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This landscape-readable multimeter also puts the date, day, time, temperature and relative humidity on its display. Handy for the service technician? |
Getting to know Aneng's model 613
The appearance of the device
What immediately struck us, when we came across a picture of the 613 while surfing, was that this multimeter is one of the first in which you have to read the display not in portrait mode, but in landscape mode. This may not be very convenient if you are holding the device in your hand. However, if you want to put the multimeter on your workbench, the 613 is stable as a rock and at the right reading angle.
The screen is a monochrome LCD type and measures 10.3 cm by 4.9 cm. Measurement data are presented on four seven-segment displays with a digit height of 22 mm. The lower area of the screen is used to display the date, day, time, temperature and relative humidity. This is done with digits 10 mm high, so the data is easy to read.
You may wonder what is the point of indicating this data on the screen of a multimeter. We can imagine that a service technician might find it convenient to be able to photograph with his smartphone all the environmental parameters of a measurement collected on one screen as documentation during a repair or fault localisation.
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| Aneng's 613 on the workbench. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Connecting and operating
In the right side are three 4 mm banana plug sockets. The upper one is for all current measurements only, the middle one is the 'COM' and the lower one is for all other measurements. These sockets can also accommodate fully insulated 4 mm banana plugs, by the way.
On the top side are three push buttons. 'OFF' switches the meter on or off. 'SEL' selects automatic or manual measurement mode and, in the latter case, selects the quantity you want to measure. 'H/☼' sets the meter in the hold mode or switches the display backlight on or off.
On the back you will find three more push buttons. 'MODE' puts the 613 in the date, day and time setting mode and switches from time to alarm setting. With 'ADJ' you can switch between 24- or 12-hour display, show either the year or the time in the display, and switch off the alarm. With '°F/°C' you select the unit of temperature.
The rear of the meter
On the backside of the 613 is the battery compartment, fortunately openable without having to loosen a screw. The meter is powered by two type-AAA 1.5 V batteries. You can also see in the photo below the sturdy fold-out backrest that allows you to place the meter in an ideal reading position on the table.
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| The backside of the meter. (© Banggood) |
Manufacturer, suppliers, prices
The 613 is sold under the Aneng brand name and can be ordered through the well-known internet channels. At Banggood you will pay € 16.28 for it, several suppliers on AliExpress ask at least € 17.99 for it.
The scope of delivery
The 613 comes in a cardboard box along with two measurement leads, a carrying pouch and a miniature manual in English. The batteries are not included. The meter is available in a black and in a red case.
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| The scope of delivery of the 613 from Aneng. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
The 613 viewed from all sides
In the picture below, we have summarised the three main views of this multimeter, with their dimensions.
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| The main views of Aneng's 613. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
The manual
The manual is a ten-page miniature booklet in excellent English. Curiously, however, there are a number of errors in that booklet. For instance, it claims that the readout goes up to 4000 counts, while we actually measure that our specimen goes up to 5999 counts and even 9999 counts if frequencies are measured. According to the manual, there is a replaceable fuse in the battery compartment, but this is nowhere to be found. The only fuse in the device is an SMD one on the PCB. The manual states that you need to remove two screws to replace the batteries, but that too is not true. The battery compartment is closed with a small lid that you can easily open with a fingernail.
