ESR / LCR meter recommendations?

[slybunda]

hi all, looking to expand my toolset, i have a multimeter that can check capacitance of capacitors but doesnt check esr. so im after a cheapo meter that can do the job without costing an arm and a leg for someone who only dabbles with electronics now and then. whats good option to go for thats..... cheap??

[stj]

look at the component testers on ebay that do est and test diodes/transistors

[slybunda]

am i looking at something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354969669398
or things like the LCR-TC1 ?

[stj]

that looks expensive.
it's up to you, the T! is cased with a colour display - that also usually tests zener diodes
this pdf may helf - or make it worse

[slybunda]

Thanks that pdf is perfect

[slybunda]

ordered a LCR-T7 meter for £10 inc delivery, hopefully it does the trick.

[stj]

it will be interesting to see inside it.
they dont all use the same cpu or battery.
sometimes you can upgrade the cpu to add features
or fit a bigger battery.

[slybunda]

Yep waa reading up about these not using real atmega324 and some other fake stuff but for the price if it can just do capacitor esr im ok with it. Will deffo open it up and get some photos of it. Ordered from AliExpress so will take some time to come although it did say should be with me in 7 days.

[stj]

those "fakes" are actually superior in many ways, and they only exist because china needed chips and ST stopped shipping during the ScamDemic.
chips from GigaDevice and others arent the issue - the issue is the number of pins on the package.
if they use a 32pin package then the maximum size chip you can fit is 32k but if they use the 44pin package you can up it to a 128k device.
:

[Topcat]

Hard to beat a Sencore LC102 or LC103....

[JohnCT]

I bought an LC75 brand new in the early 80s, then added a 102 later as I opened another location. When I started contracting, I got rid of the 102. Sometimes too much automation is not our friend - the 75 is much faster. It's like trying to change the temperature on my wife's car - I have to scroll through menus where on my older truck I reach over for the temp knob without even looking at it.

John

[stj]

yes, but can it fit in your pocket and cost the same as a beer in a pub?

[Topcat]

yes, but can it fit in your pocket and cost the same as a beer in a pub?

Depends on the beer and the pub...

[slybunda]

Anyone build one if these:
https://youtu.be/mogaMWEWWlQ?si=3ij6w7viWwfwyJh3

Looks very simple to do

[stj]

post the real link next time.
here is one with the adds and tracking blocked
https://yt.artemislena.eu/watch?v=mogaMWEWWlQ

thats a very reduced version of the comercial ones - not worth the price of the parts.

[slybunda]

Will avoid that one then thanks.

[slybunda]

Is this one good:
https://pk17r.wordpress.com/2023/12/...boost-protect/

[stj]

not really.
try reading the source of it all:
https://github.com/madires/Transistortester-Warehouse

[slybunda]

i wonder what the origins are of these LCR-TC1, TC2, TC4, TC7 etc is it an original chinese design or based on something some other brand came up with first?

[Per Hansson]

i wonder what the origins are of these LCR-TC1, TC2, TC4, TC7 etc is it an original chinese design or based on something some other brand came up with first?

The origins is = Chinese see nice open source design, Chinese copy design and release without source (because they are assholes)
The original is made by Markus Frejek, then continued by Karl-Heinz Kübbeler to this day: https://www.mikrocontroller.net/arti...ansistortester
There is also a fork done by another Markus (madires) and his version was linked by stj above, both of these two later designs are current with some different design goals, both are completely open source.

Here is a current version with a confirmed genuine Atmel processor.
If you choose the "new english" version you get a surface mount processor.
If you choose the "english" version you get a DIP (through hole) processor.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003678038543.html

Source: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testge...02/#msg5178402

[Agent24]

If you want a really basic and cheap ESR meter, there are analogue designs such as https://ve7it.cowlug.org/esrmeter.html or https://danyk.cz/esr_en.html (and many more examples online).

However, I suspect the AVR based Transistor Tester devices wouldn't cost much more, and they give you a lot more functionality.
I also like that a lot of them are based on the open source design and can be repaired easily, since you have schematics and source code.

I have a "Blue ESR" meter designed by Bob Parker (actually I have two - I inherited an original EA version as well) and while it works great, it's based on a rather old processor and the firmware is not freely available, so repairability is not guaranteed. (Yes you could probably write your own code for a more modern chip if needed, but that's more fun than I wish to have)