$20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project

[Feliciano]

Looking at detailed pictures, now I see the ressemblance with the M328 WEI M8. Thanks for the hint and the links, indman. But I'm still not sure whether the display controller is a st7565.

[madires]

The LCD module looks very much like an ST7565.

[Feliciano]

Ok. I hooked my USBasp and used AVRDUDESS to erase the locked MCU and flash the 804 k-files and set the fuses. Now I have a 180º rotated screen with too much contrast (almost black background). I can barely see the text at an angle. 

I have the updated toolchain, I see where to make the changes on the makefile, but gave me an error.
shall I download the whole source code and place it on a particular location?
Edit:
I downloaded the whole source, and will try to fix the errors from programmers' notepad of WinAVR.

[de_light]

Why does the tester not read ESR sometimes?

I have an electrolytic cap, 470uF 50V.
The tester correctly identifies a capacitor, 465.6 uF, I_1 7.44uA. But not esr? Even when I select the specific esr option from the menu, still it doesn't read the esr!


Also, separate question. How normal is it to read an esr of 0.00
Is this possible?

[Feliciano]

Is your tester correctly calibrated? IIRC if the tester finds an ESR lower than the calibration offset, it generates a conflict, and perhaps that's whay it's not being shown.

[indman]

or shall I download the whole source code and place it on a particular location?

Yes, you need to put all the code source(folder "Trunk")
Makefile must be used from this folder

[indman]

Why does the tester not read ESR sometimes?

k-firmware or m-firmware? Type of clone, its model? When you are troubleshooting a problem, it is wise to include additional details about what you are using and this is important for solving the problem. Measure this capacitor on alternate firmware and compare the results.

[de_light]

It's a Gm328A running m1.43

[indman]

Measure this capacitor on k-firmware and compare the results.

[Feliciano]

Good!. So for the V2.20 PCB is needed:

Code: [Select]

CFLAGS += -DLCD_ST7565_H_FLIP=1
CFLAGS += -DLCD_ST7565_V_FLIP=0
FLAGS += -DVOLUME_VALUE=30And I'm provisionally setting the font to 8x8 (I think a 8x10 would be better, though).

I would like to set a vertical offset of a couple of points down. I see the setting for horizontal offset, but not the vertical offset.

[indman]

Feliciano, to correct the vertical offset in k-firmware, the display parameters must be adjusted very carefully in the lcd_defines.h file

[madires]

Why does the tester not read ESR sometimes?

I have an electrolytic cap, 470uF 50V.
The tester correctly identifies a capacitor, 465.6 uF, I_1 7.44uA. But not esr? Even when I select the specific esr option from the menu, still it doesn't read the esr!

The m-firmware doesn't display the ESR value in case of a problem:
- capacitance too low (can't measure ESR)
- unreasonable measurement values (voltages)
- probe's zero offset higher than uncompensated ESR and capacitance lower than 1000 µF

Possible reasons:
- didn't run self-adjustment
- powered by an SMPSU
- noisy environment
- contact issues

Also, separate question. How normal is it to read an esr of 0.00
Is this possible?

Can happen for capacitors > 1000 µF when the probe's zero offset is equal to the uncompensated ESR or higher. So 0.00 Ohms basically means that the ESR is lower than what the tester is able to measure.

[Feliciano]

@kubi48, @madires, @indman, @flywheelz, @blurpy, @Bohu:
Dears, I just wrote a FAQ about this component tester, so one person can get up to speed without reading this whole thread (or perhaps missing some interesting parts for him/her by just reading the last 10 pages). Because your names are in my doc, I kindly ask you whether you would like to review it privately in advance, or I rather publish it here so anyone (including you, of course) can make suggestions.

[indman]

Feliciano,@kubi48 and @madires have written detailed enough manuals so that a person who wants to understand the design and operation of this device, can do it themselves. For this you do not need to read this topic, enough thoughtfully read and assimilate that, what is kindly provided to us by the authors.The manual contains 99% of the answers to most of the questions mentioned in this thread.That's just my opinion.   

