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LCR meter questions and maybe recommendation.
HalFoster:
For all around usefulness and accuracy at a affordable price the best option, IMO, is a DE-5000 with added (easily DIY) kelvin clips. I have three different lab grade .05% accurate LCR meters, both testing up to 1MHz with programmable offsets, but the one that gets used constantly is my DE-5000 - it's easy to use and "just works." As with much test gear the cost goes up pretty much exponentially when you start requiring higher end functionality - in ESR meters that pretty much equates to maximum test frequency. Personally if I was needing to characterize inductors at higher frequencies I would get a DE-5000 and spend the money saved on a good VNA - it would do the job and add a tremendous amount of additional options to your bench. If you haven't, check out what the little Nano VNA is capable of - pretty amazing, IMO.
Hal
beatman:
I use the extech lcr200 and keysight u1732c .Extech is more speedy than keysight.Accuracy between units variance from 0.5 to 2 % depence what i measure.Keysight have big hidden menu to change parameters and preferences. I like booth units.
mawyatt:
To use an LCR meter over a broad range of components and values requires some understanding of the measurement principles if one expects reasonable accuracy.
The low cost all-in-one component devices utilize a pulse technique whereas the more expensive lab type bench LCR meters utilize sine-wave measurement techniques (can explain if interested), the later usually better for accurate measurements, altho the all-in-one do a respectable job with most components.
Small inductors represent a low impedance at lower frequencies which limits the measurement capabilities, the LCR meters allow the frequency to be set and generally the higher the better for small inductors as the impedance is directly proportional to frequency (well below the self resonate frequency). Since these meters actually measure DUT voltage and current, a small inductor (low impedance) produces a low voltage and high current, thus difficult to measure accurately. The reverse is true for small capacitors (high impedance), low DUT current and high DUT voltage.
Many of the quality LCR meters have a table/graph which shows the component ranges, frequency and the accuracy "Sweet Spot" which should be consulted if one desires the most accurate results.
The mentioned DE-5000 handheld LCR meter is based upon a specialized chip-set which performs almost all the functions and measurements, keeping the cost reasonable. We have one and it has demonstrated good performance against our Lab Grade Tonghui TH2830 and Hioki IM3536 LCR meters.
We have and utilize all 3 meters, the IM3536 goes to 8MHz and why we have this, however it's expensive (~$4600), the TH2830 is 100KHz (~$1000) and high quality good value Lab Bench LCR meter, and the DE-5000 (~$200) for the general measurements.
Another thing one might consider is having a set of stable "Reference Components" to check. We have various resistors and capacitors, altho no inductors, we can compare. Precision stable resistors are abundant, however capacitors are more difficult to find. C0G/NP0 ceramic capacitors are good for low values, Mica & Polystyrene good more mid values, and Polypropylene for higher values.
Best,
KungFuJosh:
While the Tonghui LCR is awesome, their support sucks. Better to get the rebranded SourceTronic version if you can. 😉
rwgast_lowlevellogicdesin:
One question no one answered was is it common for these meters to give a Z reading on the component at the meters selected frequency. The peak lcr meter does do this, i watched kerry wongs review of a couple lcr meters and the all seemed to give values for D,X,Q and ESR but he never showed Z so im not sure if any meter besides peak does this.
At higher frequency i usually work at 200mhz and under and L band(~1-2ghz). I do use a nanoVNA2 for that stuff. Ive been looking in to buying a siglent spectrum analyzer with VNA option, although im not sure how much better that would be for VNA use.
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