Professional grade optical hand-held refractometer.

Hand-held Refractometers Product Description

Since its launch in 1999, the Eclipse hand-held refractometers have become recognized as one of the World’s most reliable and robust optical refractometers on the market today. Manufactured in the UK using the latest techniques, Eclipse hand-held refractometers feature a bright field of view with large highly visible graticule line and clear digits. The hand-held refractometers have a unique sample “dribble feed” which prevents bubbles and splashes when applying a sample to the prism. Push-on replacement illuminator flaps were designed for the hand-held refractometers to eliminate the need of large forces to replace them. The case is sealed to protect the hand-held refractometer against moisture ingress. The hand-held refractometers come with a large barrel encased in a thick rubber shield for easy handling in cold weather and provide insulation against temperature during use. An adjustable eyepiece for easy focusing is also standard on all Eclipse hand-held refractometers. A zero offset screw provides calibration against a known standard or acts as a method of manual temperature compensation (MTC) negating the effects of temperature prior to taking your reading with the hand-held refractometer. A locking ring on the hand-held refractometers prevents accidental adjustment. Each hand-held refractometer has a unique serial number to allow for certificate traceability.

A selection of scale types covering a wide range of common applications is available from within the Eclipse hand-held refractometer range as well as the unique Low Volume Brix Models that are favored by zoologists and entomologists for having the capability of measuring samples of less than 1-microlitre such as nectar.

Quality at an affordable price
By combining the best available modern manufacturing methods and materials and a good understanding of customer requirements, a quality hand-held refractometer at a very competitive price has been achieved.  The Eclipse hand-held refractometers are both practical and aesthetically pleasing in design.  Eclipse hand-held refractometers are supplied with a soft protective carrying case and instructions for use.

Hand-held Refractometer Applications

Hand-held refractometers are low-cost, portable instruments used for ‘on the spot’ determination of Refractive Index (RI) of liquids or the concentration of solutions. Offering a choice of scales, Eclipse hand-held refractometers can be used in a multitude of applications across many and varied industries.

Standard Sugar % (Brix) Models
There are several standard Brix hand-held refractometers.  Each hand-held refractometer covers a different concentration range and hence different applications.  The hand-held refractometer scales and calibration are based on wt% sucrose in water in accordance with the 1974 (most recent) ICUMSA standards.

Customers often asked why Global Water do not produce a single 0-95% hand-held refractometer. The reason is because an optical design based on acceptable hand-held refractometer dimensions would compress the scale and reduce reading resolution or, scale magnification would make viewing of the scale awkward.

The latter argument applies to very short-range hand-held refractometers, for example 0-10%. To make such a hand-held refractometer with an acceptable ‘comfortable to read’, non-obscured scale, would require a long body. We prefer to stop at the 0-15% hand-held refractometer design which still maintains comfortable viewing.

PN# 45-01 (0-15 °Brix)
This hand-held refractometer can be used for testing the ripeness of fresh fruits such as tomatoes, grapes etc. by directly squeezing the juice onto the prism.  These hand-held refractometers are also popular for testing finished juices and soft drinks.

Applications for this hand-held refractometer also extend to non-sugar containing fluids. Coolant/cutting-oil fluids can also be measured using this hand-held refractometer. The industry has adopted the hand-held refractometer’s Brix scale as an empirical measure of oil content for convenience.

PN# 45-02 (0-30 °Brix)
This is the most popular hand-held refractometer Brix measuring range.  These hand-held refractometers cover a wide range of fruits, juices and purees and raw sugar juices.  These hand-held refractometers can also be used for some milk products with varying degrees of success (some emulsion products can give poor repeatability).

PN# 45-03 (0-50 °Brix)
Similar to the 45-02 this hand-held refractometer has an extended (lower resolution) scale.  This hand-held refractometer covers fruit concentrates such as orange, certain cordials and syrups and purees such as tomato, which has a typical Brix of about 35.  This hand-held refractometer is also ideal for the measurement of colostral (mares milk).

PN# 45-08 (28-65 °Brix) and PN# 45-05 (45-80 °Brix)
These two hand-held refractometers extend into the high sugar-containing products: syrups, malts, fondants, jams and marmalades and a wide variety of confectionery products.

Special calibration fluids (accurate sugar solutions) or solid test plates (see Hand-held Refractometer Calibration Accessories) are needed to re-set the hand-held refractometer’s calibration because water is off-scale.