[madires]

@kubi48 (I suppose this is KH's EEVblog username), @madires, @indman, @flywheelz, @blurpy:
Dears, I just wrote a FAQ about this component tester, so one person can get up to speed without reading this whole thread (or perhaps missing some interesting parts for him/her by just reading the last 10 pages). Because your names are in my doc, I kindly ask you whether you would like to review it privately in advance, or I rather publish it here so anyone (including you, of course) can make suggestions.

I'd suggest to open a new thread for posting and discussing your draft. The finished FAQ can be posted in this thread later on. Would this be fine with you?

I think an FAQ or quickstart guide would be helpful for some users, especially for tl;dr types.

[indman]

I'd suggest to open a new thread for posting and discussing your draft. The finished FAQ can be posted in this thread later on. Would this be fine with you?

It would have been much more convenient to put the basic information on page 1 of this thread!
If that's not possible, perhaps a new topic could be created. On the Russian-language forum, I've posted all the useful information on page 1 in the topic header on clones. It is convenient and you do not need to look for information in other sections and topics. I have also placed a very small miniFAQ which covers only the most common issues. This is quite enough for the first acquaintance with the device. To understand it more deeply, it is necessary to get acquainted with the authors' manual in more detail.

[Feliciano]

I also think a FAQ should have been inserted on the first page, long time ago, but as the users originally posting on this thread haven't show-up for a while, I think the options are either include it here and bookmark it for further typical questions, or create a separate thread as madires suggested. To separate the threads could confuse some users, though, as they might start to ask questions there instead of here, so it would have to make very clear from the begginging that the other thread would it be only for improving the FAQ/overview I wrote (5pages so far) or the miniFAQ (1page) indman already shared. That's why I'm scratching my head ATM.

[indman]

I'm not sure, but can't a forum moderator change (add) information on the first page on the request of other participants?

[madires]

Yes. However, it would make more sense to have a new thread just for documentation (kind of semi-locked if possible), while discussions stay here. The drawback with having a mod editing the first post is that each time something needs to be updated or changed the mod has to do that.

[indman]

The drawback with having a mod editing the first post is that each time something needs to be updated or changed the mod has to do that.

Isn't a moderator's job supposed to involve that? Yes, editing will be needed, but it is not very often.

[Feliciano]

I'm not sure how polite would it be regarding the OP to edit his/her post to add something different. Although if there is consensus about that and don't contradict the policies of EEVblog, maybe one of you could host a PDF on github or the russian server, and on the first post adding just a link to that file. That way further modifications wouldn't bother the moderators. What do you think?

to have a new thread just for documentation (kind of semi-locked if possible)

Is possible to restrict a thread to certain users? I don't know. The forum I moderate has only the option of locking a thread for read only, or unlocking it by request, but again that would involve moderators, and they're probably busy reading hundreds of posts per day.

Isn't a moderator's job supposed to involve that? Yes, editing will be needed, but it is not very often.

I think they're busy reading hundreds of post per day, and I'd rather not bother them with this.

[indman]

Although if there is consensus about that and don't contradict the policies of EEVblog, maybe one of you could host a PDF on github or the russian server, and on the first post adding just a link to that file. That way further modifications wouldn't bother the moderators. What do you think?

I think such a solution would be ideal and I wanted to suggest that too. Madires has all the necessary materials on GitHub.

[madires]

Sounds like a reasonable idea. We could ask torch to add the link to the first post.

[Feliciano]

@madires, @indman: you've been PM'd.

[Vitaly_Ne]

Hello @Yuriy_K.
Your firmware came to my copy of the tester (on page 277 - ST7735_BGR_en_1).
Everything was installed without any problems. only there are no points:
- Voltage

- Front color

-Back color

- C + ESR @ TP1: 3

Front and Back colors are secondary, but -Voltage and C + ESR @ TP1: 3 I would like to have.
You wrote that you have your own sources and you just can't fix it, so the question is:
- is it possible to return these menu items to the firmware (Voltage and C + ESR @ TP1: 3)?
- if there is not enough memory (or what other reasons) can they be returned INSTEAD of points (f-generator and 10-bit PWR)?
Ideally, of course, I would leave everything ... but because of memory I think that something needs to be sacrificed))).
Also, the Switch Off menu item can be deleted (because I work from an external battery 2S-8.4V and just pull out the plug at the end)
But this is exactly what I would like to have in the firmware - are such fixes possible?
Thanks.