Fieldpiece SC680 Review
The Fieldpiece SC680 was released in late 2019 and is one of the top of the line multimeters currently offered by Fieldpiece. The Sc680 was designed with the HVAC/R professional in mind, packed with many features such as power consumption, phase rotation, and wireless connectivity, but is it the best option? Check out my initial impressions as we review a few significant cons as we dive into this digital clamp meter review.
What Is Included
One thing I appreciate about the sc680 is the included accessories. Other big-name manufacturers skimp out on the included accessories forcing you to spend additional cash on items to help make your job easier.
The Sc680 includes:
The meter itself
Test Leads
Alligator clips
Molex Probe Tips
2 Type K Thermocouples
2 Velcro straps
9v battery, protective soft case
Operator manual
Heavy Duty Magnet on the back of the meter for ease of use.
Pros of the Fieldpiece Sc680
This meter is feature-rich at a reasonably affordable price point, and the included accessories are a welcome addition. My favorite feature of this meter, and the main reason I purchased it, was the rotating swivel head for the Amp Clamp.
The SC680 performs all of the expected test parameters you would expect to find in an HVACR meter, such as True RMS Volt readings on AC up to 750V and DC up to 1000V, both AC and DC amps to 600 amps, capture in rush amps on motor startups, Micro amps, Capacitance, and resistance. I also like that the amp clamp integrates a lead holder on the right side to take voltage measurements.
I was impressed that the resistance range is up to 50M ohms and that the amp clamp reads up to 600 amps.
The amp clamp also includes an integrated LED that turns and illuminates every time you open the clamp jaws. This excellent simple addition shows that thought was put into making a meter designed for the service technician.
The Display is a good size and easy to read in all conditions, thanks to the powerful backlight. When the backlight is activated, an LED illuminates the selector dial to select the correct parameter reading easily.
Non Contact Voltage (NCV) eliminates the need to carry a different volt pen. Detection range from 24 vacs to 600 vacs.
The phase rotation feature works well. I cycled this function through various tests, and it was correct every time.
Dual Temp type K inputs on a meter at this price are pretty amazing. This meter also gives you the ability to field calibrate each sensor input.
Low Pass Filter (LPF) to remove noise and get accurate voltage on variable frequency drives
Having the ability to Measure power consumption (kW) is pretty slick. I imagine this feature will become even more helpful if this meter becomes integrated with measure quickly.
The manual indicates that the sc680 is compatible with other field piece accessory heads. I have not tested this feature, but I checked out their website and was surprised to find many offerings ranging from hot wire anemometers to CO detectors and infrared heads. You can check out the full selection here. Fieldpiece Accessory Heads
Cons of the Fieldpiece SC680
As great as the sc680 sounds on paper, I did find a few glaring faults with this meter. The first complaint with the meter is its size; It is BIG. The SC680 measures 18.5 x 4 x 3.5 inches, which is quite a bit larger than any other multimeter I can recall. Comparing it to my Fluke 902fc at 4.2 x 2.4 x 10.8 inches, the sc680 dwarfs it. Due to its height, you may find it challenging to fit this meter in your tool pack.
Although the unit does have wireless capability, it is not as helpful as I had hoped. Currently, it is not supported with measure quick ( rumors are it is in the works to be added as a supported device, right now this is a big con for those hoping to pair with fieldpiece wireless gauges), but it does operate with the Fieldpiece Joblink App. My complaint is with how this integrates into the app. There is no way to use the temperature readings in the refrigerant portion of the app. It would be beneficial if Fieldpiece would allow the temperature readings to be used along with the pressure probes to take unit super-heat and sub-cool measurements on larger pipes than the temp clamp probes allow.
I guess I had assumed this would have been the case, but I found that I could not get it to function that way in the Job Link app. Hopefully, this feature will be added once the meter is supported by measure quick.
My subsequent complaint is a significant con. I found that my readings were inaccurate when taking amp readings with wireless. I compared it with several other meters to confirm this. With the conductor in the amp clamp and wireless off, the meter reads 0 amps. When you turn the wireless on, the meter reads anywhere from .5 - 2.5 amps and 10-20v. When the wireless was off, the meter read the amp draw of 8.8 amps which coincided with the display on my VFD and another meter, but as soon as the wireless was turned on, the meter began reading 10.8 amps. I again verified this alongside other meters as well as on a VFD.
I then tested this problem in the 600 aac range and found that when the wireless feature was turned on, the meter began to read up to 15 amps higher than the actual reading. Having your amp draw readings over 20% off is a big deal, especially when wireless ensures accurate amp readings by being able to close panels, blower doors, etc.
Another gripe I found while using this meter is that the HZ measurements off of VFDs are not as helpful as I had hoped. The spec sheet on the field piece website lists the HZ range through the clamp as 10-400 HZ, but I did not find any mention of the min amp draw required to use this function.
While attempting to check the frequency output of the condenser fan motors on a Trane chiller, I could not get the meter to read correctly. I was getting erratic readings of 0-120 Hz flashing all over the place. Once I double-checked the manual to see what was going on, I found that the frequency through the clamp feature has a minimum current range of 7 amps AC for 10-100 HZ, 20 amp AC for 100-400 HZ on the 100 Amp AC range, and a minimum of 25 Amps AC for 10-400 HZ on the 600 Amps AC range. If you were hoping to use the clamp HZ feature on mini-splits, this could pose a big problem.
Those are my main issues with this meter. Other minor complaints are that there does not seem to be any way to disable the constant beeping while taking voltage readings with your meter leads, and the battery life seems to be much shorter than any other meter if used.
Should You Buy The SC680?
I think a few of the kinks need to be worked out of this device before picking one up. It is possible that I received a faulty unit. I will reach out to Fieldpiece directly to see what kind of insight they may be able to recommend. I will update this post with any changes.
Check out a few of the electric field meters I would recommend purchasing in this post here: Best HVACR Meters Under $400
HVAC meters for hvac tech tools
Please tell me your thoughts and thoughts about running one of these meters. Are you experiencing any of the issues that I am?
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