My new "Blue" ESR tester

[LDSisHere]

I have just finished building my “Blue” ESR tester. I had read some of the threads here about it before purchasing and I was not sure what to expect. Apparently someone paid attention to the complaints that I had read about and corrected them. Mine seems to have good capacitors not real sure about the “Lelon” brand but they had good bungs, Nichicon and Panasonic were the other brands. My casing screws, not snaps together and has a battery compartment door so you do not have to take it apart to replace the battery. It passed the calibration test without me having to adjust the calibration trim-pot. I was really impressed by PCB, the components were well spaced and the silkscreen was crisp and legible. You may notice in my pictures that I managed to mount the PCB to the wrong side of the housing. I have since corrected it but my sticker is now on the back.

I have been saving some capacitors to test for when I got a meter, and I have to say that some of the results surprised and confused me. Most of the tests came out as expected. The swelled Rubycon that read .00 seems strange. The big 3300uF 16V Teapo looks fine, and tests .00 Ohms. I had read these are junk so I just expected it to be bad. The Fuhjyyu are just bad, bad, bad.

Anyhow, I thought I would share my experience and see what kind of advice or pointers I could get about using an ESR tester. I also am trying out a loaner camera that I may purchase, so respectful feedback on picture quality would be appreciated. I know my lighting needs work but there was no sunlight at the time.

Thanks.

[budm]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

This meter can do .xx Ohm (two decimal points) resolution?

[retiredcaps]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

I also am trying out a loaner camera that I may purchase, so respectful feedback on picture quality would be appreciated.

Too grainy for my taste. For our purposes, you want a camera with good macro mode.

I have an old Canon A80 (taken probably over 30,000 shots) and you can see a sample of my shots.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/attach...8&d=1334360320

What is make and model that you are evaluating?

[mariushm]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

Feedback on the camera... Panasonic DMC-F27.... see a review here if you want to know the (more or less) expert's oppinion : http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz7

Yeah, a bit too grainy. Might be because you didn't use the macro mode (if it has any)

In regard to blue esr... it's a good meter but I sort of dislike that they still rely on old zilog microcontrollers and architecture as a simple reverse engineering block.

Also, for a commercial product the pcb is sort of... meh. Looks like a FR2, the resistors and other parts are not aligned properly on the pcb, sort of sends me the "lack of attention" or carelessness feeling. Considering it's also targeted to do it yourself, they also could have done the pads a tad larger, there's plenty of room.

On the other hand, I saw the documentation and I remember it was very nice, with plenty of detail.

[LDSisHere]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

This meter can do .xx Ohm (two decimal points) resolution?

I cannot attest to the accuracy of the readings, I am only going by what the display shows.

What is make and model that you are evaluating?

The camera is a Panasonic Lumix DCM-FZ7. It may be that I am not operating it correctly, I am using macro mode, manual focus, and stabilization mode 1. I have some trouble being able to tell how sharp the focus is on the LED screen due to its' resolution. I have little experience with cameras or photography, I am just trying to be able to post satisfactory images to the forum.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

The camera is a Panasonic Lumix DCM-FZ7. It may be that I am not operating it correctly, I am using macro mode, manual focus, and stabilization mode 1. I have some trouble being able to tell how sharp the focus is on the LED screen due to its' resolution. I have little experience with cameras or photography, I am just trying to be able to post satisfactory images to the forum.

To reduce the grainy appearance you will need to switch to a lower ISO sensitivity value, take it off auto and set it to 400 or lower. The downside is that you'll need more light to take good photos. Auto focus will likely work fine, you don't need manual.

[LDSisHere]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

To reduce the grainy appearance you will need to switch to a lower ISO sensitivity value, take it off auto and set it to 400 or lower..

The ISO was set to 400, but I will have to try the auto-focus. The owner was demonstrating his much higher-end model to me using manual focus, so I was just playing, monkey see monkey do.

I am currently reading the link provided by mariushm, which is proving quite informative. I would like to know how he knew the camera model before I posted it.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

400 is also fairly high, but it depends on the sensor if you get noise or not. Try 200 and 100 too.

