$20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project

[beanflying]

For 'which' design?

[jakeisprobably]

This is a link to a compressed GIMP .xcf file on my google drive that contains the full retrace of the T3 tester.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U6cCFLlBwzlxoqhO3nLSMuxnIa4emzOa/view?usp=sharing
  Be aware this is 53.3mb in a zip file, and is 97.3mb uncompressed. This is over 180 layers on gimp. I tried gimp for a change as I can't use the app I used in the past to make the retrace videos for the AY-AT and Little t kits. I wanted to try a couple simple things in gimp with as you can see with attached images.

[james3]

Hello anyone,
I'd like to buy one of these Component Tester Identifier KIT DIY, but there are too many version and I'm bit confused

Could you please suggest me which one is the best ? Maybe with the best firmware ?

Thanks
 

[bitseeker]

Can someone recommend a specific pre-made tester that I can just purchase now that has the latest firmware, or close. I really don't have the time to build from a kit and I don't want to have to download firmware etc. Just want to buy one and start using it. Color is nicer, but prefer more flexibility in features/accuracy over that. Mostly using for testing transistors, including JFETs and related (maybe an occasional germanium or darlington). Also ESR for caps, though I have other esr testers could be used so less important. Transistir the focus. thanks for any advice and/or link to something I can get now. I see TC1 and T6 and T7 on ebay, not clear which is later/better or if there are better choices.

Hello anyone,
I'd like to buy one of these Component Tester Identifier KIT DIY, but there are too many version and I'm bit confused

Could you please suggest me which one is the best ? Maybe with the best firmware ?

Thanks
 

See: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/$20-lcr-esr-transistor-checker-project/msg2119831/#msg2119831

[pierreraymondrondelle]

Hi,
I just repaired two NB2L li-ion batteries from my Canon cam that weren't charging at all. OTOH, I'm tired to buy €€ 9V batteries, so I decided to give them a second chance with a 9V powered device. The NB2L are rated 7.4V and I have a spare charger.

The LCR tester was a good candidate. I did some measurements on mine, it detects a weak battery at 7.4V and works fine above this value. However 7.4V looks a bit high regarding the ver 1.12k user's manual that says 0.8V above 5.4. Any clue ?

So far so good ! The batteries are within the acceptable range. If the tester keeps working satisfactorily, I'll finally get rid of these medieval 9V batteries !
regards

[madires]

A 9V battery run down to 7V isn't able to provide sufficient current for the tester any more. You can change the voltage thresholds in the Makefile (k-firmware) or in config.h (m-firmware) in case of using a LiIon/LiPo.

[3roomlab]

I was looking at the github schematic. the same exact firmware for 28pin is used w/o any changes in the 40pin? (or maybe the better Qn, how many versions are there in the wild? I could see special version for specific LCDs, but for 40pin?)

[beanflying]

Hi,
I just repaired two NB2L li-ion batteries from my Canon cam that weren't charging at all. OTOH, I'm tired to buy €€ 9V batteries, so I decided to give them a second chance with a 9V powered device. The NB2L are rated 7.4V and I have a spare charger.

The LCR tester was a good candidate. I did some measurements on mine, it detects a weak battery at 7.4V and works fine above this value. However 7.4V looks a bit high regarding the ver 1.12k user's manual that says 0.8V above 5.4. Any clue ?

So far so good ! The batteries are within the acceptable range. If the tester keeps working satisfactorily, I'll finally get rid of these medieval 9V batteries !
regards

Mine has been fine on 2S LiPo's (8.4V fully charged) for nearly a year and the low voltage of 7.4 isn't an issue just a reminder with plenty of safety to charge them as the power consumed/test is tiny so losing the last of the useful battery charge isn't an issue.

[beanflying]

Not particularly accurate but still in the ballpark playing with my newly arrived doorstop.

[bitseeker]

What's with the vertical bar characters in the middle of the readings?

[beanflying]

What's with the vertical bar characters in the middle of the readings?

Special Chinesium non blanked LCD I would reckon. 1+1 = ?

[bitseeker]

Ah, leftover pixels, eh? 1+1 = ||

[nation]

Sorry for the newb question.

I have had 3 of these, 2 bought a year ago and I just had another delivered today, and none of them work with an external 9v power supply. If I hook up a battery clip and connect external power via the battery clip it works. I thought this might have been an assembly or design fault that may be fixed in later runs but it's there with the new unit also.

What's possibly going on here that an external power supply plugged directly in won't work? And how do I fix it.

This is the tester I have

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM328A-Component-Tester-Multifunctional-Meter-Graphic-Transistor-Tester-W1/352521940684?hash=item5213f1eecc:g:zy8AAOSwGD1b9TKZ:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

[PedroDaGr8]

Sorry for the newb question.

I have had 3 of these, 2 bought a year ago and I just had another delivered today, and none of them work with an external 9v power supply. If I hook up a battery clip and connect external power via the battery clip it works. I thought this might have been an assembly or design fault that may be fixed in later runs but it's there with the new unit also.

What's possibly going on here that an external power supply plugged directly in won't work? And how do I fix it.