We have scanned the ten pages of the manual and converted them into a PDF document, which you can read and download from our account on 'archive.org':
The general specifications
According to the manufacturer, the 613 meets the following specifications:
- Number of counts: 5999 or 9999, so not 4000
- Refresh rate: 3 measurements per second
- Display: monochrome LCD, 10.3 cm x 4.9 cm
- Measuring ranges DC voltage: 5.999 V ~ 59.99 V ~ 599.9 V
- Accuracy DC voltage: ±[1.0 % + 5 digits] ~ ±[1.2 % + 5 digits]
- Input resistance DC voltage: 10 MΩ
- Maximum input voltage: ±600 Vdc
- Measuring ranges AC voltage: 5.999 V ~ 59.99 V ~ 599.9 V
- Accuracy AC voltage: ±[1.3 % + 8 digits] ~ ±[1.5 % + 8 digits]
- Input impedance AC voltage: 10 MΩ
- Maximum input voltage: 600 Vrms
- Frequency range AC voltage: 40 Hz ~ 400 Hz
- Measuring ranges DC current: 599.9 mA ~ 5.999 A ~ 10.00 A
- Accuracy DC current: ±[1.5 % + 5 digits] ~ ±[1.8 % + 8 digits]
- Maximum input current: ±10 A
- Maximum measuring time at more than 1 A: 7 sec, interval 1 min
- Protection: 10 A fuse
- Measuring ranges AC current: 599.9 mA ~ 5.999 A ~ 10.00 A
- Accuracy AC current: ±[1.8 % + 5 digits] ~ ±[2.2 % + 10 digits]
- Maximum input current: 10 Arms
- Maximum measuring time at more than 1 A: 7 sec, interval 1 min
- AC current frequency range: 40 Hz ~ 400 Hz
- Protection: 10 A fuse
- Measuring ranges resistance: 599.9 Ω ~ 5.999 kΩ ~ 59.99 kΩ
- Measuring ranges resistance: 599.9 kΩ ~ 5.999 MΩ ~ 59.99 MΩ
- Accuracy resistance: ±[1.5 % + 5 digits] ~ ±[1.5 % + 10 digits]
- Measuring ranges capacitor: 59.99 nF ~ 599.9 nF ~ 5.999 μF
- Measuring ranges capacitor: 59.99 μF ~ 599.9 μF ~ 5.999 mF ~ 59.99 mF
- Accuracy capacitor: ±[4.0 % + 10 digits] ~ ±[6.0 % + 20 digits]
- Measuring ranges frequency: 599.9 Hz ~ 5.999 kHz ~ 59.99 kHz
- Measuring ranges frequency: 599.9 kHz ~ 5.999 MHz
- Accuracy frequency: ±[1.5 % + 10 digits]
- Backlight: yes
- Modes: automatic or manual
- Low power supply indication: yes
- Automatic switch-off: after about 15 minutes, not deactivatable
- Open terminal voltage continuity measurement: 2.0 V
- Open terminal voltage diode measurement: 1.5 V
- Power supply: 2 x type AAA 1.5 V
- Dimensions: 13.5 cm x 7.4 cm x 2.3 cm
- Weight: 140 g
The electronics in the Aneng 613
Less and less electronics for more and more functions
After removing four screws, you can separate the two parts of the housing. The black part contains only the battery compartment, which is connected to the PCB with two wires. As the picture below shows, such a modern multimeter contains fewer and fewer components. Less than two years ago, the PCB filled the entire housing of such a meter, now the PCB only fills half of the housing.
What immediately stands out are the two sensors in the middle of the top edge of the PCB. These are undoubtedly the sensors that measure temperature and relative humidity inside the enclosure. To measure properly, we expect a number of ventilation holes in two opposite sides of the enclosure. There are none, but even so, the temperature and humidity values shown on the display reasonably match the identical data on a weather station mounted against the room wall.
Apparently, two microcontrollers are present, one for the multimeter functions and one for the time and date functions. The presence of two crystals and two chips hidden under a blob points in this direction.
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| The electronics in Aneng's 613. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Very poor protection against incorrect connection
What is interesting is a closer look at the input circuits. The black block under the PCB contains the three 4 mm banana plug sockets. These are soldered directly to the PCB. From left to right, these are the current input, the common and the input for the other measurements. Between the current input and the common are a 10 A SMD fuse and a small resistor in series. That is the current sensor resistor. So the current measurement is only protected against incorrect connection of the meter in a very primitive way. If you accidentally connect the mains voltage between those two inputs, of course the fuse will blow. But it is quite possible that the heat produced at that moment in that tiny SMD fuse will create an arc on the circuit board with incalculable consequences for the meter and its user. Moreover, such an SMD fuse is guaranteed against breakdown up to a voltage of only 125 V!
