Testo Digital Manifold

Testo Digital Manifolds

For technicians specializing in air conditioning, no tool is more important than a killer set of manifold gauges. Essentially, every tech will have a set on board their truck, and you want to make sure that your gauge set will set you apart from the competition. That's where the new line of Testo Digital Gauges comes into play. Testo is a well-known name in the refrigeration game and a preferred brand of many. Testo was a pioneering player in smart probe technology, and that innovative spirit (and the specific technology as well) keeps on going in their new line of digital gauges.

The new Testo Gauges represent the future of manifold gauges in terms of technological advancement and features. Years of feedback from the guys working in the field, plus research and development, have gone into making these tools, and you know that you're getting a quality and rugged product with the Testo name.

A Short Manifold Gauge Refresher

Before we get down to the details of Testo's new line of gauges, let's just review briefly what a manifold gauge set is and how it works. This little bit of background will help you understand quickly why the new line of Testo gauges is so good and shed some light on the innovation that has gone into the new features.

If you haven't noticed from working out in the field, we in the HVAC industry use the terms "gauges" and "manifold" to mean basically the same thing. To be precise, the gauges (on an old-style analog set) are the actual physical gauges that sit on top of the metal block. This metal block is technically speaking the actual "manifold". So back in the day, we used to call the whole unit a "manifold gauges set". But nowadays, when you hear any of those words, they're basically referring all to the same thing, which is the complete set. With the digital manifolds now, the "gauges" portion is actually an advanced computer attached to the metal manifold portion.

Manifold gauges were designed initially (in analog form) to take pressure readings of refrigerant gases in an AC system. Your gauges were typically color-coded as blue and red for low-side and high-side, respectively. This color-coding is preserved in digital gauges, as you'll notice in the product photos. Although it's still a good idea to know the math and be able to perform manual calculations, digital manifolds will calculate superheat and subcool values for you. Back in the analog days, you'd need to use conversion tables to take the pressure and convert it to a temperature you could use to get these values. Superheat reflects the degree of heat in the refrigerant past the vapor state and subcool the degree of heat lost after the compressor turns the refrigerant into liquid. It's a huge benefit and convenience to have the manifold do these calculations for you and just be able to focus on tuning the system properly.

That's a decent place to wrap up just a general overview of manifold gauges and how digital compares to analog. Let's move on now to the new Testo line. We'll walk through a lot of the benefits of these Testo Refrigeration Gauges and then spend some time looking at applications and operations.

Testo Next Generation Digital Manifolds

Ever since wireless HVAC testers made their way into the market, Testo has been at the innovative forefront. Starting back several years ago, Testo introduced the first and most popular line of AC smart tools. These tools took many of your standard testers like thermometers, anemometers, pressure gauges, pipe clamps, and more, and offered Bluetooth connection to a robust controller and reporting App for smart devices (phones, tablets, etc.). These tools really took off since they combined Testo's famous quality with a super affordable price point and advanced new technology.

The first significant upgrade to this line of testers was the extension of the Bluetooth range to up to 300 ft. Tech's loved the smart probes line, but sometimes connectivity distance was an issue. With that issue out of the way, Testo began research and development on full-fledged manifold systems that incorporate this smart probe technology. That brings us to today and the new line of Testo Digital Manifolds.

The Testo 550s Digital Manifolds

This first Testo manifold in the series has a few different configurations depending on which kit you'd like for whatever job you need. We'll go over the basics of the main unit and then take a brief look at the various kits.

The main 550s unit looks a bit like the former model of the Testo 550 (without app connectivity) but with some notable improvements. The first and most obvious development is the massive screen on this tester. The better part of the front surface area of the manifold is the screen itself. You can read over eight simultaneous measurements onscreen, and there is an analog-style representation of the high and low-side pressure readings as if you were looking at old-fashioned gauges, in addition to the digital readings. This isn't simply a nostalgia factor though, since sometimes having an idea of where you are visually on the pressure scale for a given refrigerant versus a raw number can help you more quickly troubleshoot a system. This graphical and text display for pressures really is the best of both worlds when it comes to pressure readings.

The metal manifold block at the bottom of the unit is 2-way with a vacuum port (this will be one of the big differences from the 557s that we'll cover in a moment – it's a 4-way manifold). The physical design of the 550s is also an upgrade from the former model, in the degree that it's been "ruggedized" (as we say). The display itself is sunken to prevent screen cracks if you accidentally drop it. The housing itself is rated to IP54. If you're not familiar with IP Ratings ("IP" stands for "Ingress Protection"), basically, the left-hand number refers to protection from solid particles, and the second number refers to protection from liquids. The "5" for solid particles here means that, although not 100% dust-tight (6), no sufficient amount of dust can enter to affect the performance of the equipment. 6 is the highest rating for dust protection and usually only occurs in laboratory equipment, so with the 550s, you get close to Lab quality on the job site. The right-hand number of 4 means that the unit is protected against splashing water that isn't pressurized. So, you're not going to want to submerge your manifold (why would you?) or hit it with a pressure washer (again, why?), but if you need to work in the rain or there's some water splashing about your worksite – no problem! For all intents and purposes, this unit is dust and waterproof, though not technically. There are certainly higher ratings for IP, but they would be overkill for a manifold gauge set.