This is the tester I have

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM328A-Component-Tester-Multifunctional-Meter-Graphic-Transistor-Tester-W1/352521940684?hash=item5213f1eecc:g:zy8AAOSwGD1b9TKZ:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

My first thoughts would be a problem with the polarity or second that something is wrong with the jack. My advice would be to test the polarity of the jack against the pins of the 9V battery connector (using the continuity function on your multimeter). These should essentially be a dead short between the respective jack and 9V connector pins.

[jakeisprobably]

@Nation
  I've run the kit version of that one on a 9v switching, 9v linear, and battery without any issues.

[jakeisprobably]

I was looking at the github schematic. the same exact firmware for 28pin is used w/o any changes in the 40pin? (or maybe the better Qn, how many versions are there in the wild? I could see special version for specific LCDs, but for 40pin?)

  Go tp software, hit the readme file. Edit the make file then check the config.h for further details. The KH version doesn't list the m644/m1284 options in the commented out stuff but they are all listed in the config.h file. The makefile options are just there to select th3 right AVRdude setup. You can select any processor AVRdude supports here. The important thing is what the header is configured for. Karl's code is a bit harder to follow if you want to play with a lot of options. Markus's version is a bit easier for me to play with.
 Either way, you just manually add the m644/m644p/m1284/m1284p into the makefile option to get it working.

[nation]

Sorry for the newb question.

I have had 3 of these, 2 bought a year ago and I just had another delivered today, and none of them work with an external 9v power supply. If I hook up a battery clip and connect external power via the battery clip it works. I thought this might have been an assembly or design fault that may be fixed in later runs but it's there with the new unit also.

What's possibly going on here that an external power supply plugged directly in won't work? And how do I fix it.

This is the tester I have

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GM328A-Component-Tester-Multifunctional-Meter-Graphic-Transistor-Tester-W1/352521940684?hash=item5213f1eecc:g:zy8AAOSwGD1b9TKZ:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

My first thoughts would be a problem with the polarity or second that something is wrong with the jack. My advice would be to test the polarity of the jack against the pins of the 9V battery connector (using the continuity function on your multimeter). These should essentially be a dead short between the respective jack and 9V connector pins.

Well that was easy, thanks Pedro. The jack on my unit is wired up as center positive. I used a reverse polarity adapter between my power supply and the jack and it fired up. Didn't know many gadgets use center positive wiring.

[timelessbeing]

Almost all barrel jacks are center positive.

[Bratster]

Almost all barrel jacks are center positive.

Unless you're in the audio world, unfortunately a lot of their stuff is center negative which is freaking annoying.

Sent from my Fi Moto x4 using Tapatalk

[nation]

Almost all barrel jacks are center positive.

Unless you're in the audio world, unfortunately a lot of their stuff is center negative which is freaking annoying.

Sent from my Fi Moto x4 using Tapatalk

Interesting, I didn't know. Never really paid attention to wall warts. I'm used to the Boss standard in the guitar world which are center negative and assumed that was standard polarity for general electronics.

[CatalinaWOW]

This is all commentary on how difficult it is to agree on and propagate standards.  In the US the best that could achieved was a law requiring wall warts to be marked with polarity, voltage and current characteristics.  The latter are often wildly off but the polarity is almost always correct.

[madires]

Get your programmers ready. The new m-firmware 1.35 comes with several improvements, bug fixes and new features.

[timelessbeing]

I'll add the firmware here in case people don't wanna dl the entire tarball.

v1.35m 2019-02
- Added option to use probe pair specific capacitance offsets instead of
  an average offset for all probes (CAP_MULTIOFFSET).
- Corrected pin definition for ST7920 4-bit parallel mode in config_644.h
  (reported by jakeisprobably@EEVblog).
- Added support for 3-wire SPI to SSD1306 driver.
- Extended SPI driver to support sending 9 bit frames (bitbang only).
- Fixed issue with increasing deviation of resistors between 7k5 and 19k5 Ohms
  in CheckResistor() (reported by Vitaliy).
- Added alternative delay loop in IR_Send_Pulse() which is enabled by
  SW_IR_TX_ALTDELAY (thanks to Vitaliy).
- The configuration switch for additional IR protocols SW_IR_EXTRA was
  replaced by SW_IR_RX_EXTRA for the receiver/decoder and SW_IR_TX_EXTRA
  for the sender.
- Fixed issue with missing newline in Display_NextLine() for remote commands.
- Changed output for SIRC in IR_Decode() to reflect native protocol
  (suggested by Vitaliy).
- Fixed bug in IR_Send_Code() for SIRC-20 (reported by Vitaliy).
- Updated var_russian.h (thanks to indman@EEVblog).
- Added automatic power-off for auto-hold mode (POWER_OFF_TIMEOUT).
- Separated pin configuration for test push button and power control
  (CONTROL_PORT -> POWER_PORT and BUTTON_PORT).
- Several minor improvements.

[madires]

Hopefully the github mirror will catch up soon (https://github.com/svn2github/transistortester). I don't like the SVN either.

[broadway]

I flashed 1.35m but the top, bottom, left, right letters on 1602 screen are missing
Any 1602 user facing this issue?