ESR meter - recommendations?

[doanh]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

Nice! this whole kit is probably out of my price range..It's everything I would like to have though.

thanks

[pr0cess0r]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

the cost whas 400$

[doanh]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

ouch! too rich for me..

[Tube_Dude]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

i have those 3 tester i dont know how to use them yet!! i wanted an esr meter and my boss got this big kit and i willlearn to use it!

http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_dca55.html
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_lcr40.html
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_esr70.html

I have the 3 tester too, and I love them. Precise and easy to use... Life will not be the same without...

[Agent24]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

I have the Blue ESR meter and I like it.

It was cheap, fun to build and it just plain works. If it breaks I know it will be easy to fix as the schematic is freely available and parts are standard.


Some of the other meters are good as they include capacitance measurement too, which may be useful to you.

[doanh]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

I picked up the ESR Micro V4 and a FBTtester too! Mike shipped it to me in less than 10 days! The ESR meter is great, now I am trying to understand how to use the FBT meter properly.

Thanks everyone!

[Bob Parker]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

I have the Blue ESR meter and I like it.
It was cheap, fun to build and it just plain works. If it breaks I know it will be easy to fix as the schematic is freely available and parts are standard.

Thanks for your nice words about the Blue meter. Unfortunately although the microcontroller IC is a standard type, the firmware (program) inside it is proprietary. If you ever needed to replace it, you could get one from Anatek Corp who make the kits. But the microcontrollers are very reliable so that will probably never happen.

[tech bill]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

AHHHHHHH....an esr meter thread....i've been doing a lot of reading on different esr meters over the past week or so.

in my searches, i found this site:http://kripton2035.free.fr/esr-repository.html

i've built the "poptronics" version since i had pretty much most of the parts for that one on hand. it seems to be just a slightly different variation of every other esr meter using an op amp, but a little more complete since it has an article by the builder to go with it.

[Agent24]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

That looks like a nice little circuit, although the meter scale sounds a bit confusing. I like my Blue ESR meter since it gives you the value straight in ohms and there's no guesswork, then you can compare directly with the datasheet etc.

Still, once you're used to it I'm sure it works just fine - and of course, any ESR meter is infinitely better than no ESR meter!

[tech bill]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

you know, when i find a forum that i feel i will spend time on, i typically do a lot of reading and going through forums to NOT do as i have done above, which is to appear as a freakin newb and post something that has been posted about quite a few times already.....

damn.....

[Agent24]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

Nothing wrong with your post in my opinion, it was certainly useful to me - half of the ESR meters on that page you linked to I have never seen before.

[tech bill]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

next one i'm going to build will be the 555 and meter setup. it was previously posted by another member here, i just don't remember who or what page it was on of this forum.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/hsahko/elek/kv/esr/index.en.shtml

[mattbrad2]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

Just wanted to say - I finally broke down and ordered Bob Parkers Blue ESR Meter and in 2 days it paid for itself. This thing is an absolute dream. I'm kicking myself for not purchasing it sooner. If you do this work for anything more than mere hobby you owe it to yourself to get one of these.

[Agent24]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

It is pretty damn good, isn't it?

[Bob Parker]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

Thanks for your nice words about the meter, guys.

I'm probably the only actual repair technician who's designed an ESR meter for his own use, and I tried to make it as practical and easy to use as I could. Good luck with your repairs.

[Longbow]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

The only way to get an accurate ESR reading of a cap is out of circuit. The reason why is if there are other caps, such as in a SMPS, it will try to read all the caps in that section.

I couldn't agree less. ESR meters were developed precisely for the ability to check electrolytics in circuit; once you get familiar with one, it will work 99% of the time for you. Once in a while there may be 2 large electrolytics in parallel, emphasis on once in a while. In that case, one often sees 2 identical filter caps of the same value which are failing together at the same rate. Desoldering one pin of one cap will then give you the assurance that you are testing only one capacitor.

[Bob Parker]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

I couldn't agree less. ESR meters were developed precisely for the ability to check electrolytics in circuit; once you get familiar with one, it will work 99% of the time for you. Once in a while there may be 2 large electrolytics in parallel, emphasis on once in a while. In that case, one often sees 2 identical filter caps of the same value which are failing together at the same rate. Desoldering one pin of one cap will then give you the assurance that you are testing only one capacitor.

Agreed. Just remember to let the desoldered capacitor cool back down to room temperature before measuring it. ESR tends to drop dramatically when the internal temperature increases due to heat going up a pin.

[helion]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

i have those 3 tester i dont know how to use them yet!! i wanted an esr meter and my boss got this big kit and i willlearn to use it!

http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_dca55.html
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_lcr40.html
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_esr70.html

the esr70 have auto testing no need to press test. it test esr very fast and have audio feedback. it test capacitance out of circuit and discharge capacitor of to 50V and if its more then this tell you to discharge it!

I have the 3 tester too, and I love them. Precise and easy to use... Life will not be the same without...

It would be so very good if there are some DIY versions for these meters.

AHHHHHHH....an esr meter thread....i've been doing a lot of reading on different esr meters over the past week or so.

in my searches, i found this site:http://kripton2035.free.fr/esr-repository.html

i've built the "poptronics" version since i had pretty much most of the parts for that one on hand. it seems to be just a slightly different variation of every other esr meter using an op amp, but a little more complete since it has an article by the builder to go with it.

http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/esrmeter.html is cheap and easy to build. Can't speak for its accuracy, but the one I built has found some bad caps that didn't look bad.

This gives comparison of 6 esr meters. http://www.anatekcorp.com/esr_compare.htm

Was this version(Silicon Chip ESR & low resistance Meter, published February 2005) tried? I believe that guys with DMMs could make use of it.

[rddube]

Re: ESR meter - recommendations?

For those of you thinking you can check capacitors in circuit with these meters, well it's yes and no.

Check out this youtube video that explains it quite well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD-8Dppp03w