Author Topic: $20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project (Read 3452791 times)

madires · « **Reply #2175 on:** July 04, 2016, 01:29:00 pm »

Hmm, let's see what we would have to adapt (m-firmware):
- ADC clock
- add a section for 20MHz in wait.s
- change ESR meaurement to support a variable ADC clock

I think, for the k-firmware it's going to be more work.

stj · « **Reply #2176 on:** July 04, 2016, 08:00:25 pm »

you could overclock AVR's a lot too - maybe 24 or even 32MHz but i bet the first thing to mess up is the ADC/DAC circuits

madires · « **Reply #2177 on:** July 05, 2016, 08:26:12 pm »

I've done some changes and the next version of the m-firmware should support 20MHz (haven't tested that yet). And I got the first ST7735 display today and surprisingly the driver I've already written works fine. There must be something wrong

But I think I'll add a 10x16 font which would fit perfectly (the display has 128x160 pixels),

Pukker · « **Reply #2178 on:** July 06, 2016, 06:51:31 pm »

Quote from: madires on July 03, 2016, 11:16:37 am

Not a lot, it's just a factor of two If you like to get an impression about the issue please watch a full screen clear for an ILI9341 based LCD. Anyway, a 16MHz crystal will also help with several measurements (inductance, capacitance, frequency) and the squarewave gen. And both firmwares support 16MHz for a long time now. Actually I'm surprised that most clones still got 8MHz crystals.

Do you mean that the 8Mhz crystal can be replaced by an 16Mhz without any change of hard- and software?

madires · « **Reply #2179 on:** July 06, 2016, 07:06:14 pm »

Not quite. When you change the crystal to a 16MHz type you have to re-compile the firmware for 16MHz (please see the Makefile).

Pukker · « **Reply #2180 on:** July 06, 2016, 07:37:22 pm »

OK. I'am not familiar enough with AVR Studio and that kind of stuff,
Once $:-\$ I will try to make myself familiar with that stuff and try to work with that stuff.
Thanks for your answer.

vinceroger · « **Reply #2181 on:** July 06, 2016, 08:02:29 pm »

Quote from: Pukker on July 06, 2016, 07:37:22 pm

OK. I'am not familiar enough with AVR Studio and that kind of stuff,
Once $:-\$ I will try to make myself familiar with that stuff and try to work with that stuff.
Thanks for your answer.

Im just trying to understand this avrdude etc stuff myself, as i have two testers i want to upgrade to 16 mhz etc the fitting of parts im fine with i just wish i could find a easy to understand guide on how to programe these testers as we are not probably the only people struggling with the programming side of things.

madires · « **Reply #2182 on:** July 06, 2016, 08:17:16 pm »

tom666 has posted guides with instructions for several programmers.

vinceroger · « **Reply #2183 on:** July 06, 2016, 08:42:10 pm »

I will have a look at them thanks and stj has been giving me some help too regarding issues ive been having etc once my programmer arrives i will have a go at upgrading them.

madires · « **Reply #2184 on:** July 08, 2016, 06:38:18 pm »

More updates from the developer's bench

Meanwhile I've also received a PCD8544 display (aka Nokia 3310/5110 or LPH7366) and it's running fine with a 6x8 font. The PCD8544 has only 84 pixels in the X direction, so we get 14 characters per line (actually we need 16 at least). I've tried some smart line wrapping with a 8x8 font (10 chars per line), but it's not really feasable without increasing the firmware's size considerably. And a 5x8 font is way too small. So I went for the 14 chars/line compromise. By shortening some strings it should be possible to adapt the output to that limit. What else do we got? Yes, PUTs and UJTs. Right now I'm working on the detection of both and an issue with some JFETs. When that's finished I'll release the new version of the m-firmware.

SirKnowsALot · « **Reply #2185 on:** July 08, 2016, 09:32:14 pm »

In the latest installment of my saga where I borked the AVR by carelessly issuing a bad avrdude command (post 2031), I wanted to let the group know that I replaced the 328 chip (no small feat since it is a TQFP

) and was able to program 1.12k code (thanks to morbid80 in post 2039). This solved my original problem of incorrect readings on caps and inductors with the original (knock-off) code.

