esr meter?

[Phaihn]

since ive picked up a few tools lately like a multi meter and a caliper would a esr meter be worth the expense and is there anything good under $50?

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: esr meter?

Do you have any training about using an ESR meter ?
Your price range leads to the toys category, and I have no sugestions.
But I have a general sugestion as possitive thinking man, give to your skills some time to grow before you get in to the advanced measurments.

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

Do you have any training about using an ESR meter ?
Your price range leads to the toys category, and I have no sugestions.
But I have a general sugestion as possitive thinking man, give to your skills some time to grow before you get in to the advanced measurments.

alright just wanted to know if it would be worth it.

[mariushm]

Re: esr meter?

Kiriakos is as usual annoying and full of crap. In his world, only 500$+ tools are good.

Ignore him.

The cheap ESR meters are not really measuring ESR but rather they compute something that approximates the ESR value.

If you do need a tool that actually measures ESR at various frequencies like 10kHz or 100kHz, the lowest you'd have to pay would be about 200-250$.

But for determining if a capacitor is bad or not with a pretty good "trust" level, for repairing hardware, nothing very serious or professional, you can buy some of these "toys" like BlueESR or other home made esr meters.

You can buy the BlueESR meter from their site for about 79$. You can probably get it from eBay at around the same prices.

I personally have ESRMicro and it works just fine: http://www.radiodevices.ru/esr/esr4.htm

You can talk to RusMike here on this forum and he may be able to sell you one at a good price. It should be cheaper than BlueEsr, closer to 50$.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: esr meter?

Kiriakos is as usual annoying and full of crap. In his world, only 500$+ tools are good.

Ignore him.

If you can not prove me wrong, then close the hole in your head that called as mouth, consider this move as one gift at the international society.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: esr meter?

alright just wanted to know if it would be worth it.

What ever I suggested was so to help you about making a wiser choice in the future.
Knowledge is something that you can easily obtain in time, the hard part is the worthwhile experiences.

Regards.

[mariushm]

Re: esr meter?

You are not wrong but you're also not contributing anything useful to the thread. As usual. Just like with your Youtube comments on other people's videos.

You know very well what he's talking about and you can deduct from what he's asking that he's not looking for top quality, high end equipment, he's not looking for a desktop LCR meter or something similar. It's obvious he's not looking for that.

But not only you belittle him, you don't even suggest something. You would contribute something by explaining why such cheap tools are not good instead of writing shit.

Seriously, it's like being in a forum about repairing VW beetle cars and you popping up saying people need to buy Ferrari or Porsche branded tools to fix the engine.

Why are you even here if you're not helping or doing anything useful? Masturbating your ego?

[ratdude747]

Re: esr meter?



Children, could both of you tone down the insults? That goes for both of you.

[kc8adu]

Re: esr meter?

dont know about the esrmicro but i have used the dick smith with good results.
if you can assemble it yourself get the kit.its certainly not pro grade but its fine for service work.its also been around long enough to be a mature design.
its probably your best choice in the budget you posted.if you search a bit you may find the old style kit for that.
btw the projects creater bob parker is a member here.

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

Kiriakos is as usual annoying and full of crap. In his world, only 500$+ tools are good.

Ignore him.

The cheap ESR meters are not really measuring ESR but rather they compute something that approximates the ESR value.

If you do need a tool that actually measures ESR at various frequencies like 10kHz or 100kHz, the lowest you'd have to pay would be about 200-250$.

But for determining if a capacitor is bad or not with a pretty good "trust" level, for repairing hardware, nothing very serious or professional, you can buy some of these "toys" like BlueESR or other home made esr meters.

You can buy the BlueESR meter from their site for about 79$. You can probably get it from eBay at around the same prices.

I personally have ESRMicro and it works just fine: http://www.radiodevices.ru/esr/esr4.htm

You can talk to RusMike here on this forum and he may be able to sell you one at a good price. It should be cheaper than BlueEsr, closer to 50$.

thanks.

