ESR meter upgrades

[stj]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Yeah, the penny dropped just dropped a few minutes ago.
The GM328 on that website works good but no rotary encoder/option.

post a foto or link of your unit.

[socketa]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

the frequency code that you can allegedly input any frequency is very difficult to use

Before i bricked the chip, and got another one, after few minutes of practice, i found it easy to get any frequency between 1hz and 999khz - it's was just a matter of holding the button in a bit longer, and getting the knack of it (put the last number in first). And all of the frequencies displayed correctly on my multimeter, which was connected to the output
I found it easy as pie.
Easier to learn than the pentatonic scale.
Took me about 15 seconds to set a frequency of 456.789Khz
If it's easy enough to recomple it to include this feature again, that would be appreciated.
Now, all of that programming stuff is what i'd call "very difficult".
OK, photo coming soon (just need to charge camera batteries)
Your last update GM328x ESR tester (SVN700)(inverted encoder) worked perfectly, except i would have preferred to have the option to 'punch in' any frequency that i wanted.

Here's the pic
With the wrong software on the chip (just to show that the frequency generator works good)
Probably a bit off because i couldn't be bothered calibrating it - but still, pretty good.
645.321khz
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1482044324

[socketa]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Here's a better Pic, the meter possibly loses accuracy on the higher ranges.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...1&d=1482045580
6789Hz - Spot on!

[stj]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

o.k. just wanted to check the version - it's a GM328r

[jondoe]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

stj - I compiled the firmware using your makefile and I get an oversized program;

AVR Memory Usage
----------------
Device: atmega328p

Program:  35092 bytes (107.1% Full)
(.text + .data + .bootloader)

Data:    454 bytes (22.2% Full)
(.data + .bss + .noinit)

EEPROM:   879 bytes (85.8% Full)
(.eeprom)

I had a similar problem with my own firmware at first until I tinkered with the Makefile. I'm assuming it won't work if it's too large! Which tool chain do you normally use? I'm using the default one with winavr.

I also noted that the supplied precompiled st7565_kit versions do not work at all (device won't power up), nor do the make files create working firmware .

[stj]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

you need an older version of gcc, i use the one that is in the arduino ide.

[jondoe]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Ahh yes, so I did, thank you. I tried 3.4.5.30 and the compiled firmware is coming in at a more suitable size.

Attached is the 8mhz compile, latest version, hope that solves your display problem socketa.

[socketa]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Thanks, that's better, but the makefile needs to have the rotary direction reversed.
Opened it in WinAVR Programmers notepad, and tried Tools> Make All
But it returned this output:
> "make.exe" all
makefile:381: ../setup.mk: No such file or directory
makefile:428: ../finish.mk: No such file or directory
make.exe: *** No rule to make target `../finish.mk'. Stop.

[jondoe]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

I've commented out the following in the make file;

CFLAGS += -DCHANGE_ROTARY_DIRECTION

I assume this will now swap the direction

(forgot to update the Makefile in the zip, sorry!)

[jondoe]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Thanks, that's better, but the makefile needs to have the rotary direction reversed.
Opened it in WinAVR Programmers notepad, and tried Tools> Make All
But it returned this output:
> "make.exe" all
makefile:381: ../setup.mk: No such file or directory
makefile:428: ../finish.mk: No such file or directory
make.exe: *** No rule to make target `../finish.mk'. Stop.

I just have Winavr, the complete source code package for the transistor tester (all of it, every sub directory) and the older tool chain copied over the top of the winavr one. That seems to do the trick.

[socketa]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Downloaded transistor-tester-master.zip and extracted it into a folder
Downloaded avr-toolchain-installer-3.2.3.579-win32.win32.x86.exe, and that installed Amtel folder (not "over the top of the winavr one")
Opened up the makefile (from the extracted folder) with WinAVR Programmers notepad and then Tools> Make All.
No surprise, same errors as before
Obviously i've got no idea what i'm doing.

