their performance needs while helping them manage costs."

Expansion of Agilent Benchtop Multimeter Product Family
The Agilent 34405A is an expansion of the existing Agilent 34401A, 34410A and 34411A product family, which offers value, performance, reliability and ease-of-use, and is part of the Agilent Open suite of products and services.

EN-Genius Says...

You can go out, literally, and buy a handheld digital multimeter with prices ranging from under $100 (some well under) to over $800. And you will find that they are typically 3.5 digits with counts of 3200 and a dc voltage accuracy of about 1%. At the very top end of the handhelds you may get 4.5 digits with a count of 50,000 and a 0.1% dc voltage accuracy. And there are places for all such tools.

But Agilent has realized that for many -- particularly in education -- that is just not good enough, and bench instruments are always to be preferred in that environment. But getting accuracy, quality and price that institutions of learning can afford have not been compatible goals. Take some of the esoteric functionality out of the instrument (see Editorial), and you can get there if you look carefully at the number of circuit boards you use, how you approach the power supply solution, and the manufacturability of what is going to be a much larger volume product than your usual desktop instrument.

The 3405A multimeter offers a 120,000 count resolution, a 0.025% dc voltage accuracy and has 5.5 digits. It also offers a USB 2.0 connection that with Agilent's Connectivity software allows control of (and readings from) the instrument using SCPI commands and DMM Interlink Connectivity software (LabVIEW and IVI-COM drivers are included).

There are 16 built-in measurement functions with dc measurements of voltage with 5 ranges from 100.000 mV to 1000.00 V; resistance in 7 ranges from 100.000Ω to 100.000 MΩ; current in 4 ranges from 10.0000 mA to 10.0000 A; and two-wire continuity and diodes tests.

The ac functions are for true-rms voltage readings with ranges from 100.000 mV to 750.000 V with frequencies out up to 100 kHz; true rms currents from 10.0000 mA to 10.0000 A (with more limited frequency bands); frequency measurements out to 300 kHz.

In addition the instrument offers temperature measurements up from -80°C (-110°F) to +150°C (+300°F) and capacitance in 6 ranges from 1.000 nF to 10.000 µF.

This instrument is the robust, ideal solution for the college bench and will also be widely adopted by much more professional users as they delight in the ease with which it can fit into the budgets available. A really nice jump for the industry as a whole with Agilent winning as well with dramatically-increased sales volumes.

The Agilent 34405A is in production and is priced at $745.

Data Sheet