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Three Common Causes of Calibration Problems

Test Device Calibration Problems

What knocks a digital instrument “out of calibration?”

Three common causes of calibration problems are:

  1. Component shift. First, the major components of test instruments (for example, voltage references, input dividers, current shunts) can simply shift over time. This shifting is minor and usually harmless if you keep a good calibration schedule; this shifting is typically what calibration finds and corrects.
  2. Drops.  Suppose you drop a current clamp — hard. How do you know that clamp will accurately measure now? You don’t. It may well have gross calibration errors.
  3. Overloads.  Exposing a digital multimeter (DMM) to an overload can throw it off. Some people think this has little effect because the inputs are fused or breaker-protected. But those protection devices may not trip on a transient. Also, a large enough voltage input can jump across the input protection device entirely. (This is far less likely with higher quality DMMs.)

Recommended Resources

Why Calibrate Test Equipment? - application note

Ron Ainsworth, Temperature Business Unit Manager at Fluke Corporation
Posted by Ron Ainsworth on Apr 15, 2019
Ron Ainsworth is the Business Manager for Process Calibration Tools at Fluke Calibration. After graduating with a degree in physics in 1998, he started in the primary temperature calibration laboratory in American Fork Utah. He has since had roles as a laboratory manager and marketing manager at... Full Bio
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