What ever I suggested was so to help you about making a wiser choice in the future.
Knowledge is something that you can easily obtain in time, the hard part is the worthwhile experiences.

Regards.

what training do i really need just to find out if a capacitor is good or not i am not spending more then $100 on a tool to do that. i am willing to spend more then $50 on it tho.

Children, could both of you tone down the insults? That goes for both of you.

thanks.

dont know about the esrmicro but i have used the dick smith with good results.
if you can assemble it yourself get the kit.its certainly not pro grade but its fine for service work.its also been around long enough to be a mature design.
its probably your best choice in the budget you posted.if you search a bit you may find the old style kit for that.
btw the projects creater bob parker is a member here.

thanks for your input can you get a link to it or a web page cant find it on ebay?

[mariushm]

Re: esr meter?

He means the Blue ESR... Bob Parker made that old kit, the same design is sold as Blue ESR with some updates parts.

You can get the kit or pre-made from the website : http://www.anatekcorp.com/blueesr.htm

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

He means the Blue ESR... Bob Parker made that old kit, the same design is sold as Blue ESR with some updates parts.

You can get the kit or pre-made from the website : http://www.anatekcorp.com/blueesr.htm

lawl i really thott that was the name of it. :P i think i would prefer the kit if its fairly cheaper.

[jetadm123]

Re: esr meter?

The blue ESR meter kit is available on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AnaTek-Blue-...item2575307d31

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

The blue ESR meter kit is available on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AnaTek-Blue-...item2575307d31

ok thanks.

[jetadm123]

Re: esr meter?

Forgot to mention there'a a fully asembled/tested version for $20 more. Also on ebay.

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

Forgot to mention there'a a fully asembled/tested version for $20 more. Also on ebay.

k ill have to think on it wont be able to even buy something till next year

[DavidOH]

Re: esr meter?

I'm looking at getting the pre-assembled from the AnaTek site. Are they quick with shipping? I've looked on ebay and the prices are about the same.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: esr meter?

thanks.

what training do i really need just to find out if a capacitor is good or not i am not spending more then $100 on a tool to do that. i am willing to spend more then $50 on it tho.

The training that you need is smartness, download first some datasheets about capacitors.
Investigate what the manufacturers offer as data.

In some cases they offer as comparison point only the dissipation factor that only one LCR is capable to calculate.

The Blue ESR is an outdated solution in 2012 - 2013, especially for the modern Low ESR generation of capacitors, and so who cares if it is cheap.

How many times are you willing to pay the price for getting finally a proper meter for ESR measurements ?

And now my Golden advice (exercise).
Get in your hand 10 electrolytic capacitors from dead devices that they was made between 2000-2010 and get the datasheets for them.

Read them, compare them, and then select the proper instrument for those components.

[Phaihn]

Re: esr meter?

The training that you need is smartness, download first some datasheets about capacitors.
Investigate what the manufacturers offer as data.

In some cases they offer as comparison point only the dissipation factor that only one LCR is capable to calculate.

The Blue ESR is an outdated solution in 2012 - 2013, especially for the modern Low ESR generation of capacitors, and so who cares if it is cheap.

How many times are you willing to pay the price for getting finally a proper meter for ESR measurements ?

And now my Golden advice (exercise).
Get in your hand 10 electrolytic capacitors from dead devices that they was made between 2000-2010 and get the datasheets for them.

Read them, compare them, and then select the proper instrument for those components.

ok ill keep that in mind i wont have the money for anything really good most likley it would be cheaper to shot gun most capacitor issues.

[tom66]

Re: esr meter?

Kiriakos, like usual, is being awkward.

Capacitors essentially always fail with increased ESR.

Dissipation factor only enters the equation if capacitance falls.

But, here's the fun part: Many ESR meters, and many multimeters, also measure capacitance.

So, there is no need to measure dissipation factor (=ESR/Xc where Xc can be calculated knowing ESR meter frequency, typically 100kHz, and the capacitance.)