[LDSisHere]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

I just read this in the review:

"Unfortunately, no matter how good the camera we can't let the noise issue pass; like the LX1 reviewed late last year the FZ7 exhibits an unacceptable level of noise at all ISO settings, most especially at ISO 200+. For this reason - and this reason alone - the FZ7 misses out on a Highly Recommended; let's hope Panasonic has a better sensor up its sleeve for the next generation of this otherwise superb camera. As for you - have a look at the samples gallery and decide for yourself if the noise in real-world shots is acceptable; I'd happily buy the FZ7 myself, but I wouldn't use it at over ISO 100."

I will try some shots with the ISO set to 100 using auto-focus and see if my results are better. Thanks for good the input guys.

[mariushm]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

LDSisHere: the camera adds EXIF information to the images... as long as you don't strip it, it remains there.
I just downloaded one of the images and Irfanview (the image viewer I use) has an "Image information" menu option which shows all:

Filename - P1050470.JPG
Make - Panasonic
Model - DMC-FZ7
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 72
YResolution - 72
ResolutionUnit - Inch
Software - Ver.1.0
DateTime - 2012:09:13 10:25:23
YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited
ExifOffset - 418
ExposureTime - 1/50 seconds
FNumber - 4.00
ExposureProgram - Normal program
ISOSpeedRatings - 400
ExifVersion - 0220
DateTimeOriginal - 2012:09:13 10:25:23
DateTimeDigitized - 2012:09:13 10:25:23
ComponentsConfiguration - YCbCr
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 4 (bits/pixel)
ExposureBiasValue - -0.33
MaxApertureValue - F 2.83
MeteringMode - Multi-segment
LightSource - Auto
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 6.00 mm
FlashPixVersion - 0100
ColorSpace - sRGB
ExifImageWidth - 2816
ExifImageHeight - 2112
InteroperabilityOffset - 6908
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
FileSource - DSC - Digital still camera
SceneType - A directly photographed image
CustomRendered - Custom process
ExposureMode - Auto
White Balance - Auto
DigitalZoomRatio - 0.00 x
FocalLengthIn35mmFilm - 36 mm
SceneCaptureType - Standard
GainControl - High gain up
Contrast - Normal
Saturation - Low
Sharpness - Hard

Maker Note (Vendor): - 
Image Quality - High
Focus Mode - Manual
Color Mode - Normal

Thumbnail: - 
Compression - 6 (JPG)
Orientation - Top left
XResolution - 72
YResolution - 72
ResolutionUnit - Inch
JpegIFOffset - 7060
JpegIFByteCount - 8431
YCbCrPositioning - Co-Sited

later edit: Without knowing the price you're asked to pay for this one, I'm reluctant to say skip this one.

I'd recommend looking out for some Canon cameras, especially some of the ones supported by CHDK... which is a custom firmware that can be loaded from the SD card and doesn't mess with the internal camera software, adding lots of features and options to make cameras better.

CHDK is here: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

Also, for a commercial product the pcb is sort of... meh.

Ok ,you spent 88$ at anatekcorp for it, for 99$ looks to come assembled.

Either way as the others commented all ready, it is very basic design with poor resolution.
You should do a better research prion getting it.
Do not get me wrong, but this looks as waste of cash to me.


Edit: My vote on cameras goes to Olympus.

[tom66]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

Ok ,you spent 88$ at anatekcorp for it, for 99$ looks to come assembled.

Either way as the others commented all ready, it is very basic design with poor resolution.
You should do a better research prion getting it.
Do not get me wrong, but this looks as waste of cash to me.


Edit: My vote on cameras goes to Olympus.

What would YOUR choice be? I went for the Atlas ESR60 which also does capacitance.

[mariushm]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

Tom, I talked the RusMike here on the forum and got his ESRMicro 4.0 for a very good price.
It was 50 (dollars or euro, I don't remember now) without the case, but with a baggie full of spare parts.

The Blue ESR banks on Bob Parker's reputation to sell - the most expensive stuff on that meter is probably 3-5$ for the case, overall all the parts aren't more than 10$.

