instructables

Voltage and Current Protection Upgrades for UNI-T UT61E

by undersilicon

The UNI-T UT61E has become one of the most popular
multimeters in the hobby electronics market. Not only
because of its surprising precision but also for its rigidity
and sturdiness. All of this within a contained price tag of
60€.
However, behind all its magni cent features, the meter
hides one clear drawback: input protection. Due to the
competitive pricing of the meter, both overvoltage and
overcurrent protection have been left behind in the
Chinese version.
In this Instructable, with very little spending, we are
going to explore the upgrade possibilities of the meter,
which will make it an overall better tool.

Step 1: Why It Is Important to Have Overvoltage and Overcurrent Protection in a

Multimeter

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A multimeter is very often used to test unknown
voltages or currents, I don't think I'd need to explain the
possible consequences of testing a high energy line with
a meter not rated for the voltages involved. But, just to
be sure that everybody knows the dangers of electric
and electronic appliances I linked a video about this
topic from EEVBlog showing a fair bit of examples.
In the video, a huge variety of meters were tested
against a high voltage and high energy source. Needless
to say, the cheaper meters performed pretty badly in
these tests. However, we can observe that the more
expensive units, although some of them did su er huge
internal damage, did not explode nor tear themselves
into pieces.

This is enough to not harm the user or expose him to the components were damage.
high voltages of the source. In addition, some of the
higher-end meters may be back to life with very little
service, since only some well-designed and selected

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-FZP1U2dkM&ab_channel=EEVblog

Step 2: UT61E Improvement Capabilities

In order to address some of these issues, there is a UT61E
version, called "GS", made exclusively for the German
market which is slightly di erent than its Chinese
counterpart. It comes with a lesser voltage rating of
CATIII 300V, CATII 600V, rather than CATIV 600V and
CATIII 1000V in the regular version.
However, as you may have guessed, these ratings, as in
every Chinese multimeter, are completely made up. If
you look at the rst picture of this step, you will see the
internals of the German version on the left and the
Chinese version on the right. The former features
varistors, PTCs, and bigger HRC fuses, which makes the
CAT ratings far more believable.
If you look close enough at the rst and second pictures,
you will notice that both PCBs are exactly the same,
giving us the opportunity to install such features
ourselves, considerably improving the meter input
protection capabilities.
The third and fourth pictures show the complete
schematic of the meter with the fourth being a snippet
of the input protection design of the German GS version.

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Step 3: How Input Protection Works in the UT61E GS
Multimeters are meant to measure multiple magnitudes
from their "V" and "COM" terminals, such as resistance,
continuity, capacitance, etc- For this reason, there are a
lot of protection mechanisms for both the user and the
meter in this section.
The UNI-T UT61E GS o ers a very classical approach to
this regard. A pair of PTCs are connected in series with
both terminals in order to limit the maximum current in
the event of a short, as well as a set of varistors for high
voltage transient events. As for the millivolt range, a pair
of transistors are used as Zener diodes to prevent
overvoltages in the input of the microcontroller.
The micro and milliamp range is also protected against
overcurrents that may damage the shunt resistors. This
will usually happen by user mistakes, such as connecting
this terminal in parallel to mains voltage.
Voltage and Current Protection Upgrades for UNI-T UT61E: Page 3
The second picture represents how it is easily
implemented in the UT61E with a 5-diode bridge. It
consists of a regular 4-diode bridge recti er, for positive
and negative transients, and then an extra diode
shorting the bridge. This is an added protection
mechanism since fuses do not blow su ciently fast
enough to protect the shunt from destruction.
In the Chinese version, none of the varistors are installed
leaving the meter without anything to do against
transients. In addition, low-quality 250V fuses are
installed, which are not ideal for a multimeter.
These are the upgrades that we are going to perform in
this Instructable
Step 4: Extensive Explanations on Typical Multimeter Input Protection

If you want to know more about the topic, I linked a 40-minute EEVBlog video about it.

Also, if you prefer a readable version, it is all explained in detail on this webpage:

https://lygte-info.dk/info/DMMDesignProtection%20U...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUhnGp5vh60&ab_channel=EEVblog

Step 5: Disassembling the UT61E and Performing the Upgrades

Disassembling the meter is pretty straightforward, there are only three screws holding the case together as you can see
in the pictures.

There are also three screws holding the PCB to the top cover. Remove these screws and push outwards the gaps on the
sides between the case and the PCB, with a at head screwdriver. The board will eventually come o the case.