PN# 45-06 (75-93 °Brix)
This hand-held refractometer covers the top end of the sugar scale and is used mainly for confectionery products, typically fondants and toffee type materials.  A special fluid is needed to re-set the hand-held refractometer’s calibration.  75 °Brix is beyond the saturation points of sugar solutions and so an oil should be used with suitable RI (Brix equivalent).  This can be problematic because of dispersion.  Ideally, a sodium lamp should be used to sharpen the hand-held refractometer’s borderline.  An alternative is solid test plate 72-207.

Water in Honey
PN# 45-27 (10-30 % Water in Honey)
The application is specific to controlling the quality of fresh honeys (see water-in-honey measurements).  Many hand-held refractometers are sold to bee-keeping associations or specialist suppliers.  As with the 45-06 hand-held refractometer, re-calibration must be done using a special test plate because a standard within the RI 1.48 to 1.51 range is required.  For percent water in honey temperature correction table.

Wine & Ciders ABV determination
Hand-held refractometers are used in the wine industry for two purposes: to measure the sugar content of grape juice to determine payment to growers and to measure approximately the alcohol content of the wine.  Brix scaled hand-held refractometers (45-01, 45-02) can be used to assess grape juices.  Traditionally a number of special hand-held refractometer scales have been devised for the alcohol/fermentation process.  They are empirical scales that are useful to wine/brewing applications only.  Different countries tend to adopt different hand-held refractometer scales.

PN# 45-22 (°Zeiss, 10-135) – widespread use, also popular in beer making
The Zeiss scale is a linear scale that corresponds to 0-21 °Brix.  The hand-held refractometer is popular with wine and cider makers and trading standards organizations.  When used with a hydrometer, the combined result can yield alcohol by volume to within 0.5% – a quick estimate of ABV.  This hand-held refractometer is also used to monitor fermentation of Champaign style wines.

Starch
PN# 45-26 (0-30 %)
This hand-held refractometer can be used to test starch solutions in the food industry but also a particular application is to test starch solutions used for coatings in the paper industry.

This hand-held refractometer can be zeroed with distilled water.

Refractive Index
PN# 45-41(1.33 – 1.42)
This is the fundamental scale from which all other hand-held refractometer scales derive.  It can, in principle be used for any application, provided the user knows the relationship between RI and the parameter in which they are interested.  The scale is used for scientific purposes and where there is no other convenient hand-held refractometer scale available.

This hand-held refractometer can be used for a wide range of chemicals and their solutions.  Examples are detergents, flavors and essences.  Some customers in the car and aircraft industries use this hand-held refractometer for measuring anti-freeze fluids.

This hand-held refractometer can be calibrated with water. At 20 °C, the RI of water = 1.33299.

Antifreeze/Automotive
PN# 45-44 triple scale instrument:
– °C protection (ethylene glycol)
– °C protection (propylene glycol)
– Battery acid SG

This hand-held refractometer is used to test automotive coolant fluids and battery acids and is therefore popular in garages and with car manufacturers. The hand-held refractometer is also used by airline companies for testing de-icing fluids that are used to spray aircraft wings in cold climates.

PN# 45-45 triple scale instrument:
– °F protection (ethylene glycol)
– °F protection (propylene glycol)
– Battery acid SG

This is essentially the same hand-held refractometer as the 45-44 but with temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit. This hand-held refractometer is aimed primarily at customers in the USA.

PN# 45-46 Ethylene glycol, propylene glycol 0-60 % vol
Antifreeze formulations can differ in composition.  Some are based on ethylene glycol, some on propylene glycol, some on other liquids such as methanol.  They are often not simply two-component mixtures; they may also contain other ingredients such as anti-oxidants/anti-corrosive agents, coloring agents etc.  The hand-held refractometer scales based on ethylene glycol or propylene glycol may therefore not always satisfy the needs of customers.  Similarly, some customers do not like to use ‘degrees of protection’ as the measured unit.  Some prefer to measure a ‘glycol’ concentration; some prefer to use the fundamental RI scale and do their own conversions using tables or equations.  The model 45-46 hand-held refractometer offers a solution to this application.

These hand-held refractometer scales are based on the relationship between concentration and RI for simple two-component mixtures of ethylene or propylene glycol in water.

