Group project? *Badcaps.net ESR/capacitance meter*

[ben7]

I have an idea!

We should make a badcaps.net ESR and capacitance meter!

Not the old analog types, but a fancy digital one.

1.
My idea is that you can upload these series tables to it, which are for different series from different manufacturers.

Example:

The meter has an ESR chart for the Panasonic FR series loaded into it's memory.

You tell it that the DUT (device under test, aka the capacitor) is a panasonic FR, marked as having 100uF.

The meter then reads the ESR and capacitance, and tells you if the capacitor is good, and what the actual capacitance and ESR values are.

2.
Since the above manufacturer and series settings would get annoying for testing a lot of capacitors one after another, there could be some 'generic' tables which could be for 'general-purpose' capacitors, or for 'low-esr' capacitors. Usually commercial ESR meters will have a table printed on them just for this.

3.
The meter would have the option to simply make it read the ESR and capacitance directly, not requiring the manufacturer, series, and capacitance info! Therefore it could be used like any other digital ESR/capacitance meter, which in certain cases might be necessary, especially if you need to check a large amount of capacitors!

4.
The meter could always provide more info about the selected capacitor series, like, temp rating, size(s), lifetime, etc...

So yeah, feel free to add anything you have to say. This is just an idea, but I think it would be neat

[mariushm]

Re: Group project? *Badcaps.net ESR/capacitance meter*

Hmmm.. no, and I'll tell you why.

Everything you say would add to the price tag, making such meter get very close to the price of real LCR meters with ESR measurement. Decent ones are already down to 160-180$.

I see the ESR meters as cheap tools to get a "good enough" reading of capacitors - none of the cheap meters actually measure impedance at 100khz or esr at 100khz exactly as it's measured and listed in datasheets. It's just "close enough" approximations.

To do what you want, you'd need to add a larger screen, some memory (large 5-10$ eeprom/feram or sd card controller and socket to hold the stuff), usb isolation (or serial port isolation) because you can't be sure idiots won't leave tool connection from the last time they "uploaded" datasheets into it... then you have to add buttons to make it easy to select datasheets on screen (therefore you also need larger screen)

And all this won't fix the problem of people measuring capacitors in parallel getting bad readings and so on ... it's better to teach people to actually use a meter instead of trying to stupidify a meter.

Once a user gains a bit of experience measuring capacitors, he/she would know what esr should expect from a capacitor, I don't think there's a point to complicate a simple tool.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Group project? *Badcaps.net ESR/capacitance meter*

What would be more useful and possible in that case is a small software application you run on your PC to be able to select all known capacitor types & models and see their ratings as written in their data sheets.
But seeing as some great threads about this very subject have fallen into oblivion I'm not sure it would ever work out. (Such a piece of software requires constant updates to not become outdated).

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1191
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1822

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: Group project? *Badcaps.net ESR/capacitance meter*

Today discovered on the web some one in Argentina selling a device which does pass – fail tests so to discover if your transformer have damaged secondary or not.
I got my LCR and three transformers 220 to a) 2x6 , b) 1x20 , and a more complex one 2x8 + 1x15 ( dual secondary), and in few minutes I discovered how to make my mind about this subject with out buying the magic solution from Argentina.
When you discover how much more you can do with an LCR, you never look back.
Regarding capacitor tables, I believe that the most popular ones are less than 20, print them and make your own references pack (book), use any LCR and in minutes you have solved the problem.
Especially in motherboards most of them having the same capacitor in a QTY of 10 or more, with a single look in your papers you have the reference info so to test them all.
Maybe some in the future will build a true robot – capacitors tester, with all the tables stored in it and optical recognition so to read automatically the printed specifications, but even in this case I would prefer this device to have a voice system, so to always ask me if I consider an capacitor with 30% damage as a keeper or not. LOL

[glicos]

Re: Group project? *Badcaps.net ESR/capacitance meter*

I agree..i can even use my LCR analyzer in troubleshooting motors....