Velleman MK146 VU Meter Mini Kit

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Velleman MK146 VU Meter Mini Kit – $11.15 Velleman Store

I have made many Vu meters before this one however i have never made an enclosed vu meter. I have a connection with the vu meter because it was my second kit ever. I was very eager to see the changes Velleman has made to this kit.

One of the major differences was the case. I did not really like the case for two reasons.  Like the enclosed crawling micro-bug, it does not look “engineery” instead it looks like a toy you can buy at a store when finished. It was a lot easier to play with this way but it did not seem to look as impressive.

Another problem with the case it that it is that when you put the case on you have to take it off to take out the battery that is a major inconvenience, one of the ways this problem can be solved is if you put a cover where the battery is so you can replace the batteries without taking off the entire case. 

A little correctable flaw is that the capacitors don’t fit unless you bend them to the side, and that can break the solder pads if you push too hard. This happens even if the capacitor is flush mounted. That should be in the manual, leave a little extra wire and bend the capacitor.

One great thing about the new kit is that the pads are a little farther apart, that makes it easier to solder and easier to correct mistakes. A lot of the older velleman kits are harder to work with because the pads are too close together. I’ve learned to solder over the last year and a half, so making good clean contacts is no longer difficult, but these pads will help other kids make theirs work on the first try.

The best new feature is the fact that is has a switch. This is great because you don’t have to take the battery out to turn it off this is a great way to get around the case issue until you use it for too long, then you have to take off the case and replace the battery. Another reason why the switch is soooo great is because u can actually turn it off without taking out the battery, this is great because the battery is hard to get out and I have almost destroyed the board trying to get the battery out. If I get more Vu meters, I will get the enclosed model even if I don’t use the enclosure — just to have the switch!

Recently i have made christmas presents to my teachers, and you guessed it, the presents were Vu meters. I made five of these, four for my four core teachers and one for my 6th grade vice principal. Even though I made five of them i did not make any simple mistakes, it was easy not to make any simple mistakes because most of the components were in order, I am just starting to notice this, but did they do this for every Vellman project?

While building them i made the decision not to use the case so people can see the electronics. My teachers loved these gifts and these are actually useful in the classroom, why? The view meters are useful in the class room because they can me sure how much sound your class is making if you want your class room silent than you just have to tell them to be quiet when ever the Vu meter acts up.

I would suggest this product to someone who needs to measure sound in an uncontrolled environment. or a person who needs practice soldering at a slightly higher level. This is now one of my favorite kits because of the fact that is can be used as just a soldering kit and it has a practical use… BECAUSE OF THE SWITCH. The switch finally makes it usable in real-life. 

First Test – IT WORKS!

Video review :

Five Working Vu Meters as holiday gifts for my teachers this year.

FULL DISCLOSURE(s)

This article contains items made and distributed by Velleman, Inc.  In the past they have supplied notabomb.com with items not specifically for consideration, however that were used in this blog. The velleman item(s) in this article were purchased by me at full retail price from the Velleman Store.

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