Fluke 5500A Multi-Product Calibrator

The 5500A from Fluke is a bench top, multifunction calibrator for calibrating 3½ to 4½ digit instruments. It can source direct voltage and current, alternating voltage and current, resistance, capacitance, thermocouples and RTDs. It can simulate ac and dc power by generating voltage and current on separate terminals simultaneously. It can also measure thermocouple temperature. Options include scope calibration to 600MHz.

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Common Failures

• Misapplication of voltage or current — The 5500A can be damaged by sourcing voltage into any output or by applying excessive voltage/current into the capacitance or resistance functions.
• Electro Static Discharge — Care should be taken when working in environments of low humidity or where carpet, furniture, or garments can generate static electricity. The 5500A is a complex electronic instrument manufactured with modern electronic components. These can be more sensitive to electro static discharge (ESD) than older generations of equipment. A discharge may also not apparently affect the instrument instantly. Failures can occur sometime later with no apparent cause.
• Poor Maintenance — Over time or in dusty working environments dust and debris can build up on the filter and inside the unit. This can increase internal operation temperatures affecting reliability. It can also create leakage paths that affect calibration stability and operation accuracy. In the worst cases stray leakage caused by dust in the 5500A can cause uncontrolled high voltage conduction within the instrument resulting in and significant damage.

Test Instructions

These instruments can produce or measure lethal voltages at their terminals. Testing should only be performed by qualified technicians.

Any failure or operational deficiency information available allows us to provide the best service. Please include any information available about failures and what function the instrument was in prior to failure.

Testing Steps

• If the instrument is smoking or has a bad smell coming from it turn it off immediately and contact us for further instruction.
• Power up the 5500A and run instrument self tests and then pseudo cal from the utilities menu. If a failure occurs, note the error number/description and contact us. There are often multiple errors but the test will only provide the first.
• If self tests pass, run cal zero from the calibration menu. If a failure occurs again note the error number/description and contact us.
• For any functional or calibration errors not detected by the self test and cal operations, contact us for repair.