Moving beyond the physical design features, we come to the technological advancements. The 550s utilizes Bluetooth 5.0 and a fully redesigned and integrated Testo Smart App. This means you get a continuously reliable connection with a good range, and you can mirror all your measurements on the App in real-time. This effectively gives you a second screen for your digital manifold, which can be very useful when working in teams. Additionally, the App provides a full reporting suite with export to PDF and email so you can get results right away to a customer or supervisor.

Now, both the 550s and the Smart App support connection to Testo Smart Probes. So, you can view temperature and vacuum, etc., right to the gauges themselves or the App, provided you have the proper probe in your toolbox. The App will also connect to the full range of smart probes.

Testo 550s Digital Manifold Kits

Now, on to the kits. The basic 550s kit is going to get you the digital manifold itself, two wired temperature clamps, and a hard shell carrying case. This configuration is sort of the bare-bones model if you want to make the leap into digital without breaking the bank. It's a very reasonable price point, and you can always upgrade to the wireless clamps at some point in the future since the manifold itself is the same in each kit.

The next kit up the line includes the digital manifold, and two wireless temperature probes, in the hard case. This is the kit that will get you into all the exciting wireless measurement features we were discussing above. We'll just say that if you haven't yet tried taking your pipe temp readings without wires, it feels great not to have to mess around with a bunch of thermocouple cables like before.

After that, we get the kit that includes the manifold, the case, the two wireless temp clamps, and the wireless vacuum probe. This wireless vacuum probe reports the vacuum reading right to the manifold screen and to the App, eliminating the need for a separate micron gauge and consolidating all your readings for easy use and for reporting. This is a great benefit, and we really recommend going with the complete kit if budget permits. It's a whole new experience in HVAC testing.

Finally, there is a kit that is like the second kit, with the two wireless clamps, but also includes a hose set. We'd recommend this if you need hoses right away to get moving, but ultimately the vacuum gauge kit will give you the most robust testing experience.

Testo 557s Digital Manifold

The next digital manifold up the food chain in this line is the Testo 557s. This won't be a long section since all the technological aspects of this manifold are the same as the 550s. The only difference here is that the manifold itself is a 4-way block instead of a 2-way. If you're regularly working in AC, you know if you'll need a 4-way or a 2-way manifold block, but if you're going to be pulling a vacuum regularly, we definitely recommend a 4-way kit for ease of use.

Testo 557s Digital Manifold Kits

The 557s comes only in two kit configurations in contrast to the 550s. The first kit includes the manifold, the hard case, the two wireless temp clamps, and the wireless vacuum gauge. As we mentioned, you're going to usually want this 4-way block when doing a lot of vacuum work, so Testo doesn't really bother selling a kit without the vacuum probe. You're going to want it.
The second kit includes everything above that the first kit does but adds a four hose set (which includes a vacuum hose). As you can see, both of these kits were made with the idea that you'd be running a vacuum hose from one of the ports.

Testo 550i Digital Manifold

Last but not least in this new Testo digital manifold series is the 550i. As you might have guessed from that telltale little "i", the 550i is Testo's fully "smart" manifold. What this means in practice is that it is fully app-driven and does not have a screen. It looks essentially like the manifold block portion only with no screen or "gauge" portion. All the results and readings go straight to your device for viewing. This has a two-fold benefit. One, the unit is incredibly compact. The space savings is enormous. You could fit this little guy in just about any small tool bag, and it's still totally ruggedized (IP54) like the others, so no worries about messing it up. The second benefit is that the operation is entirely remote. You can make your connections and then just monitor what's happening from anywhere inside a 500-foot radius. Do bear in mind that this manifold is a 2-way block.

Testo 550i Digital Manifold Kits

There are a few different kits on offer for the 550i. The first is just the 550i itself, with no additional probes. This is for users that already own Testo smart probes since they can be linked up to the 550i to make a complete kit.

The following kit includes the 550i manifold, two wireless temp clamps, and a case. This is the equivalent of the second kit in the 550s series.
After that, you'll get the kit with the manifold, two wireless clamps, case, and the wireless vacuum gauge.

Finally, Testo offers a kit that includes two wireless temp clamps, manifold, and case, but adds two 605i thermohygrometers for taking humidity and ambient temperature readings, which can be displayed on the App alongside your manifold readings and transferred to reports for more complete system analyses.

Conclusion

There you have a full rundown of the new line of Testo smart manifolds. These manifolds are at the cutting edge of technological advancement in HVAC testing, and we recommend them thoroughly. One last thing to note is that a significant advantage of going digital is that through firmware updates that all these manifolds support, you can be assured that changing refrigerant regulations won't stop you from doing your work, since Testo will update the manifolds to support all the new refrigerants that come down the pipeline. That's a great thing to have in your tool bag.

Read our Blog Post - Advantages of Digital AC Manifolds