If I get some more courage, I may try some other versions...

stj · « **Reply #2186 on:** July 08, 2016, 10:13:03 pm »

Quote from: madires on July 08, 2016, 06:38:18 pm

More updates from the developer's bench Meanwhile I've also received a PCD8544 display (aka Nokia 3310/5110 or LPH7366) and it's running fine with a 6x8 font. The PCD8544 has only 84 pixels in the X direction, so we get 14 characters per line (actually we need 16 at least). I've tried some smart line wrapping with a 8x8 font (10 chars per line), but it's not really feasable without increasing the firmware's size considerably. And a 5x8 font is way too small. So I went for the 14 chars/line compromise. By shortening some strings it should be possible to adapt the output to that limit. What else do we got? Yes, PUTs and UJTs. Right now I'm working on the detection of both and an issue with some JFETs. When that's finished I'll release the new version of the m-firmware.

i dont know why your bothering wih tiny displays,
i have been thinking about bigger ones (resolution-wise)
maybe one of those 320x240 TFT ones sold on ebay for arduino's.
i have read that a lot of those support SPI bus although it's not present on the arduino-pins.

Macbeth · « **Reply #2187 on:** July 08, 2016, 11:39:30 pm »

Quote from: stj on July 08, 2016, 10:13:03 pm

i dont know why your bothering wih tiny displays,
i have been thinking about bigger ones (resolution-wise)

Because we could make a combined digital watch / component tester perhaps??

Oops, lets not forget Snake!

hapless · « **Reply #2188 on:** July 09, 2016, 02:42:29 am »

...and Tetris! Breakout, too!

On a more serious note, I've see these testers made into SMD test tweezers, so small displays are not as useless as they may seem. In addition, in some parts of the world certain components are easier and cheaper to come by than others, not to mention that you may just want to get the tester to work with the components that you have in your junk box (even if that includes an old phone).

The SMD tester that I looked at was using a tiny 16x2 screen. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that m-firmware no longer gets updated for it. The k-firmware still uses "-ww-" (looks very strange to me) for coils and has other little things that make me prefer m for 16x2 and k for graphical displays.

stj · « **Reply #2189 on:** July 09, 2016, 08:13:20 am »

Quote from: hapless on July 09, 2016, 02:42:29 am

not to mention that you may just want to get the tester to work with the components that you have in your junk box (even if that includes an old phone).

nice theory, not so easy to do.
i have lots of displays from old phones - connecting to them would be damn-near impossible without a comercially made pcb to get the connector-pitch.

the ones on ebay are on an adapter pcb.

madires · « **Reply #2190 on:** July 09, 2016, 10:49:54 am »

Quote from: stj on July 08, 2016, 10:13:03 pm

i have been thinking about bigger ones (resolution-wise)
maybe one of those 320x240 TFT ones sold on ebay for arduino's.
i have read that a lot of those support SPI bus although it's not present on the arduino-pins.

ILI9341/ILI9342 is supported since v1.19m. The upcoming release will also have a bug fix for that controller.

madires · « **Reply #2191 on:** July 09, 2016, 11:17:02 am »

Quote from: hapless on July 09, 2016, 02:42:29 am

The SMD tester that I looked at was using a tiny 16x2 screen. I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that m-firmware no longer gets updated for it. The k-firmware still uses "-ww-" (looks very strange to me) for coils and has other little things that make me prefer m for 16x2 and k for graphical displays.

No worries! The trendy edition still supports HD44780 based displays (16x2 or more lines). The main difference is that the trendy edition got a simple abstraction layer for displays while the classic edition only supports 16x2 character displays. So the firmware of the trendy edition is larger (IIRC something in the range of 500 to 1000 Bytes for the display abstraction layer). My original idea was to keep the old 16x2 only edition for having more space left for new features, but it turned out that the difference in size isn't significant enough to run two editions. Simpy update your 16x2 tester with the current trendy edition and you'll have all the new features

hapless · « **Reply #2192 on:** July 09, 2016, 07:02:58 pm »

Thank you for the clarification. That's good news!

