500 ppm LCR Meter at Elektor March 2013

[BravoV]

Quick specifications*
L range: 0.1 nH - 100 H
C range: 0.1 pF - 100 mF
R range: 0.1 mOhm - 1 Gohm
Q or D range: 0 - 10,000
Phase ange range: -90 to +90 degrees
Rs, Xs range: 0.1 mOhm - 1 Gohm



I'm not a subscriber, its just I'm curious only at other details on the spec like test frequency, accuracy and etc, thats all.

Appreciate if any of you that is subscribing this could share just a sneak peek or summary on this device's capability please, tia.

Linky -> HERE

[psycho0815]

Here are some more specs:

it measures on 100/120Hz, 1kHz, 10KHz. the 100/120 depends on whether your mains is 50 or 60 Hz.
the Voltage it's measuring at is 0.4Vrms +/- 5%, so it should be ok for in-circuit stuff.

Accuracy is:
0.05% to 0.3% +/- 1 digit each depending on selected Range.
It also does 4-Wire Measurement.

That seems to be all the important stuff.

[Rerouter]

and the golden question, how much are they selling the kits / products for... if its under $200, then I'd probably be inclined to straight up order one....

[firewalker]

It uses an C8051F061 mcu. I didn't read top to bottom the article yet though.





Alexander.

[kripton2035]

I read it, dont like it as it will be a closed firmware... and no real breakthrought in this meter.
I really prefer the GO rlc 2 meter totally open source and quite simplier components.
my 2 cts.

[BravoV]

Thanks for replies folks ! 

@kripton2035

Damn, I thought it was open soft & hardware, cause from the 1st glance I saw it is somehow using off the shelf components. Really, I was intrigued when seeing those 4 big bnc connectors for the 4 wires measurement, looks really serious stuff.

As Rerouter  mentioned, if the price is right, maybe its still worth considering, but if its way too high, those Cyrustek chip based LCR meters definitely are hard to beat.

[kripton2035]

it is a 4-5 parts article, will continue till mid 2013 at best
we only have a glance at it I also was waiting for it to compare with all I already know ...
but I'm disapointed about it, it will come as a closed firwmare kit as elektor knows to do it for years.
but yes if it is an affordable price for the kit it can be a good deal
as I already said, I prefer the GO rlc2 meter totaly open source, and quite as precise ?
I'm building it right now, I made pcb boards for it and I'm soldering it right now ... nice puzzle all smd 0805 !
will keep you up to date with the progression.

[BravoV]

Huh ? Until mid 2013  ?

Btw, offtopic about GO rlc2, did you purchase it in kit or you're building it from scratch ?

Must be interesting to watch the owner of the most complete ESR circuits repository on earth  building his own LCR meter, can't wait to see the result of your rlc2 ! 

[EEVblog]

It uses 0.01% resistors.
Accuracy is only claimed over +/-2 degC range
And I see a 0.01% 100R (and 1K, 10K, 100K) resistor in series with a 74HCT4052 mux 

Dave.

[BravoV]

And I see a 0.01% 100R (and 1K, 10K, 100K) resistor in series with a 74HCT4052 mux 

Pardon for being an enthusiast level, are you saying by using that mux defies the purpose of using those expensive resistors ? Again, CMIIW.

[firewalker]

I can;t remember any full open source project by Elektor.

Alexander.

[EEVblog]

And I see a 0.01% 100R (and 1K, 10K, 100K) resistor in series with a 74HCT4052 mux 

Pardon for being an enthusiast level, are you saying by using that mux defies the purpose of using those expensive resistors ? Again, CMIIW.

Those chips are in the order of 50-100ohm on-resistance depending upon voltage, and it varies a lot with temp too IIRC.

Dave.

[kripton2035]

I can;t remember any full open source project by Elektor.
Alexander.

projects that does not have any mcu inside ... there are still some !

[EEVblog]

I can't remember any full open source project by Elektor.

That's probably one of the reasons why they turned down my uWatch project 

Dave.

[kripton2035]

And I see a 0.01% 100R (and 1K, 10K, 100K) resistor in series with a 74HCT4052 mux 

Pardon for being an enthusiast level, are you saying by using that mux defies the purpose of using those expensive resistors ? Again, CMIIW.

Those chips are in the order of 50-100ohm on-resistance depending upon voltage, and it varies a lot with temp too IIRC.

Dave.

+1
in the go rlc2 there are "only" 1% resistors in series with the 4052
and as I understood it the software calculates the error
so yes why did elektor use 0.01% resistors in such a configuration ?

[kripton2035]

Btw, offtopic about GO rlc2, did you purchase it in kit or you're building it from scratch ?

Must be interesting to watch the owner of the most complete ESR circuits repository on earth  building his own LCR meter, can't wait to see the result of your rlc2 ! 

I build from scratch, there is no kit available that I know of.
and my lcr repository is not bad at all too !

[kripton2035]

@kripton2035

Damn, I thought it was open soft & hardware, cause from the 1st glance I saw it is somehow using off the shelf components. Really, I was intrigued when seeing those 4 big bnc connectors for the 4 wires measurement, looks really serious stuff.

As Rerouter  mentioned, if the price is right, maybe its still worth considering, but if its way too high, those Cyrustek chip based LCR meters definitely are hard to beat.

another thought : elektor can also sell this as a complete build board
they often do so when there are a lot of smd components ... and this one is a really good candidate !

[firewalker]

I can;t remember any full open source project by Elektor.
Alexander.

projects that does not have any mcu inside ... there are still some !

Just "open" hardware. Although I am not sure they give away cad, gerber etc files.

I stopped buying Elektor years ago when bought a kit and located a bug on the firmware. They refused to address the issue or give me access to the source code to fix it my self.

Alexander.

[notsob]

So as I read this, the elektor unit has closed code for the kit, I wouldn't bother and also 4 x $US7.90 for the article series plus prob $200 for the kit, so if you want to build, go with kripton, or save your $230 and put it towards something better.

[EEVblog]

So as I read this, the elektor unit has closed code for the kit, I wouldn't bother and also 4 x $US7.90 for the article series

I paid 10 "elektor credits" for the article, whatever that's worth (I have a bunch from when I got something published).

Dave.

[firewalker]

Huh ? Until mid 2013  ?

Btw, offtopic about GO rlc2, did you purchase it in kit or you're building it from scratch ?

Must be interesting to watch the owner of the most complete ESR circuits repository on earth  building his own LCR meter, can't wait to see the result of your rlc2 ! 

Any link for the GO rlc?

Alexander.

[kripton2035]

Any link for the GO rlc?
Alexander.

you asked for it : http://kripton2035.free.fr/LCR%20meters/lcr-go-russian.html

[firewalker]

Thanks.

Alexander.

[Marco]

I can;t remember any full open source project by Elektor.

Huh ...  and there goes the chance of me ever subscribing. How are you supposed to learn anything if they don't thoroughly explain the firmware? It's over half the effort of the design.

PS. why the hell would you use a 8051 and use mains frequency of your reference in this day and age? Unless you need ultra-low power you can't beat 32 bit chips for convenience and cost isn't an issue any more and you can't run off batteries if you use mains as your clock source.

[Nermash]

It does not use mains frequency as reference, it generates its own square signal and filters it to sine...