EEVblog #482 - Retro Iskra Multimeter Teardown

What's inside a 1980 vintage Yugoslavian digital multimeter, the Digimer 10 from Iskra

EEVblog Main Web Site:
EEVblog Amazon Store:
Donations:
Projects:
Electronics Info Wiki:

[christopherjones]

Crusty? No way. That thing is pure beauty. It makes the magic of electronics actually look magical.

[davorpz]

Hello Dave and everyone else. I am from Croatia, country that was a part of former Yugoslavia which broke apart in 1991. I am also an electronics engineer, and I like to watch your Youtube videos. Well, very very nice digital multimeter there. There were 3 main companies in Yugoslavia that produced electronic components and devices: Iskra, RIZ and EI Niš. Iskra is from Slovenia, RIZ (radio industry Zagreb, I see few components from RIZ in this multimeter) is from Croatia and EI Niš (electronic industry Niš) was from Serbia (I don't know if this company exists any more). Iskra was the leader in instrumentation, RIZ was leader in electronic components, and EI Niš was doing a little bit of everything but mostly developing and making TV and radio sets. So you say this multimeter is not built so well for the 1980's. I must agree with you, although it hurts me to say that. Yugoslavia was a communist country where technology from west wasn't so welcomed because of the leading man named Josip Broz Tito. He thought that our technology was developed good enough to make anything we wanted. So we did, but it looked like this multimeter. Till the 90's, almost no electronic device used microprocessor, everything was developed using only digital logic and analog circuits. Companies that made electronic components didn't make custom chips for anybody so you had to deal with regular chips to develop what you had in mind. In that case, every device was big and "bodgy" like you say. Although every instrument, TV, radio, production automation electronics and many other devices were made so bodgy and, ... well I will say ugly, they WORKED and they worked great. Because of its robust construction, they were also very easy to fix. This technology couldn't keep up with microprocessor devices so we had to begin using western electronic components and microprocessors. But, I will always remember the simplicity of Yugoslavian made devices. This also applies to cars that were made by Zastava from Serbia. You all probably heard about "Yugo", a car that never succeeded in USA, but in Yugoslavia and then in all these countries after Yugoslavia crashed, it was one of the best cars. It was simple, it used old technologies, but it WORKED great, and it was easy and cheap to fix. So many of them are still on the roads in all former Yugoslavia countries, just like many production lines in many factories still use that old non microprocessor automation technology. And yes "Iskra" means spark :). Best wishes there, sory on this long text.

[monosurge]

In contrast to the Soar I found the Iskra to be quite unique in design approach, and more importantly; Serviceable. There are also multiple calibration pots across the unit, presumably for every measurement type. You could easily calibrate the unit and put it into faithful service rivaling half your 'current' bench meters, 30 years after it's birth. The engineer should be proud and that was quite a gift you got there. Thanks for the vid!

[tobiaspahlsson]

Thanks for this beautiful teardown. What a beast! A piece of history. I get the feeling that life was better back then.

[femator]

Iskra from Slovenija Now produces the most effective electronic engines and other high-tech products

[antadefector]

Everyone I know here have a handmade screwdriver for those nasty screws. At a job, there are still some Unimer 45 and 43 in usage, and 7045. I still have some leftovers from two Unimer 1. Still having Unimer 33, for proper phase sequencing. These are easy to repair, hard to blow. Anyone that had some of these instruments, kept them until they fallen apart. Iskra has a great tradition in measuring instruments.
Best Regards, from Serbia.

[jijzer]

Its a beauty and she is stil working. The other multi meter does not even work anymore and is full repairs. Love stuf like this.

[AntiProtonBoy]

I think it's a thing of beauty! One of the reasons why I got into electronics is because I tore apart Eastern block gear as a kid, and was blown away by the colourful components, wires and crazily constructed/sandwiched boards. I desperately wanted to know what these shiny little bits and pieces were. And for these reasons, my favourite looking components are still tantalums to this day.

[jaguarxj]

"Iskra" means "spark" though...

[SirMo]

My first multimeter was an Iskra. Newer model than that, it was also analog. But it worked great. And the easy access to replace the fuses was a really nice feature. I wish I still had it. They were much better built later on.

[chrispychickin]

As "bodgy" as this multimeter is built, it looks to me like they were following some sort of conventions in it's design, bodgy conventions, perhaps, but it's one of the nicest examples I've seen of point to point/pcb hybrid building from that era, plus all the soldering is top notch.

I suspect this unit cost fetched a lot of money when it was new, so treasure it, it's an awesome piece of tech, much better than most today imo. Probably a museum quality piece in reality

[EEVblog]

Thanks for the offer. I don't do a huge amount of rework stuff, but that alloy would always come in handy, so by all means, send some through. Thanks.

[hlab]

I found the switch arrangement quite ingenious. It's not easy to design mechanical cams and latching springs.

[mikie]

Jeez, this takes me back :)
For what it's worth, Iskra was electronics equipment manufacturer in Slovenia, which was then part of Yugoslavia. IT STILL EXISTS. They used to make pretty decent stuff in those days, their power tools were ok. The gold standard in those days was Bosch tools, or if you had a lot of money - AEG. Iskra wasn't on par with them, of course, but it was usable, cheap and easy to get parts for. Chinese crap didn't exist back then.
Man, what a blast from the past :)

[Bozzy]

Even nowdays when you ask someone in ex-yugoslav republics for measuring instrument you ask for "UNIMER" (not DIGIMER) and they will know immediately what you ask for. That alone pretty much tell you what ISKRA meant back in the 80's. GREAT Video BTW.

[robertliskey]

Thanks Dave and donor! This is great! Old stuff just a kick! My oldest multi ? Tube tester is a Jewell so few tubes back when made it tests in circuit was a real challenge I could not identify half the parts but got to work. Worke great restoring an E.H.Scott keep up the great work

[TheCrazyStudent]

Thanks for the teardown, Dave. There is no need to take it apart any further from that.

[Umovni]

Way to go Janez. I am from Serbia but nevemind that. You made some really quality stuff that works to this day. :)

[iamdarkyoshi]

Amazing it still (mostly) works! Work of art.

[fluxx]

Yeah, Iskra was great! I have two analog multimeters of theirs and they still work great! I have changed a dozen probes which were worn out, but the multimeters work like a dream. Iskra made good quality gear.