The input you use to measure voltages is also only very rudimentarily protected. Between this input and the common are two resistor networks in series. One consists of the series connection of four identical 2504 resistors, the other of the series connection of two 4993 resistors. As the only protection, we see the green component, undoubtedly a PTC fuse, connected directly to the right socket. Below the white relay, you will notice two transistors, which probably also contribute in the familiar way to protecting the meter from too high input voltages.
It should have cost a bit more....
Integrating the 10 A fuse on the PCB is justified for cost reasons, but is extremely user-unfriendly. If you accidentally blow it, you can dismantle the meter and start the tinkering work of soldering such a new tiny part on the PCB. How much more would the production of this meter have cost if they had mounted an SMD fuse holder from LittelFuse on the PCB?
The same goes for the resistors on the other side of the PCB. These are 2012 types and they are obviously very cheap, but not very resistant to high voltages. The breakdown voltage is between 100 V and 200 V, depending on the brand. In many multimeters, large MELF resistors rather than those extremely small chip resistors are used for this purpose for safety reasons.
Operating Aneng's 613
Setting the date and time
Press the 'MODE' button for more than three seconds. One of the date and time displays will flash. Using the 'ADJ' button, you can increase the set value. Pressing the 'MODE' button again activates the setting of the next display. In this way, you work through the whole row of displays, from 12/24-display, hours, minutes, year, month to day.
Setting the alarm time
Briefly press the 'MODE' button. The alarm symbol will light up and the date and time display will change to '0:00'. You can now activate the alarm time setting by pressing the 'MODE' button again for more than three seconds. You set the time again by pressing the 'ADJ'.
Switching the alarm on or off
You do this by briefly pressing 'MODE' and then 'ADJ'. You will then see the letters 'AL' appear or disappear on the screen.
Switching between time and year display
Pressing 'ADJ' briefly replaces the hour and minute display with the year display.
Note
If you switch the meter off by pressing the 'OFF' button, the date, time, temperature and humidity displays remain active.
Testing Aneng's 613
The operation of the automatic range switching
Since such a meter is most commonly used for measuring DC voltages, we test the automatic range switching in this function. We slowly increase an input voltage of 5.0 Vdc and observe the moment when the display switches to a higher range. This goes well, after '5.999 V' the meter switches smoothly to '06.00 V'. In the opposite direction, things go slightly less well. Only after '05.80 V' does the meter switch to the lower range, which is to '5.792 V'.
Introductory note
In the following tables, values of a voltage, current, resistance or capacitor are given in the leftmost column. You should not regard these as absolutely accurate and therefore not use them to judge the accuracy of the Aneng 613. Hence the symbol '≈' in front of these values. For judging accuracy, the right-hand columns serve with comparative measurements with our much better laboratory equipment.
Measuring DC voltages
Here we use various DC voltage sources and resistance dividers to cover a range from 10 mV to 1,000 V. We use our Fluke 8842A as a reference. Neatly, the meter stays below the specified deviation of ±1.0 % in all measurements of voltages you encounter in practice. The system that automatically selects the correct measurement range works extremely quickly.
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| Accuracy when measuring DC voltages. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Measuring DC currents
We build a series circuit of a DC power supply with adjustable current, the Aneng 613 and our reference meter ET3255 from EastTester. The measurement results are again summarised in the table below. You will no doubt agree with us that there is little to comment on here!
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| Accuracy when measuring DC currents. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
The burden voltage when measuring DC currents
The burden voltage is the voltage that falls across the meter when you measure a current with it. The smaller this voltage, the less influence measuring a current has on the circuit in which you are measuring. For a current of 5 A, a voltage of 136 mV falls across the meter's inputs.
