7 Questions About Rice Lake Weighing Systems & Test Tools (And 1 You Didn't Know To Ask)

I've been handling orders for Rice Lake weighing systems and test instruments for about 7 years now. In that time, I've personally made—and documented—enough mistakes to fill a small binder. Some cost money. Some cost time. All of them taught me something.

This article is a collection of questions I hear from engineers and technicians almost every week. It's also a few questions I wish they had asked before making the same errors I did.

Here's what I learned the hard way.

1. How to Calculate Values on a Rice Lake Weighing Indicator (Without Guessing)

This is the #1 support question I get. Someone has a 920i or a 480 indicator, and they are staring at the setup parameters, trying to figure out what the internal count value means for their specific load cell.

The short answer: The indicator uses the counts from the analog-to-digital converter. But the relation to real weight is set by your calibration parameters. The formula is internal, not something you manually solve.

Here's the thing: I spent two hours once trying to reverse-engineer a formula from the manual. It was for a 10,000 lb capacity vessel. I had the cell output in mV/V, the excitation voltage, and the indicator's internal resolution. I thought I could calculate the exact weight before calibration.

I couldn't. Not reliably.

What I should have done: Use the indicator's built-in test or diagnostic mode. Most Rice Lake indicators (even older ones like the 880) have a screen that shows raw A/D counts. That's the only number you should be looking at before calibration. It's a sanity check—like checking a multimeter shows 0V before you measure a live circuit.

Real mistake example: I once ordered a custom scale system and told the integrator I needed a specific setpoint value calculated from the raw counts. I spent 3 days arguing with the manual before calling support. The answer took 5 minutes: the indicator does the math internally. You just set the setpoint in engineering units (pounds, kg) after calibration.

2. Why Your Adjustable Multichannel Pipette Needs a Reality Check (Not Just Calibration)

I don't work in a lab, but I've learned enough from customers to know this: multichannel pipettes are finicky.

An adjustable multichannel pipette is supposed to deliver the same volume across all channels. In theory. In practice, the channels drift differently. I had a customer who sent their pipette to calibration and got a report that showed it was within spec. The problem? They were still getting inconsistent results.

People think calibration is about accuracy. Actually, it's about consistency across channels. The assumption is that if the average is within 2%, the channels are fine. The reality is that different channels can compensate for each other's errors in a calibration report. One can be +3%, another -3%, and the average looks perfect.

Lesson: When testing an adjustable multichannel pipette, test each channel individually. If you don't, the average will hide the problem. I'm not sure why some calibration houses don't highlight this. My guess is they assume the user will do the individual check, but most don't.

Between you and me: if you use a multichannel pipette for critical work, buy a manual single-channel pipette for verification. It's boring work, but it catches hidden errors. Simple.

3. The 568 Infrared Thermometer: It's Not a Replacement for a Contact Probe

The 568 is a nice infrared thermometer. It has good optics and dual laser sighting. A lot of people—me included—treat it like a Swiss army knife for temperature measurements. But it has a hard limit that a lot of people miss: emissivity.

I once used a 568 to measure the temperature of a polished stainless steel surface. The reading said 25°C. The actual temperature was closer to 45°C (I only found out when I touched it. Stupid mistake).

What happened: Polished metal has a very low emissivity (around 0.2 or less). The 568, like most IR guns, assumes an average emissivity of 0.95. Out of the box, it's wrong for anything shiny.

You can adjust the emissivity on the 568 manual. But if you don't know what the emissivity of your material is, you're guessing. And guessing is not measurement.

Rule I use now: If the surface is shiny or reflective, I use a contact probe (thermocouple). If I absolutely must use the 568, I tape a piece of black electrical tape on the surface (emissivity ≈ 0.95) and aim at the tape. It's not elegant, but it's more honest than a wrong digital reading.

4. Megger vs Insulation Tester: Is There Actually a Difference?

I get this question a lot, mostly from younger electricians. They hear "Megger" and think it's a specific brand. Then they see "insulation tester" on a Fluke or Rice Lake catalog and get confused.

