Digital gauge manifold

[Sjewell14]

I'm looking for input on witch gauges I should get. I have two more semesters of college left and have been slowly buying tools, gauges are one of the last tools ill need. I do have a pair of yellow jacket for R-22 but need another for R-410a. I've been thinking about buying a set of Hilmor Electronic Gauge - Vacuum, Hoses. Witch price at $690.00 has anyone used these or have any suggestions?

[jtrammel]

Digicool ak900 with scissor clamp probes, or a fp Sman4 for the wireless cool stuff.

[ryan1088]

Digi Cool AK900 for me.

[Sjewell14]

I'm taking it that hilmor aren't very good?

[Brent Ridley]

Hilmor's customer service has been terrible. They've refused to email me back when all I asked were simple product questions.

Go with the DC Ak900's or SMAN4's.

[hvac wiz 79]

Another vote for the ak900

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2

[Mike19]

If you're curious about digital gauges, there are excellent reviews of most the popular ones in the tools and test equipment section of this site. I have ak900's and I like them a lot.

http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread....digital-gauges

[Sjewell14]

I was wondering about the recalibration. Hilmor says they recalibrate every time they turn on.

[lytning]

From what I have heard some folks say a lot of things. AT this time I have testo 570 and they work well.

I was wondering about the recalibration. Hilmor says they recalibrate every time they turn on.

[Sjewell14]

Fieldpiece gauges don't come with the hoses?

[lytning]

Neither do the testo's And if they did you should still replace them with good heavy duty hoses (black ones) with the ball valves on the eds.

Fieldpiece gauges don't come with the hoses?

[jtrammel]

Fieldpiece gauges don't come with the hoses?

Neither do dc's. you can buy hoses seperately, I suggest ball valve hoses. DCs with ball valve hoses and scissor clamps would still be a bit less than the hilmors.

[mark beiser]

If it wasn't for the ridiculous servo motor driven "analogue" gauges they put on them, and the mood lighting, the Hilmor gauges might not be bad at all.
Unfortunately it is a completely useless feature, that adds significant cost to the instrument.

[jbeckham]

I'm looking for input on witch gauges I should get. I have two more semesters of college left and have been slowly buying tools, gauges are one of the last tools ill need. I do have a pair of yellow jacket for R-22 but need another for R-410a. I've been thinking about buying a set of Hilmor Electronic Gauge - Vacuum, Hoses. Witch price at $690.00 has anyone used these or have any suggestions?

Why are you concerned with this?

Just take your Ritchie manifold and put a set of 410a gauges on it and be done with it...maybe $35 worth of parts...

What does a digital set of gauges do for you..? The 410a gauges Ritchie sells are +/- 1% accuracy...

For me, I need a $690 set of gauges like I need a second mortgage...it's just way more than the trade requires, and, in my opinion, you look like a stooge when you pull them out...

[Sjewell14]

Digital just seems easier, also seems like what the world is heading towards. Also from my knowledge can make the job easier. I'm just looking for input on digital gauges before I go out and spend more money then I need to on junk. My grandfathers been in the trade for 68 years running and owning his own business, if I asked him he would tell me All you need is your hands to be able to tell if the systems is running correct. Yes that maybe true for him seeing he grew up in 1927ish.

[mark beiser]

What does a digital set of gauges do for you..? The 410a gauges Ritchie sells are +/- 1% accuracy...

For me, I need a $690 set of gauges like I need a second mortgage...it's just way more than the trade requires, and, in my opinion, you look like a stooge when you pull them out...

They are 1% accuracy when they are brand new, so the 800 psi high pressure gauge could be off by 8psi, and still be in spec.
Once they have been used for a while, or get dropped once, they are no longer 1% accuracy.
Additional measurement errors get added on top of that due to the parallax error inherent when viewing a gauge needle over a gauge face through a protective lens.
On top of the inherent instrument error, and the parallax error, you get an additional error factor introduced when you interpolate between the points of a PT chart.
If you are not using a PT chart, but trying to read the temperature scale printed on the gauge face, the error can be even more severe than PT chart interpolation errors.

When I hook up my digital gauges, depending on which ones I'm using, the pressure reading has an accuracy rating of anywhere from 0.5% of the reading on the most accurate of the instrument, to 0.75% full scale, of a 575psig scale.
On top of the greatly reduced instrument error, there is no possibility of parallax errors, as the reading is digitally displayed. The reading is the same, no matter who is looking at it, or from what angle.
Since the exact saturated temperature is also displayed, there is no possibility of interpolation error from converting the pressure to a saturated temperature.

There have been numerous studies done on the state of the charge in systems in the field in recent years.
Depending on the study, anywhere from 52 to 74% of the systems tested were incorrectly charged by 10% or more.
Much of that is due to poor training, or "techs" that don't give a crap, but I believe much of it is also due to the use of inadequate instruments, like analogue gauges.