Measuring 50 Hz AC voltages
We use our function generator DG1022 and a variac to generate 50 Hz sine wave voltages between 10 mV and 270 V. The results of this test are presented in two tables. Two, because it turns out that the measurements of AC voltages smaller than 100 mV give rather large deviations. Only at an input voltage of 40 mV does the Aneng 613 give a measurement result and that with a rather large deviation. As the voltage increases, however, the error decreases.
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| Accuracy when measuring small 50 Hz AC voltages. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
The table below summarises the measurement results for AC voltages greater than 1 V. You can see that the measurement errors are then almost negligible.
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| Accuracy when measuring large 50 Hz AC voltages. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Measuring resistors
Measuring capacitors
Measuring frequencies
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Aneng 613 multimeter
For this test, we have at our disposal a set of reference resistors with a tolerance of ±0.01 % plus some less accurate ones. As a reference meter, we obviously use our 8842A from Fluke. This meter uses a four-wire kelvin probe, which is not possible with Aneng's 613. When measuring very low resistances, the resistance of the test leads and the resistances of the contacts in the input sockets obviously play a big role. These cannot be compensated in the 613. The results are again summarised in a clear table.
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| The accuracy when measuring resistors. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Measuring capacitors
Thanks to a set of five accurate capacitors with a tolerance of ±1 % and three reference capacitors with a tolerance of only ±0.05 %, we can accurately measure the performance of the 613. Above 1 µF, we test ordinary electrolytics from our stock. As a reference meter, we use East Tester's ET4401 with an accuracy of ±0.2 % for non-electrolytic capacitors.
As might be expected, the 613 measures at small values with a fairly large error. This is a feature of almost all instruments that measure capacitors with only two wires instead of a four-wire probe, as proper RLC meters do.
Very strangely, the one supplied to us makes no effort to measure a 10 mF electrolytic capacitor, whereas the specifications say it should.
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| The accuracy when measuring capacitors. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
The bandwidth when measuring AC voltages
The specified bandwidth of 40 Hz to 400 Hz is anything but spectacular for a modern multimeter. To test this, we apply a sine wave signal of 1 Vrms with various frequencies to the inputs of the 613. We compare again, of course, with our ET3255. The 613 performs better than the specifications promise. You can measure quite accurately up to 2 kHz.
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| The bandwidth in AC voltage measurements (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Measuring frequencies
As with most digital multimeters, the readout when measuring frequencies goes up to 9999 counts. With this specification, it is not only the range that is interesting, but also how large the voltage needs to be to get a stable indication of the signal's frequency. The table below shows that you need a signal of about half a volt to measure its frequency between 10 Hz and 1 MHz. At higher frequencies, the sensitivity decreases quite rapidly. Interestingly, the manual specifies a maximum range of 4 MHz, while our specimen measures up to 15 MHz.
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| The range in frequency measurements. (© 2024 Jos Verstraten) |
Our opinion about Aneng's 613
The very first thing you notice when looking at the circuit board is that the manufacturer has paid very little attention to protecting the meter and the user from wrong connections. We therefore recommend using this multimeter only for measurements on low-voltage equipment, but not making measurements with it in mains voltage installations. A mistake is easily made and the 613 is not resistant to such errors!
A second conclusion is that it lacks a number of functions that are standard on multimeters nowadays. Fortunately, there is a 'HOLD' but the important 'REL' function is missing. You will also look in vain for the ability to see the 'MIN' and 'MAX' results of a measurement cycle on the screen.
The meter meets its stated accuracy in most measurements, but that is no great achievement, as those specifications are not very spectacular.
The only thing that clearly sets the 613 apart from other multimeters in this price range is its readout in landscape mode and the display of date, time, temperature and humidity on its screen. Whether this is important to you is, of course, a very personal consideration. Moreover, you should bear in mind that, because of the completely closed housing, it takes a long time for the meter to adjust to a different air temperature or %RH.
Our final conclusion: this meter does not really leave an unforgettable impression.
Aneng 613 multimeter