Disabling Fluke 8600A Battery

[Ted Busky]

The last time I turned on my Fluke 8600A about 6 months ago, it took a
couple hours to charge the battery. Now it shows only one digit on the
display. I checked the batteries and found 2 are 1.2 volts and 2 are
around .6
volts. I assume the meter is trying to charge the batteries rather
than operate. Is there some way I can disable the battery charger and
run off line power or do I have to buy new batteries?

Thanks for any input,
Ted Busky

 

[Guest]

Not exactly sure about the 8600 but many of this type are dependent on the
batteries for filtering the line power. I have simply removed batteries and
replaced them with electrolytic caps with success - though you probably
would want to insert the apropriate current limiting resistor between the
supply and the load as the charging current will no longer be loading down
the supply.