Digital Caliper – A Curious Thing

[For The Popcorn]

A curious thing happened with one of the cheap digital calipers. I had purchased several from Temu because there's never one close at hand when I need one. I grabbed one the other day that I don't think I'd ever used before to measure something close to 5" wide, and the caliper showed 2.5". Weird. I cycled the power, re-zeroed, and it still indicated 2.5".

Checked the metric scale along its length, and it was also indicating 50% size. Comparing the analog scale to the readout, it appeared to read exactly half size.

The display was solid; there was no low battery indication but I replaced the battery and that fixed it. I can't quite explain the failure method.

 

[camerart]

A curious thing happened with one of the cheap digital calipers. I had purchased several from Temu because there's never one close at hand when I need one. I grabbed one the other day that I don't think I'd ever used before to measure something close to 5" wide, and the caliper showed 2.5". Weird. I cycled the power, re-zeroed, and it still indicated 2.5".

Checked the metric scale along its length, and it was also indicating 50% size. Comparing the analog scale to the readout, it appeared to read exactly half size.

The display was solid; there was no low battery indication but I replaced the battery and that fixed it. I can't quite explain the failure method.

Hi F,
I assume that it counts by reading a line of bits along the shaft, and perhaps 1xbit it broken, so not doubling the resutlt?
Give it a clean!
C

 

[For The Popcorn]

As I said, new, and fixed with a fresh battery.

Big Clive on YouTube has a great video explaining how digital calipers work.