[socketa]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Thanks for that, guys.
Tests OK

[jondoe]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

I only started playing with these chips two weeks ago so it's been an uphill struggle getting to this point Winavr should compile without the other tool chain, but you will need to copy the contents of that folder Amtel folder over into the winavr folder if you want it to be 100%

The Makefile you're opening, is it in the mega328_GM328 folder? If not, i.e. you're opening it from the zip file, that won't work. Put the updated/custom Makefile in the mega328_GM328 folder, over writing the one in there. Then open that Makefile with winavr.

Glad the one I compiled is working for you

[vinceroger69]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

another new style cheap esr tester
https://youtu.be/K-5zZfc1XkE
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LCR-TN-Multi...UAAOSw4A5YqGjb

[gino_09]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Hi, I'm new. I bought the gm328 with tft and i saw someone displaying the colored symbols. As firmware I have to load for the color to be able to? Thanks and compliments for the great work.

[vinceroger69]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Hi, I'm new. I bought the gm328 with tft and i saw someone displaying the colored symbols. As firmware I have to load for the color to be able to? Thanks and compliments for the great work.

all the latest firmware is in this thread you just need to make sure it matches your tester and tft used
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/$20-lcr-esr-transistor-checker-project/

[Per Hansson]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Hey stj, tried to compile the latest SVN version using your makefile for GM328x
But the file becomes too big in the latest SVN.
I'm using CentOS7 and avr-gcc v4.8.2
Is there something not so useful that I can remove from the Makefile to get the size down a bit?

SVN700 build:

16 MHz operation configured.
AVR Memory Usage
----------------
Device: atmega328p

Program:  32592 bytes (99.5% Full)
(.text + .data + .bootloader)

Data:    206 bytes (10.1% Full)
(.data + .bss + .noinit)

EEPROM:   922 bytes (90.0% Full)
(.eeprom)

SVN740 Build:

16 MHz operation configured.
AVR Memory Usage
----------------
Device: atmega328p

Program:  32892 bytes (100.4% Full)
(.text + .data + .bootloader)

Data:    206 bytes (10.1% Full)
(.data + .bss + .noinit)

EEPROM:   916 bytes (89.5% Full)
(.eeprom)

[vinceroger69]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

Hey stj, tried to compile the latest SVN version using your makefile for GM328x
But the file becomes too big in the latest SVN.
I'm using CentOS7 and avr-gcc v4.8.2
Is there something not so useful that I can remove from the Makefile to get the size down a bit?

SVN700 build:

16 MHz operation configured.
AVR Memory Usage
----------------
Device: atmega328p

Program:  32592 bytes (99.5% Full)
(.text + .data + .bootloader)

Data:    206 bytes (10.1% Full)
(.data + .bss + .noinit)

EEPROM:   922 bytes (90.0% Full)
(.eeprom)

SVN740 Build:

16 MHz operation configured.
AVR Memory Usage
----------------
Device: atmega328p

Program:  32892 bytes (100.4% Full)
(.text + .data + .bootloader)

Data:    206 bytes (10.1% Full)
(.data + .bss + .noinit)

EEPROM:   916 bytes (89.5% Full)
(.eeprom)

will this be the latest firmware for the testers we built earlier in this thread? if so if possible do you mind sharing the 8 and 16 mhz versions so i can upgrade my testers as im still using the firmware from earlier in the thread thanks .

[stj]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

i'll see if i can get that machine up & running at the weekend,
i was going to set it up this week, but a visual inspection (as you do) showed bad psu caps - so i had to pull it apart.

post the makefile.

[Per Hansson]

Re: ESR meter upgrades

It's your makefile from the last ZIP: "GM328x ESR tester (SVN700).zip" that you posted here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...&postcount=730
And I did use your "make_frequency.c" file too, otherwise the file becomes even larger.
(My aim was not not use it, and switch back to the "standard" frequency input way too...)

will this be the latest firmware for the testers we built earlier in this thread? if so if possible do you mind sharing the 8 and 16 mhz versions so i can upgrade my testers as im still using the firmware from earlier in the thread thanks .

Of course, but need to know what I can remove from the firmware as the latest build results in a too large firmware...