ESR Meter

[StephenU]

Afternoon folks can anyone recommend a good reliable ESR meter,

thanks,

Steve

[diif]

Re: ESR Meter

This is the one i have.
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_esr60.html
Very easy to use and understand.

[trebo]

Re: ESR Meter

I also have the Peak atlas esr60, for a price you can send it back to them for a complete overhaul and re calibration, or even update to the esr70, I have had mine 3-4 years now, the only problem I have had is a lead failed at meter end, just had to shorten them a bit and resolder them, never owned any other esr meter but thumbs up to this one. (except there prices)

[vinceroger69]

Re: ESR Meter

http://www.rapidonline.com/Test-Meas...FQYOwwodrmIATQ

this does seem a good price

[vinceroger69]

Re: ESR Meter

ignore a double post

[mariushm]

Re: ESR Meter

No, it's not a good price.

78 uk pounds is about $129, it's a lot of money for a somewhat basic esr meter.

For $135 and up, you can buy a proper LCR meter with esr measurement option, with data logging and lots of other good things, Uni-T UT612 :

Review, Teardown : http://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgea...612-lcr-meter/

Video overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZqS38PoWoA (jump to about 32:00)


-

I personally have and use an ESR micro from RusMike here on the forums : https://translate.google.com/transla...-text=&act=url

It works great, and I think when I bought it, it cost me under $50.

Nowadays, you can find cheap esr meters on eBay, some for even less than $20. Now of course, you can't compare the measurements of such cheap tools with the ones performed by proper LCR meters (like the UT612 above that has 4 wire test, frequency selection and so on) but the results are good enough to give you a quick report : it's GOOD or BAD.
You don't need the exact esr value to know the capacitor is bad, you just want to know if it's way outside the specs.

[diif]

Re: ESR Meter

Maybe it was a little more expensive than i would have liked, but it is made in the UK so as above it can be sent back for calibration. The UT612 is about £150 when you include import tax and vat and I didn't want complicated. I bought a DCA55 also, so have a nice case with them both in. lol
http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_dca55.html

[mariushm]

Re: ESR Meter

It's not made in UK, it's probably assembled in UK.

They make the pcb in China, they made the plastic case in China, they reuse the same case for 2 or 3 of their models to make it even cheaper.. they just bring the stuff in UK and maybe put it together here.

Another thing that's horrible is the choice of battery they use.. the thing eats through the batteries... unlike my esr micro which uses two plain cr2032 cells.

re the ut612 (or let's say the $90 der-ee 5000 or the $200 mastech ms5308 (video review here) ... you get free shipping from ebay or dinodirect or dx.com and as a private person, there's not much tax and vat, especially when Chinese sellers put $20-30 as value on the package.

[StephenU]

Re: ESR Meter

Thanks very much for all replies I am now going to see which one will best suit my needs and budget.

Again thanks to all for the replies.

Steve.

[StephenU]

Re: ESR Meter

Well guys i've opted for this >>

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNI-T-UT61...item3a84588e0a

Many thanks for everyones input.

Steve.

[mariushm]

Re: ESR Meter

Cool, it's a good choice.

Just one important note.. LCR meters like UT612 or Mastech or the other I mentioned don't have any significant input protections - can't do a proper lcr meter with lots of protections, they'd affect measurements.

So unlike cheap esr meters or meters like Peak ESR, you HAVE TO make sure there's no voltage (or very little voltage) in the capacitors you test. You can do this easily by measuring the voltage across the leads with a multimeter and if there's more than a few volts, you should discharge it first, for example by placing a 1k resistor across the leads of the capacitor.

[trebo]

Re: ESR Meter

You can do this easily by measuring the voltage across the leads with a multimeter and if there's more than a few volts, you should discharge it first, for example by placing a 1k resistor across the leads of the capacitor.

What a nuisance that must be, what happens to a meter if you forget to do that too a 400v 120uf still highly charged capacitor.?
What protection has that meter got for that type of error.?

[mariushm]

Re: ESR Meter

Most circuit boards (I'd say probably 95% or more, but don't quote me on this) have bleeder resistors which quickly discharge the large capacitors after the power is removed.

Still, the capacitors will quickly (a few seconds) discharge down to a reasonable level (like 20-50v) and then discharge slower to lower voltages .. it's not a linear discharge speed.

A good engineer or service man will NOT trust those bleeder resistors and always check the voltages before working on a board - I've once accidentally touched a large capacitor after about 10-20 seconds from power removal and it still had enough charge to shock me, so that one experience was enough to always make me check stuff before working.

No meter will be able to measure capacitors that are in a working circuit (with power going through them).
Some ESR meters will say they have input protection but you HAVE TO check the manual to see the limits of those protections and even then, it's not a good idea to test those limits.

For example, look at Peak Atlas ESR70's user guide and what it says on page 3:

* Note: The discharge circuitry exists to ensure that a charged capacitor is less likely to damage the unit. For example, if the capacitor under test has a potential of a few tens of volts across it, the charge is removed automatically. It is the user’s responsibility to ensure that any dangerously charged capacitors are safely discharged before connection to the unit.

So it may be handle a bunch of capacitors on the secondary side (let's say up to 12-16v) but don't think you can be careless and test a capacitor charged at 400v... chances are you're blow the input protections and potentially even shock yourself.

Same for my esr micro... if I remember correctly it can handle a few tens of volts but more than that it will be damaged.

A good LCR meter simply is more sensitive to what's at the end of those probes, because in order to give more accurate results and do some measurements properly, the components used are more sensitive and can only tolerate lower voltages.
Some don't even tolerate the common 12v found in computer power supplies, so it's always a good idea to discharge first before measuring.

Low voltage capacitors can be simply discharged safely by touching both leads with a screwdriver, but using a small resistor (like 10-100 ohm) is always a good idea.
High voltage capacitors should always be discharged with a resistor (a bit higher resistance is recommended), because there's enough charge to chip off parts of your screwdriver and throw them in your eyes or make the screwdriver jump out of your hands or actually damage the pcb (the copper pad around the solder joint can become loose or carbonize)

[trebo]

Re: ESR Meter

@mariushm
Thanks for your knowledgeable answer, will take those point on board
good luck

[diif]

Re: ESR Meter

It's not made in UK, it's probably assembled in UK.

They make the pcb in China, they made the plastic case in China, they reuse the same case for 2 or 3 of their models to make it even cheaper.. they just bring the stuff in UK and maybe put it together here.

Another thing that's horrible is the choice of battery they use.. the thing eats through the batteries... unlike my esr micro which uses two plain cr2032 cells.

re the ut612 (or let's say the $90 der-ee 5000 or the $200 mastech ms5308 (video review here) ... you get free shipping from ebay or dinodirect or dx.com and as a private person, there's not much tax and vat, especially when Chinese sellers put $20-30 as value on the package.

They are quite clear on their website about the source of their components (EU) and country of manufacture (UK) and defiantly not made in China.

[Radio Fox]

Re: ESR Meter

Well guys i've opted for this >>

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNI-T-UT61...item3a84588e0a

Many thanks for everyones input.

Steve.

If the correct price is on the customs form & it does get stopped by customs, then you will need to pay VAT on it (£19.18) + £12 Royal Mail handling fee. You will need to collect it from your local sorting office.