Applications include the hand-held refractometer measurement of heat transfer fluids in air conditioning plants, heat exchangers, pasteurizers and fluid based radiator systems, automobile manufacturer cooling system loading amongst more specialist applications.

Salinity
Sodium Chloride
PN# 45-65 (0-28 % weight)
This hand-held refractometer is used in a number of applications.  In the food industry the hand-held refractometer can be used to test brines used for canning/packing vegetables and for meat and fish preservation.  The hand-held refractometer can be used to test brackish waters in de-salination operations.  The hand-held refractometer can also be used to test the salinity of waters used in aquariums and for fish farming purposes.  The hand-held refractometer may also be used by some petroleum engineers in the preparation of brines used for oil well drilling fluids and checking the salinity of production fluids from reservoirs.

Low volume models
A low volume hand-held refractometer implies that a very small volume of liquid can be measured.  This type of hand-held refractometer is used by botanists and zoologists/entomologists that wish to measure very small quantities of nectar from plants and insects in the field.  The scale used is usually the Brix scale and there are two standard hand-held refractometers of this type:

PN# 45-81 (sugar % or °Brix 0-50) and PN# 45-82 (sugar % or °Brix 45-80)
These hand-held refractometer scales used together tend to cover all the samples likely to be encountered.  The low volume performance of the hand-held refractometer is achieved by using a special prism flap which has a precision machined face that enables very close contact with the prism and hence a very thin film of sample.

Hand-held Refractometers Specifications

Protection Rating: IP 65

Hand-held Refractometers Options

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 0-15 °Brix (PN# 45-01)
High quality refractometer for food, beverage and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 0-30 °Brix (PN# 45-02)
High quality refractometer for fruit, food, beverage, ketchup, tomato and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 0-32 °Brix (PN# 45-07)
High quality refractometer for fruit, food, beverage, ketchup, tomato and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 0-50 °Brix (PN# 45-03)
High quality refractometer for fruit, food, beverage, ketchup, tomato, colostrum quality in mares milk, and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 28-65 °Brix (PN# 45-08)
High quality refractometer for ketchup, mayo, diet marmalades, low sugar jams, fruit pulps, concentrates and syrups.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 45-80 °Brix (PN# 45-05)
High quality refractometer for food, jam, marmalade, syrups and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: 72-95 °Brix (PN# 45-06)
High quality high range Brix refractometer for syrups, honey, sugars and other applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Water-in-Honey (%) (PN# 45-27)
High quality honey refractometer.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: ABV Refractometer (PN# 45-22)
Specific refractometer for use with a hydrometer to allow subsequent calculation of %ABV.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Starch (%) (PN# 45-26)
High quality refractometer for specialist industrial use.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Refractive Index (PN# 45-41)
High quality refractometer for specialist industrial use such as chemicals, surfactants, detergent blends, fertilisers, diesel fuel additives, wing de-icing fluids etc.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Antifreeze °C protection (PN# 45-44)
High quality refractometer for automotive use.  Provides frost protection in degrees Centigrade and battery condition.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Antifreeze °F protection (PN# 45-45)
High quality refractometer for automotive use.  Provides frost protection in degrees Fahrenheit and battery condition.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Glycol % (PG-EG) (PN# 45-46)
High quality refractometer for industrial coolant use such as heat exchangers, air-conditioners, pasteurisers, etc.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Salinity (% NaCl) (PN# 45-65)
High quality refractometer for food use. Provides concentration of salt solutions (brine) such as those found in vegetable canning and similar applications.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Low Volume 0-50 °Brix <1 micro-liter (PN# 45-81)
High quality refractometer for environmental monitoring.  Nectar samples taken by entomologists and zoologists from plant stamen may be measured accuratley by this specialist low volume model.  Includes carrying case.

Eclipse Hand-held Refractometer: Low Volume 45-80 °Brix <1 micro-liter (PN# 45-82)
High quality refractometer for environmental monitoring.  Nectar samples taken by entomologists and zoologists from plant stamen may be measured accuratley by this specialist low volume model.  Includes carrying case.

HAND-HELD REFRACTOMETER CALIBRATION ACCESSORIES

Hand-held Refractometer Flaps (PN# 45-003)
Pack of 5 replacement flaps.

Low Volume Hand-held Refractometer Flap (PN# 45-089)
For use with PN# 45-81 and 45-82.  Includes one replacement flap.

Hand-held Refractometer Case (PN# 45-97)

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