DIY Hack: Extend Auto Power-Off on VICTOR 890D

If you're interested in DIY-modding your VICTOR 890D multimeter to extend its auto-shutdown time, this guide might be just what you need.

If you have a VICTOR 890D and find it annoying that every time it shuts off automatically you have to turn the dial back to the OFF position and then power it on again, keep reading—there's a simple fix for that.

You'll need to open up the meter and take a look inside. The auto-shutdown time is controlled by a capacitor and a 10M resistor.

Here's how it works: when the dial is in the OFF position, the battery charges the capacitor. In other modes, the capacitor discharges through the resistor.

Once the voltage drops below a certain level, the main power circuit cuts off.

So, the trick to extending the shutdown time is to use a larger capacitor and add a self-resetting button between the battery's positive terminal and the capacitor's positive terminal.

When the capacitor runs out of charge, just press the button—it will instantly recharge the capacitor, and your meter will keep running.

In the picture above, the tilted capacitor is the one you'll be replacing with a larger delay capacitor.

The switch is connected between the capacitor's positive lead and the power's positive terminal.

Once everything's assembled, it should look like the image below.

As for the round push button in the middle section, you can use any button of a similar size to fit there.

Also, this multimeter seems to have a smart detection feature that knows when it's being used.

For example, when testing a 12V lead-acid battery with both the BQ9 clamp meter and the VICTOR 890D, the BQ9 automatically shuts off when idle, but the VICTOR 890D won't—as long as there's voltage input from the red and black probes, it stays on.

Once the probes have no voltage input for a while, it will eventually shut off.

One more thing: the BQ9 dial design is optimized for right-handed use, which makes it awkward for left-handed users or when it's placed on a desk—you'll find switching ranges inconvenient.
If you also find that troublesome, you can modify it just like shown in the picture above—it'll make things a lot easier.

That's it.