EEVblog #1020 - Is A $7 LCR / Component Tester Any Good?

[dardosordi]

Thanks Dave for doing this, it was great!

[D3f1ant]

When's that pretty new eevblog meter going on sale?

[djos]

What an awesome little tool, just bought one with plastic shell for $15! 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LCR-T4-M328-ESR-Meter-Transistor-Tester-Diode-Triode-Capacitance-SCR-Inductance/112259065141?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=412673841412&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

[T3sl4co1l]

How the heck did this get screwed up?



Didn't catch it?  Look at the diode!

Which further proves my favorite rant about drawing MOSFET symbols.  The diode's already there, in the middle!  You're just making it worse by drawing in the other redundant one!

Tim

[mauroh]

What an awesome little tool, just bought one with plastic shell for $15! 

My 2 cents:

There are so many hardware variants based on the exact same core schematic and before everyone rush to buy the variant that Dave reviewed, I think it is better to evaluate which will better fit your needs.

The main difference I considered are:

Thru hole            vs   smt components        If you forget to discharge a capacitor before testing it the THT version can be fixed quickly
Assembled          vs   DIY Kit                      a DIY kit shouldn't be an issue in this forum
With push button vs  with rotary encoder    whith the encoder it is easier to navigate in the menu to select specific measurements options (opto, IR, Servo...)
With case            vs  without case              I like the case one

For instance my personal preference is the one that is called Hiland DIY M12864 Kit at Banggood, because it is THT, it has a nice case and it is faster than the color display variant.
I modifyed it to have:
External input voltage
ICSP connector
UART for measurement logging also with Bluetooth....

Mauro

[Urs42]

I have a variant that is powerd by aa sized lithium cell that can be recharged over a USB port:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/OOTDTY-12864-LCD-Mega328-Transistor-Tester-Capacitance-ESR-Meter-Diode-Triode-MOS-LCR/32825169218.html

You can find some nice cases for this model on thingiverse.

[Barny]

OK. Looks like the prices are mystically are ramping up.
Could it be because Dave talked good about it? 

[HKJ]

I like the large display on the one Dave reviewed, but I do not like loose PCB lying around.

My current favorite is this one:


They are fine for identifying components, but the Peak's are better (and much more expensive).

[Oskar]

Interesting info here:

https://github.com/svn2github/transistortester/blob/master/Doku/tags/english/ttester_eng112k.pdf

[Fungus]

I like the large display on the one Dave reviewed, but I do not like loose PCB lying around.

My current favorite is this one:

Does it have the same graphics as Dave's or just text?

[glarsson]

The TC1 has a Graphic color/colour LCD. Powered by internal LiIon battery and charged via USB. Also decodes many IR remote control protocols.

[HKJ]

Does it have the same graphics as Dave's or just text?

Graphic:

I did a review of it: http://lygte-info.dk/review/ComponentTester%20Multifunction%20Tester%20T1%20UK.html

[Fungus]

Does it have the same graphics as Dave's or just text?

Graphic:

Color! Oooh, shiny!

[JPortici]

There are dozens of different models of this out in the market - and this was shown in the video.  They are going to be differentiated by varying quality, capability and price.

The one Dave received was, it seems, one of the lesser models.  With the price for such a unit, you can't argue much.

.... and I am hard pressed to remember the last time I wanted to check a resistor over 10M.

I was making order in the lab at the workplace! argh! all the components i had to sort... many of them were about 20 years old. there even were 10 Meg resistors. brown black blue???

[bjcuizon]

Does it have the same graphics as Dave's or just text?

Graphic:

I did a review of it: http://lygte-info.dk/review/ComponentTester%20Multifunction%20Tester%20T1%20UK.html

Ooo..looks classy as. Its also a good idea to have colour as it can help you to identify the pinout quickly (like which coloured pin on the screen is connected to which coloured lead) because your not just looking at numbers.

[joeqsmith]

I assume you dropped it to 7V because the mux.  That's a tough problem to solve.  Personally, I would like to see the 15V for testing high voltage diodes. 

[floobydust]

Out of MCU codespace on these, the ATmega328 is 32KB and pretty much maxed out.
Some builds you have to use different fonts or watch the compiler version or else the binary is too big.

Look forward to next gen, something with better than 10-bit A/D and lots of FLASH for graphic LCD.

[nomy]

Hi,

Is it possible to to connect it with the PC to get serial data?

Thanks

[madires]

The k-firmware supports output via a serial interface (software UART).

[mauroh]

Yes, the k-firmware supports the serial output, but this means that you need to enable the UART output in the makefile, compile it and program the Atmega328. None of this testers on the market are sold with the uart enabled AFAIK.

There are 2 option to enable the UART (documented in the makefile)
CFLAGS += -DWITH_UART
and
CFLAGS += -DWITH_UART=2

The second option adds the line number at the beginning of each line.
This is very useful and simplify a lot the program on the PC/Mobile side
I've written a super simple interface with Processing that replicate the tester output on the PC

See also my previous post in this page, where I connected the enabled UART output to a mobile phone with a Bluetooth module.
Have fun
Mauro

[FearTec]

Mine arrived from eBay broken