Analogue gauges were a necessary evil for many decades, because they were the only thing we had, but with the ready availability of highly accurate digital instruments we have today, there is no place for analogue gauges when servicing modern high efficiency air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.

[Sjewell14]

That's why I'm looking for advice on the best digital gauges I can get for around $600.00, so far I'm thinking the fieldpiece Sman4.

[lytning]

Also me thinks it shows a dedication to the trade. So easy to check superheat and sub cooling with digital. But after over 40 years in the trade what do I know?

They are 1% accuracy when they are brand new, so the 800 psi high pressure gauge could be off by 8psi, and still be in spec.
Once they have been used for a while, or get dropped once, they are no longer 1% accuracy.
Additional measurement errors get added on top of that due to the parallax error inherent when viewing a gauge needle over a gauge face through a protective lens.
On top of the inherent instrument error, and the parallax error, you get an additional error factor introduced when you interpolate between the points of a PT chart.
If you are not using a PT chart, but trying to read the temperature scale printed on the gauge face, the error can be even more severe than PT chart interpolation errors.

When I hook up my digital gauges, depending on which ones I'm using, the pressure reading has an accuracy rating of anywhere from 0.5% of the reading on the most accurate of the instrument, to 0.75% full scale, of a 575psig scale.
On top of the greatly reduced instrument error, there is no possibility of parallax errors, as the reading is digitally displayed. The reading is the same, no matter who is looking at it, or from what angle.
Since the exact saturated temperature is also displayed, there is no possibility of interpolation error from converting the pressure to a saturated temperature.

There have been numerous studies done on the state of the charge in systems in the field in recent years.
Depending on the study, anywhere from 52 to 74% of the systems tested were incorrectly charged by 10% or more.
Much of that is due to poor training, or "techs" that don't give a crap, but I believe much of it is also due to the use of inadequate instruments, like analogue gauges.

Analogue gauges were a necessary evil for many decades, because they were the only thing we had, but with the ready availability of highly accurate digital instruments we have today, there is no place for analogue gauges when servicing modern high efficiency air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.

[ryan1088]

They are 1% accuracy when they are brand new, so the 800 psi high pressure gauge could be off by 8psi, and still be in spec.
Once they have been used for a while, or get dropped once, they are no longer 1% accuracy.
Additional measurement errors get added on top of that due to the parallax error inherent when viewing a gauge needle over a gauge face through a protective lens.
On top of the inherent instrument error, and the parallax error, you get an additional error factor introduced when you interpolate between the points of a PT chart.
If you are not using a PT chart, but trying to read the temperature scale printed on the gauge face, the error can be even more severe than PT chart interpolation errors.

When I hook up my digital gauges, depending on which ones I'm using, the pressure reading has an accuracy rating of anywhere from 0.5% of the reading on the most accurate of the instrument, to 0.75% full scale, of a 575psig scale.
On top of the greatly reduced instrument error, there is no possibility of parallax errors, as the reading is digitally displayed. The reading is the same, no matter who is looking at it, or from what angle.
Since the exact saturated temperature is also displayed, there is no possibility of interpolation error from converting the pressure to a saturated temperature.

There have been numerous studies done on the state of the charge in systems in the field in recent years.
Depending on the study, anywhere from 52 to 74% of the systems tested were incorrectly charged by 10% or more.
Much of that is due to poor training, or "techs" that don't give a crap, but I believe much of it is also due to the use of inadequate instruments, like analogue gauges.

Analogue gauges were a necessary evil for many decades, because they were the only thing we had, but with the ready availability of highly accurate digital instruments we have today, there is no place for analogue gauges when servicing modern high efficiency air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.

^^^ THIS

Also for funs sake.....you're doing a leak test. You jack it up to 150 on both sides of your 410 gauges. You come back 15 or 20 minutes later and you look at it. Did it move or did it not? So you bob your head back and forth, then decide it's good. I've caught small leaks that moved only 2 psi in an hour. You're going I to tell me your analog gauges will do that??

[mason]

^^^ THIS

Also for funs sake.....you're doing a leak test. You jack it up to 150 on both sides of your 410 gauges. You come back 15 or 20 minutes later and you look at it. Did it move or did it not? So you bob your head back and forth, then decide it's good. I've caught small leaks that moved only 2 psi in an hour. You're going I to tell me your analog gauges will do that??

I have found sooooo many more leaks since going digital, often times some extra schrader tucked away somewhere. The Digi-Cools are king leak testers with the 1/4psi bar graph.

I threw some analogues on a system yesterday with a known leak, where I screwed my hose on : ), just for old times sake. I got bubbles on this leak but my needle started on the high side of 100psi and after 5minutes was on the low side of 100, maybe, or was my head just not positioned right I don't know because if I moved a little it was back on the high side. If this wasn't a known case of me sabotaging a leak a lot of techs would've called it good enough and headed out, with the DC's I knew I had a leak immediately.

Plus, you can get the DC's for under $300, so for $100-$150 dollars more I get a far superior product? Sign me up!