To sell it for 88$ in kit form is just... I mean they probably just bought everything in volume to get low prices, otherwise I can't explain why they'd still use such old mcu.

Why use a 1$ Z8 18 pin mcu when they could just as well used a 1.5$ 28 pin PIC or AVR and drive the display straight from the mcu (saving on an ic and socket and a few transistors) and make the design simpler, possibly by using 2-3AA batteries with a regulator down to 1.8-3.3v for the mcu, instead of 9v dropped to 5v.

It's old and complex for today's standards and too expensive for what it brings.

[tom66]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

I agree. I await a cheap ESR meter on a China-made $20 DMM, it would probably cost less than a dollar to add and make them much more available to the average user.

[LDSisHere]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

LDSisHere: the camera adds EXIF information to the images... as long as you don't strip it, it remains there.

I figured it had to be something like that. Do you know if GIMP will allow you to display/edit that information?

I did not intend for this thread to become about "cameras". I am not camera shopping. I may have the chance to trade some work for the FZ7 or I do not get a camera is pretty much what it comes down to in the end. What I am trying to determine is if the quality of pictures from this camera are satisfactory for troubleshooting on a forum, this one in particular. To that end I am posting some pictures using 100 ISO and auto-focus of a Cisco power supply. (It was handy.)

Ok ,you spent 88$ at anatekcorp for it, for 99$ looks to come assembled.

I did not spend $88 on it as I did not buy it directly from Anatek. As for assembling it, that is one of the reason I chose this one, I enjoyed putting it together. If the kit and the fully assembled one were the same price, I still would have chose the kit. I already have a capacitor tester so I did not need that feature. I am also sure it is much more accurate than the homebrew devices I had been considering building.

Also, for a commercial product the pcb is sort of... meh. Looks like a FR2, the resistors and other parts are not aligned properly on the pcb, sort of sends me the "lack of attention" or carelessness feeling. Considering it's also targeted to do it yourself, they also could have done the pads a tad larger, there's plenty of room.

For a while now I have been drawing and etching my own PCB boards so compared to what that involves, having a pre-made, silk-screened, and solder masked board was a luxury. I usually use much smaller pads, pack my boards denser, and I probably break every engineering rule known to man in the process. From my home hobbyist perspective it was better quality than I was expecting,

[retiredcaps]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

To that end I am posting some pictures using 100 ISO and auto-focus of a Cisco power supply. (It was handy.)

The ISO 100 makes a huge difference. If selldoor were not on vacation, I think he would approve.

My own A80 is set to 50 ISO so I'm used to seeing something slightly sharper.

One retiredcaps bonus point for a picture of the Cisco power supply out of a Catalyst 2950. Nice to see Rubycon caps in the enterprise class workgroup switch.

[LDSisHere]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

The ISO 100 makes a huge difference. If selldoor were not on vacation, I think he would approve.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is what I was wanting to hear.

My own A80 is set to 50 ISO so I'm used to seeing something slightly sharper.

This one has an 80 ISO setting but the review I read had some negative things to say about it so I just tried the 100 ISO setting. I will do more experimentation as I get time, at least I know it is worth keeping for now.

One retiredcaps bonus point for a picture of the Cisco power supply out of a Catalyst 2950. Nice to see Rubycon caps in the enterprise class workgroup switch.

The mainboard has good caps also, this device is from the early to mid 2000's. I actually intend on starting a thread on it very soon, I just was not going to bother until I could get decent pictures to post.

[retiredcaps]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

Anyhow, I thought I would share my experience and see what kind of advice or pointers I could get about using an ESR tester.

I forgot until just now that this was posted recently over at eevblog

http://www.eevblog.com/forum/general...ter-by-anatek/

[retiredcaps]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

As for assembling it, that is one of the reason I chose this one, I enjoyed putting it together.

Yes, for some people that is all the fun. Just like building model airplanes or ships inside a glass bottle.

[MDOC]

Re: My new "Blue" ESR tester

This meter can do .xx Ohm (two decimal points) resolution?

I have the same meter. Yes, lowest readout resolution is .01 ohm.