EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Repair => Topic started by: jdragoset on October 06, 2019, 12:51:08 am
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Any thoughts on a decent(affordable) C meter that also displays ESR?
I'm currently using a Tenma 72-960 LCR meter that displays "D" with capacitance measurement, where I'm advised that ESR = 1/D.
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Practically free (or about $10-$20 US ) you can't beat the component tester found on ebay
Next step up will be the PEAK LCR Atlas ESR70 tester unless you are building satellites or medical equipment in which case the sky is the limit :)
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...and in case anyone is wondering the "sky" starts at about 13K
https://www.keysight.com/en/pd-1452259-pn-E4981A/capacitance-meter?nid=-34124.798589.00&cc=US&lc=eng (https://www.keysight.com/en/pd-1452259-pn-E4981A/capacitance-meter?nid=-34124.798589.00&cc=US&lc=eng)
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The Peak LCR tester will not measure produce an ESR measurement and in-circuit measurements are not recommended. You will need to discharge capacitors prior to testing like most LCR meters. It will test capacitance, inductance, and resistance at a few different frequencies. If you are looking for a decent unit that can measure capacitance and ESR, my vote would go to the Peak Atlas ESR70. The unit discharges caps up to 50V, does in-circuit measurements, and you can use different test probes (alligator, hooks, probes, etc.). I also have the inexpensive MESR100v2 that does a good job with reading ESR but that it. The leads are short, you need to discharge caps before testing, and no capacitance measurements.