Fluke 6130B vs 6003A - 5 reasons why the 6130B Electrical Power Quality Calibrator offers better value

What you will learn

Fluke Calibration ceased production and sale of the 6003A Three Phase Electrical Power Calibrator and its specific accessories and options. Fluke introduced this model in 2014 as a competitive power calibrator capable of supplying accurate 3 phases of current and voltage.

With the retirement of the 6003A, the 6130B Electrical Power Quality Calibrator is the best replacement product. Fluke Calibration product expert Wally Miller compares the two instruments and explains why the 6130B offers you even better value.

Product overview

The Fluke Calibration 6130B is part of the family of 6105A/6130B Electrical Power Calibrators.  These calibrators are accurate, comprehensive and flexible sources of electrical power quality and energy signals. They provide the accuracy required to meet the requirements of current power quality testing standards, matching the best measurement devices for sinusoidal and non-sinusoidal waveforms.

The 6003A Three Phase Electrical Power Calibrator provided moderate performance for three phases of power in a single easy-to-operate instrument.

Both the 6130B and the 6003A calibrators cover a wide workload of electrical power test instruments, including

• Power meters
• Current transformers
• Flicker meters
• Phase angle meters
• Power factor meters
• Power analyzers
• Power recorders
• Power transducers-relay testers
• VA meters
• VAR meters
• Voltage transformers
• Wattmeters (3- or 4-wire)
• Watthour meters

1. Modularity of 6130B family offers flexibility to configure 1-4 phases in a single system
2. Improved accuracy
3. Increased number of harmonics
4. Greater voltage and current ranges
5. Expanded energy inputs

Configurable phase power

The 6003A has three voltage outputs and three current outputs that can be controlled independently or controlled as a single 3-phase device with equal power being sourced by all active outputs.

The 6130B is made of a single 6100B mainframe and two 6101B auxillary units.The 6100B mainframe, is a single phase with one voltage and current output, plus a display and user interface. To get to multiple phases, you take three auxiliary units, connect them together to make a 6130B and control them as one, to provide four phases of current and voltage (different quantities of 6101B’s can be used to configure 2 of 3 phase systems). To facilitate this process, the 6130B model includes an intuitive graphical screen plus front-panel controls, while the 6101B model has just the connectors. All 6101B units connected to a 6100B are controlled from the same graphical display and user interface on the 6100B front panel.
 
Having multiple boxes offers flexibility to configure one, two, three, or four phases in a single system, depending on your workload and applications. A fourth phase can be useful if you need to simulate unbalanced conditions with current or voltage present on the ground line.
 
The fact that the 6130B is more accurate allows it to be used in areas where you could not use the 6003A. Accuracy is vital to providing confidence in the quality of your measurements.

Increased number of harmonics

The 6130B also generates more harmonics than the 6003A. This is important because it allows you to satisfy more regulations in terms of the specific tests that they require. The more harmonics you can generate, the more parts of the standards you can cover. 
 
There are a family of IEC 61000-4 Standards that cover a large range of power quality standard requirements and testing.  The 6100A when it was launched in the early 2000’s was named for these standards.  The updated 6100B still targets this series of standards and provides all of the accuracy and functionality required to test to these international standards.

Greater voltage and current ranges

The 6130B and 6101B have different options to allow for 20A, 50A and 80A of output current.  If you need even more output current, the Fluke 52120A amplifier allows you to generate a lot more current – up to 120A when it’s connected to each phase. The 6130B is designed to operate with the 52120A directly in its most accurate mode in what we call closed loop. The 6003A didn’t have that capability. 

Expanded energy inputs

The 6130B also offers more flexibility in the input. The Energy option on the 6100B provides six independent energy counters.  The 6003A had only a single counter.  This allows the 6130A system to measure the output of six revenue meters in a single configuration.

Bonus benefits

Bonus benefits of the 6130B over the 6003: removable memory and product weight. The 6130B has removable memory; the 6003A did not.

The 6003A is a heavy instrument that typically requires at least two people to pick it up. Moving it from one area to another requires planning and additional time. With the 6130B, you have the flexibility of independent boxes. Each box is lighter. While you might have three of them to move, each one is light enough for an individual to carry it to a new location. And the instruments allow customers to be more flexible and perform more tests than you could do with the 6003A.

6130B vs 6003A power calibrators comparison table

I own a 6003A calibrator. Can I still get support?

Starting April 2, 2021, the 6003A entered its 5-year extended support period. During this time Fluke will provide repair and calibration support. After that time, Fluke will continue to support routine calibrations. However, repairs will be limited parts availability beyond April 2026.

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