Quote from: stj on July 09, 2016, 08:13:20 am

Quote from: hapless on July 09, 2016, 02:42:29 am
not to mention that you may just want to get the tester to work with the components that you have in your junk box (even if that includes an old phone).

nice theory, not so easy to do.
i have lots of displays from old phones - connecting to them would be damn-near impossible without a comercially made pcb to get the connector-pitch.

the ones on ebay are on an adapter pcb.

Not a theory. It's been done. Proprietary connectors are always a pain, of course, but different old phones have their display connected differently. With a little patience, a few of them can be used out of the ~~box... er...~~ phone.

maxcombor · « **Reply #2193 on:** July 09, 2016, 09:58:23 pm »

Hello to all , sorry for bad english . I have mega328_color_kit version and problem with compiling , error for frequency ../make_frequency.c:11: warning: 'wish_freq' may be used uninitialized in this function , if I turn frequncy off in makefile before compiling everything pass ok and hex is without frequency option . What I`m doing wrong . Or if someone can compile for me in linux , i need 16mhz version or maybe 20mhz to test with external oscilator (or download location for mixed win-avr) if is problem in Outdated WINAVR software. thanks

maxcombor · « **Reply #2194 on:** July 10, 2016, 07:57:58 am »

I found solution , problem is with old WinAvr version.

mauroh · « **Reply #2195 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:09:43 am »

Hi Marcus,
I see you just released the new trendy 1.23m, thanks!!
I tried it on my M12864 DIY kit and it works fine.
I will use it in the next days and give you a feedback only if I will find something strange.
If everything will be fine I'll just enjoy it

Do you have something specific you need to verify?

For all the lazy people around here

: Attached you can find the compiled files for the M12864 DIY kit

http://www.banggood.com/DIY-M12864-Graphics-Version-Transistor-Tester-Kit-LCR-ESR-PWM-With-Case-p-997023.html

Mauro

madires · « **Reply #2196 on:** July 13, 2016, 01:28:21 pm »

You're welcome!

Quote from: mauroh on July 13, 2016, 09:09:43 am

Do you have something specific you need to verify?

Some feedback about checking PUTs and UJTs would be helpful. Also reports on the PCD8544 and ST7735 display drivers, in case someome got a clone with such a display.

Dwaine · « **Reply #2197 on:** July 13, 2016, 09:02:36 pm »

Quote from: hansibull on June 20, 2016, 10:24:38 am

I got my TC1 component tester with color LCD in the mail today, and I'll have to say I'm impressed! It got a step-up circuit for measuring zener diodes with a higher breakdown voltage of 4.7v. The battery is a rechargeable 3.7v Litium ion battery, that can be charged with a micro USB cable. Here are some pictures of it! (Open the pics in a new tab for even higher resolution)

I just order one of these units too. I was wondering what processor is in the device. Can I use the newer software listed here with the TC1?

vinceroger · « **Reply #2198 on:** July 14, 2016, 11:41:07 am »

Hi a while ago i posted about a esr kit i had brought from ebay
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-EZM328-GM328R-transistor-tester-ESR-frequency-meter-square-wave-genera-/331873741389?hash=item4d45376a4d:g:rrsAAOSwtJZXU~VA
i have finally managed to build this kit up with the help of a few members on here and badcaps.net but now we are stuck basically this kit comes with a atmega328p ic which has no data on the chip mine was full of ff when read with my tl866 so all what i get when i power on this tester is a brief screen flash i have tried various firmware etc but none seem to get this tester to work i have enclosed a picture of the tester and the back of the screen its on a 8mhz crystal at the moment but i will update it too 16mhz soon so if anyone can help with the files i need to program this tester it will probably help a few members out as on bad caps alone two of us so far are looking for these files and if the ebay seller has sold a few of these kits others will need them too many thanks guys.

madires · « **Reply #2199 on:** July 14, 2016, 01:53:54 pm »

That seems to be a ST7920 display. You can find the precompiled k-firmware for that at https://github.com/svn2github/transistortester/tree/master/Software/trunk/mega328_st7920 but I don't know if the settings match your kit. Could be also a known kit but with a different display.

BTW, does anyone like to sponsor a ST7920 display for the m-firmware?


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Author Topic: $20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project (Read 3452791 times)

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