blue esr meter

[knoxrebel]

I am looking at the blue esr meter and had a few questions for the experts. Is the only way to calibrate it with the internal trim pots.

Is there any way to add lead holders so you can use different leads easily?

[Bob Parker]

Re: blue esr meter

One of the trimpots sets the low battery warning voltage. The other trimpot sets the sensitivity so that it reads correctly on a pair of test resistors which are supplied in the kit. It's not easy to change leads. They're hard wired to the board, mostly to avoid the problem of varying contact resistance between banana plugs and jacks which have been a nuisance with earlier versions of the meter, i.e. the Dick Smith Electronics ones.

[fleetwise]

Re: blue esr meter

I am looking at the blue esr meter and had a few questions for the experts. Is the only way to calibrate it with the internal trim pots.

Is there any way to add lead holders so you can use different leads easily?

Just assembled my new blue meter yesterday. The trim pots only take a couple of minutes to calibrate, especially if you have a variable voltage power supply for the low battery pot.
The kit comes with male bananna jacks, so you could use a couple female jacks instead and use most any leads I guess but, like Bob says the connections might become a problem.

[Agent24]

Re: blue esr meter

When I built mine I bought my own test leads, I used standard multimeter leads so I have normal probes but can screw-on some alligator clips as well. I have not noticed any issues with using these leads.

[Bob Parker]

Re: blue esr meter

After a few years, users including me have noticed that moving the test leads on the earlier ESR meters tends to change the readings a bit on the bottom (.00 - .99) range, due to erratic contact between the banana plugs and their sockets (jacks). Application of contact cleaner and jiggling them usually fixes it for quite a while. Not a big deal, just annoying.