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Step 6: Adding a Set of High Voltage Varistors

In the schematic shown in a previous step, the varistors
used in the GS version are BOURNS MOV-07D751K with a
rating of 825V and 70 pF of stray capacitance. I have
installed a set of EPCOS S10K385 B72210S0381K101
instead since I already had them lying around in my
drawers. They are rated for 505 VDC and have a stray
capacitance of 150 pF.
In order to install them, simply cut the legs to a fairly
short length allowing them to sit in the PCB but not to
protrude too much, so the case will still close easily.
Then, solder the legs directly at the top side of the PCB
pads.

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Step 7: High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) Fuses and Their Ratings

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High-end multimeters include a special type of fuses, rated current without overheating.
called "HRC" or High Rupturing Capacity fuses, which are
able to carry a rated short circuit current for a given Also, when they eventually blow o , the Silver
period of time without blowing o . compound of the fuse wire and the lling, start a
chemical reaction that results in a high resistance path
They are made out of heat-resistant ceramic materials that quenches any electrical arc.
and sturdier metal-end caps than typical glass fuses.
Also, the internal part of the fuse is lled with sand-like This is why it is of good advice to have quality HRC fuses
powder to prevent air exposure-related problems. in a multimeter.
Because of this lling material, they can dissipate heat
better than regular fuses, which allows them to carry the

Step 8: Replacing the Milliamp - Microamp Range Fuse

Replacing the milliamp range fuse is a fairly easy task.
First, remove the old 6x25 mm 250V 1A fuse and observe
that there is an extended footprint for a bigger fuse. This
alternative footprint is already compatible with the fuse
holders present in the meter, so, in a second step, simply
desolder the one close to D1A and D3A.
Remember to apply new solder to the pads to prevent
overheating or damaging the PCB. Production lead-free
solder has a higher melting point, which makes it
di cult to rework manually, so be careful.
To nish, resolder this same fuse holder to the
alternative footprint. Now, this new mounting setup is
compatible with 6x32 mm fuses. I selected a SIBA FF 500
mA 1000V fuse.

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Step 9: Replacing the High Current Fuse

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This is the last and the trickiest part of this Instructable,
although it is still very easy to perform.
As with the milliamp range fuse, there are alternative
footprints to install a bigger fuse on the GS version, so,
rst of all, we should remove the old 250V 10A fuse and
desolder both fuse holders.
I decided to buy better holders for the 10A range than
the ones that come with the meter. So, I went for
Littelfuse 01020071Z 6.3 mm fuse holders, however, any
similar device with the same dimensions will work too.
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The new fuse has a 10 mm diameter, but the footprints
in the meter are clearly for 6.3 mm fuse holders (believe
me, I tested this out, a 10 mm holder will not t the
footprint nor will allow the case to close properly. You
know, Chinese engineering...), so we have to widen them
up a bit, pushing them outwards with a pair of pliers.
Once you are done, solder them to the wider footprint.
Last but not least, cut the edge mounting bars of one of
the holders (or both) with a pair of cutting pliers. Finally,
install the new fuse pressing gently against his new
holders.
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Step 10: End Result

After applying all the changes, your meter should look something like the picture in this step.

Now it is time to reassemble the meter screwing the PCB again and checking if the box still closes correctly with the HRC
fuse not blocking the way.

Congratulations! You are done!

The last step is to plug in the battery and check if the meter still works.

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Step 11: Final Thoughts and Drawbacks
In this Instructable we have explored the possibilities of
improving the input protection of the UNI-T UT61E
making it less prone to failures in higher voltages
environments and safer for the user.
Total costs of all the mods:
- 6x32 mm SIBA FF 500 mA. Qty: 1(3€)
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/32808289000.html?sp...
- 10x38 mm HRC Fuse. Qty: 1 (3€)
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/32909758127.html?sp...
- Littelfuse 01020071Z 6.3 mm fuse holders. Qty: 2 (0.5€)
https://lcsc.com/product-detail/Fuse-Holders_Litte...
- EPCOS B72210S0381K101 Varistors. Qty: 4 (2€)
https://es.aliexpress.com/item/32452420265.html?sp...
https://www.mouser.es/ProductDetail/EPCOS-
TDK/B722...
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- Or BOURNS MOV-07D751K. Qty: 4 (2€)
https://www.mouser.es/ProductDetail/Bourns/MOV-
07D...
Grand total.............8.5€
Time: 15 - 30 minutes
There is one little inconvenience about performing this
mod, which is that varistors have capacitance and the
Chinese version is not calibrated to zero this e ect. So, a
static measure of 350 - 400 pF will be shown in the
capacitance reading, but, it is not something that
bothers me giving the major improvements performed
to the meter.
I hope you liked this project! I encourage you to
comment and share this article, so I could write better
ones in the future. I would be glad to answer all of your
questions.
Enjoy! You can also follow me on Instagram!
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