Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

[Bob Parker]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Finally assembled unit and diagram...

I found my 'master' photo of the board and compared yours against it. Everything seems to be OK so now all you need to do is use the meter. Good luck with it.

[Moustahil]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Are those green/yellow caps made by Sanyo/Suncon? If yes, did you buy them from ebay? Most of them are fakes on ebay. It would be interesting to see a picture of the top, bottom (bung), and your ESR measurements of those caps.

As severach said, those are the used caps (Sanyo) taken from old motherboards (socket 478&462) and suprisingly had esr within spec! But then again, some 20 years old caps I posses also had it!

I found my 'master' photo of the board and compared yours against it. Everything seems to be OK so now all you need to do is use the meter. Good luck with it.

Thanks!

[sgriffith62]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Ok, kit is built. Trying to calibrate the low battery warning. Turning VR1 has no effect. using 5.5v dc from a variable power supply. Yes the 10K pot is VR1 (103). Checked for any solder problems, non found. Is the 9v battery connected for this?

[LDSisHere]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

You use the 5.5V in place of the battery for the adjustment. That way when you are using a real battery and the voltage drops to that level the indicator goes off and you know to change it.

[Bob Parker]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

You use the 5.5V in place of the battery for the adjustment. That way when you are using a real battery and the voltage drops to that level the indicator goes off and you know to change it.

That's exactly correct. Thanks for answering his question.

[katzcaps]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

My kit did not come with an assembly manual but I have been able to figure it out from the pcb markings & online pics/diagrams.

One thing I cannot figure out is which way the LED dots are supposed to go.

Can someone tell me the correct orientation of the decimal LEDs?

EDIT - Disregard! I see that the negative (shorter) leg goes toward the "flat" side of the symbol.

[LDSisHere]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Maybe the manual I attached will help you out.

[katzcaps]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Maybe the manual I attached will help you out.

Thanks!

[MDOC]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

EDIT - Disregard! I see that the negative (shorter) leg goes toward the "flat" side of the symbol.

Correct... that's the cathode.

[bilbofx]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Hi everyone, is this kit available in the uk? If not, can anyone recommend a good multimeter with esr. Cheers guys

[Bob Parker]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

Hi everyone, is this kit available in the uk? If not, can anyone recommend a good multimeter with esr. Cheers guys

I don't think anyone sells the Blue ESR meter kit over the counter in the UK. You'd probably have to get one by mail from one of the overseas companies listed at http://anatekcorp.com/blueesr.htm

If there are sanely priced multimeters with ESR measurement capability, hopefully one of the people here will be able to advise you about them. Good luck.

[bilbofx]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

HI Bob, thanks for the reply and link ;-)

[Bob Parker]

Re: Blue ESR Meter assembly problem

HI Bob, thanks for the reply and link ;-)

You're welcome.

Don't forget that if you're the adventurous type and have an oscilloscope, you don't absolutely have to get any kind of ESR meter. You can build some simple circuitry to do a similar job for a fraction of the price. Have a look at this .pdf file written by Stephen M. Powell for some ideas: