$20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project

[mauroh]

I can't find the link to the website with the archive pictures of most Transistor Tester variants....
The current firmware reporitory and mirror use a folder name that sometimes is difficult to match with the actual hardware specially when all the clone manufacturer use the same name for totally different hardware.

es:
Hardware                   
M12864 AKA Bangood DIY Kit         -> Folder name mega328_st7565_kit

AY-AT AKA DIY Color kit, GM328...-> Folder name mega328_color_kit

Mauro

[madires]

I like how the K versions show more information when testing components such as transistors. Is it possible to modify the m version to include that information?

Basically yes. It's open source Code and suggestions are welcome!

The m version code is more organized and easier to follow.

Sorry, my fault.

When testing a PN4117A the only firmware that shows correct information is on the m versions. At least from version 1.25m and up ( I haven't tested older versions)
The 1.12K version thinks that is a double diode. The 1.13K version thinks that is a transistor. The 1.28m version thinks that is an N-channel JFET with Idss=75ua. I know that Marcus code can detect JFETs with very low Idss.
 I also have a Peak DCA75 and it detect the part as a double diode. I haven't contacted them to see if they can modify the code to recognize the JFETs with low Idss.

Wow! I had no idea that even the commercial product got a problem with that. Low I_DSS JFETs are supported since 1.24m.

[madires]

I can't find the link to the website with the archive pictures of most Transistor Tester variants....
The current firmware reporitory and mirror use a folder name that sometimes is difficult to match with the actual hardware specially when all the clone manufacturer use the same name for totally different hardware.

Do you mean https://yadi.sk/d/yW8xa5NJgUo5z ?

[hapless]

Windows-1251 with no conversion table for 1602, cemented inside a font?   

BTW, what tool was used to create the fonts originally?

Be my guest Neither do I speak Russian nor do I have a HD44780 compatible LCD with a Russian font. If someone sends me a font_HD44780_cyrillic.h I'll happily add it to the source. I don't know which tool was used to create the 8x16 Cyrillic font. Maybe indman got an idea.

PS: I can provide a tool (linux) to convert bitmap fonts between different alignments and bit orders.

It just so happens that I have recently acquired one such device. They are a little on the expensive side where I live.

I don't really care about the origins of the Russian font. I was talking about a tool to create and edit the original fonts that are included. I don't normally work with fonts, so to view and edit them, I just manually decode and encode the data. But that's not a good idea for editing multiple glyphs. Any tool would be better than doing it by hand. I'm OS-agnostic, but allergic to multiple libraries that go out of date and fail to compile as soon as kernel gets updated...

[madires]

An internet search for "MCU font editor" lists several free editors

[hapless]

Yep. Each of which has its own idea of how to present its output. That's why my question still stands: Which one did you use?

[madires]

GLCD Font Creator

[hapless]

Thank you. I'll see what I can come up with. 

[casinada]

Testing the PN4117A with the AY-AT tester
1.- PN4117A JFET with 1.28m firmware
2.-PN4117A JFET with 1.12K firmware
3.-PN4117A JFET with 1.13K firmware
4.- PN4117A JFET with DCA75 from PeakElec
5.- PN4117A Data Sheet
In this case the only test that got it right is the m firmware.

[casinada]

Testing 2N7000 with the AY-AT tester
1.- 2N7000 with 1.28m firmware
2.- 2N7000 with 1.12K firmware
3.- 2N7000 with 1.13K firmware
4.- 2N7000 Data Sheet
In this case the 1.28m firmware doesn't show the diode between Drain and Source.
Added the compiled code for the AY-AT version.

[hapless]

Your picture shows that it detects a diode. Look at the end of the "123" line. Or are you saying that you expected it to be drawn connected to the MOSFET?

[casinada]

Yes, I see that and the diode forward voltage as well but it would be nice to show the right symbol 

[amspire]

Interesting. It looks like you can use a junction FET as a low gain transistor - I had never thought of trying that.

[hapless]

Be my guest Neither do I speak Russian nor do I have a HD44780 compatible LCD with a Russian font. If someone sends me a font_HD44780_cyrillic.h I'll happily add it to the source. I don't know which tool was used to create the 8x16 Cyrillic font. Maybe indman got an idea.

PS: I can provide a tool (linux) to convert bitmap fonts between different alignments and bit orders.

Check out the attachment. I also included a slightly different translation; whether it is better or worse than what was there before, I don't know. I just used this as a sanity check to see that the text changes on the screen when changed within that file. Feel free to discard it if you want. If some characters are incorrectly mapped, I'd be happy to fix that.

The LUT took me by surprise though: Why are you not mapping it the other way around? The way it's done, only the first part of a large font can be used. No Unicode.  I'll dig a little further into the code to maybe get the answer. Meanwhile, this was a nice little diversion for the evening. Will work on "real" fonts later in the week, hopefully. That's when that tool you were talking about may come in handy.

P.S.: The file is saved with Unicode + BOM encoding. Only comments make use of this. If it is a problem, feel free to save it in any other encoding. That shouldn't break any functionality. I can also rework the comments to contain only Latin/ASCII symbols, if need be. Just let me know.

[madires]

Thanks for the Cyrillic LUT! I've choosen that design to keep the font data, i.e. the bitmaps for graphic LCDs, as small as possible while being able to use a standard character set in the source. Most 8 bit character sets keep the ASCII part and add the additional characters in the upper address space. The HD44780's international font has a lot of ISO 8859-1 characters but not the same addressing. Old versions of the firmware had to use "wrong" characters for German umlauts to match the HD44780's character set. And there are also the custom characters/symbols in the lower address space. While adding support for graphic LCDs the LUT solved three problems

BTW, in case someone wants to add another European language with special characters, please add the special characters to the LUT in  font_HD44780_int.h. At the moment it only includes ASCII and German umlauts.

[Mek]

post internal foto's

you need to replace the atmel with hot air and obviously program the replacement.

This is it. But even if I manage to replace the atmel, I cannot seem to find the program to flash. This Chinese clone of transistortester is not mentioned in the docs. Am I missing something?

Hey, I am back. I scourged the new pages of this topic to see if anybody encountered this Chinese clone but was surprised that I am still the only one
I now have a new atmega328 (sadly, only in PDIP package as SMD is unavailable around here), however, my concern is that the HW of this clone is customized for the LCD and not compatible with the open source software. The LCD only has 12 contacts on flex cable and is marked "LX-12864TS Z". AFAIK, the other documented graphical LCDs have 14 contacts. This LCD is pretty much unknown to google, no docs, nothing.
The clone is made by fish8840 but all clones when I search for it, look totally different than mine.
So now I am not sure what to do (to reiterate: the original AVR is probably fried as cause of charged capacitor testing and now the tester measures wrong values). Maybe I could replace whole PCB and DIY a new one, reusing only the LCD and use PDIP atmega328.
Does this LCD sound familiar to anyone?
Also, I would like to try downloading existing firmware from the original AVR, to see if it is possible that the protection fuse bits would not be set. I was able to connect via ISP connector but unfortunately, the stupid auto-off functionality turns the chip off before I can do anything. Can I force it on somehow?

//edit: attaching pictures

[Gino_09]

Hi all I' new (newbie). I have gm328 with tft/lcd color display. I have try last firmware but I not see colored symbol or lines. Have cristal 8 MHz. Do I have to modify make file? Which is the correct firmware?  Thanks and congratulation for the great work.

[casinada]

Gino,
Please post pictures of your tester. There are many color display versions

[qu1ck]

Mek

I can see on the pictures that there are 2 more wires aside from the ribbon cable that go to the LCD and the red one has marking LED. I'll bet it's just backlight power and your screen is same as 14 pin variants.

[Gino_09]

@casinada

I'have this model
http://www.ebay.it/sch/i.html?&_from=R40&_trksid=p4712.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=122312989617
i can set only back and front color .......

Another question
i set fuse 0xff 0xd9 0x04 it's correct?

Thanks.

[perieanuo]

@casinada

I'have this model
http://www.ebay.it/sch/i.html?&_from=R40&_trksid=p4712.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=122312989617
i can set only back and front color .......

Another question
i set fuse 0xff 0xd9 0x04 it's correct?

Thanks.

Have you tested something like mosfet?
I have exactly your tester,used ver 1.28 posted here a few posts before it works normal.
See the photo


Envoyé de mon iPad en utilisant Tapatalk

[madcat]

@casinada

I'have this model
http://www.ebay.it/sch/i.html?&_from=R40&_trksid=p4712.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=122312989617
i can set only back and front color .......

Another question
i set fuse 0xff 0xd9 0x04 it's correct?

Thanks.

i think i have the same type as yours, that is 'AY-AT' type, and yes, AFAIK you only able to set front&back color for that tester with the original firmware (1.12k). maybe the 'M' firmware has multiple colors display?
about the fuse, i think the correct one is : lfuse=0xF7, hfuse=0xD9, efuse=0x04.
but i could be wrong.. experts confirmation is needed for this information.

[perieanuo]

I am an expert.the fuses have nothing to do with color.
just write casinada version posted here 1.28 and test like I said.
anyway,look my cfg bits attached just for check
low fuse F7, high fuse D9, extended fuse FC, lock fuse FF, calibration fuse FFFFFFA8 (eXtreme burner)
did you did it like I supposed?
best regards,
pierre

[madires]

Just in case someone is confused by efuse 0x04/0xfc. Using the default configuration file avrdude reads efuse 0xfc as 0x04. You can simply ignore that or change 0xfc to 0x04, or alternatively change avrdude's configuration file.

[madcat]

ooops sory.. i just had my time to edit my post earlier.. but apparently it was posted after you replied. 
no, i didn't say that the color has anything to do with the fuses.
i just try to answer your "another" question about setting the fuse, which all i know is using the one i posted earlier.
i'm sorry if it didn't help.