Straight answer: Megger is a trademarked brand name (Megger Group Limited) for insulation testers. It's like Kleenex for tissue paper, or Xerox for copiers. But the distinction matters more than you think, because it affects how you buy and use the equipment.

The assumption is that all insulation testers are the same. The reality is that different brands (Megger, Fluke, Hioki) have different curve processing and test voltage stability. Not all test results are directly comparable.

I had a customer who had a field failure on a motor. The original test was done with a Fluke 1507. The follow-up test was done with a Megger MIT400. The results differed by about 8%. The customer spent 3 days arguing with the motor supplier, not realizing the instruments had different test algorithms.

Lesson: If you're trending insulation resistance over time, use exactly the same model of tester for every measurement. This was true 10 years ago when testers had analog meters and high variance. It's still true today, though some high-end digital testers have better inter-unit consistency.

Look, I'm not saying you need to buy one brand. I'm saying you need to stick with the same model for trend data. Mixing instruments is a recipe for confusion.

5. How to Read a Rice Lake Logo (And Why It Matters for Comm)

Some Rice Lake products have an LED display on the load cell or junction box. The logo (a stylized R and L) can also flash in diagnostic mode. This isn't a standard product spec, but it comes up more often than you'd think when troubleshooting communication.

On some of the older digital load cells (like the single-point or beam cells with embedded digital boards), the logo flash rate indicates the communication status:

• Solid on: Power OK, no data traffic
• Slow blink (1 Hz): Normal data transmission
• Fast blink (5 Hz): Communication error or bus conflict
• Off: No power or device not responding

I learned this the hard way. I replaced a load cell on a truck scale, and the system wouldn't communicate. I spent an hour checking wiring. Then I noticed the logo on the new cell was blinking fast. The problem wasn't the wiring—it was a bus address conflict. Two cells had the same address.

Check the logo first. It sounds silly, but sometimes the diagnostic info is right in front of you.

6. The Weirdest Mistake I Made: A $3,200 Order for the Wrong Load Cell

I'll wrap this up with a personal story. In my first year (2017), I submitted an order for 6 Rice Lake load cells. The spec sheet looked fine on my screen. I had the model number, the capacity, the cable length.

The result came back wrong. The load cells were for a compression application. I needed them for tension. The physical mounting holes were different. 6 items, $3,200, straight to the trash (well, we returned them at a restocking fee).

That's when I learned: always check the mounting code. Rice Lake load cells have a model suffix that indicates the specific mounting and application type. The number on the datasheet looked right, but the code was wrong. I didn't check it because I assumed the code was just a revision number.

Now, I have a pre-check list. I read the full model string, character by character. I compare it to the actual application. It takes 5 minutes. Five minutes of verification beats 5 days of correction. The 12-point checklist I created after that mistake has saved us an estimated $8,000 in potential rework.

7. One Thing You Probably Didn't Know About Load Cell Testing

Here's the hidden question: How do you test a load cell for zero shift without a deadweight standard?

Most field techniques involve measuring the millivolt output with a multimeter. That's fine for a go/no-go check. But the real enemy is zero drift with temperature. If a load cell has a spec of ±0.02% per 10°C, and your environment changes 20°C, you could get a shift of 0.04%. On a 10,000 lb cell, that's 4 lb. For a legal-for-trade scale, that's potentially a failure.

I've never fully understood why so many field tests skip this check. If someone has insight, I'd love to hear it. My current practice: I record the zero reading at installation in the morning (cold). Then I check it again in the afternoon (hot). If the difference is greater than the spec, I flag the cell.

Per NIST Handbook 44, a scale's zero return tolerance is typically 0.02% of the rated capacity. That's a standard you can reference. Most load cell datasheets will give the temperature affect on zero.

Don't assume your test setup is good just because the full-scale reading looks okay. Zero drift is sneaky. Catch it early, or it'll catch you on a re-certification.

That's the list. If you have a specific question about Rice Lake equipment or any of these tools, I've probably made the mistake already. Ask away—it's cheaper to learn from my errors than to make your own.