ESR-micro Meter

This is an Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) meter is made in Russia by Radio Devices (Google Translation).  It's primary use is to test capacitors for series resistance while they are installed on printed circuit boards.  It uses the ATmega88 microcontroller.  The 2x5 hole pattern to the right of the uC is probably the JTAG programming header. 

The key thing this meter does that other ESR meters do not do is that this one measures BOTH Capactance and ESR at the same time.  The version 3 ESR-micro had an alternating C then R display, but the version 4 has a two line display.  This tester may give better results for some caps than the prior ESR meters.  Will be running some tests shortly (Jan 2010).  Also there are audio tones that tell you about the resistance of the DUT as well as at power up or down.

More about Capacitor Failure on the Hints & Tips web page.

This ESR meter uses the same method as the Bob Parker unit that is no longer sold by Dick Smith Electronics, but this meter uses a shorter pulse and so does a better job of measuring low value capacitors.  For example it measures a 2.2 uF cap to within +/- 0.1 uF.

Cap:    0.2 to 60,000 uF
Res:    0.00 to 99       Ohm (note: can be used as an Ohmmeter for values below 99 Ohms)

The DIP socket on the front panel has three uses:

• The left center sockets are a short (0 Ohm res).  When the meter is powered up with the probes on these sockets a self calibration is done.  This is much easier than trying to hold the probes on a penny and pressing a button (that's best done with three hands).
• On the left topmost and bottommost sockets are three resistors.  The center resistor is 1.0 Ohms, then 10 Ohms and finally 100 Ohms to confirm a proper calibration.  For the 0, 1 & 10 Ohm resistors you hear the beeper that's proportional to resistance.
  
• On the right are two terminals for testing caps with radial leads and the socket pitch varies from 0.1" to 0.7" in 0.1" steps.

Two CR2032 3V coin cells are connected in series for a nominal 6 V supply.  When the unit is powered up the battery voltage is displayed for a few seconds (Vbat=5.8v) along with the firmware version.  There is an automatic power off if there's been no activity for 40 seconds.

To change the batteries remove the four (-) screws on the back.  Remove the old batteries using a pointed tool to push back the metal clip.  Install new cells + side up.  When installing the four (-) screws turn them CCW until you feel the screw drop a thread then turn CW.  This avoids cutting new threads in the plastic case.

To measure the internal resistance of a battery place a low ESR capacitor in series with one of the leads and then short the other lead to the opposite capacitor terminal, i.e. like you were going to measure the ESR of the cap, but instead power up the tester and continue to hold down the power on switch to force a zero.  Now that the ESR of the cap has been zeroed disconnect the cap and connect it and the stock test lead to the battery.  Pay attention to the polarity of the cap.  Note the cap voltage rating must be greater than the battery voltage.  The max battery voltage probably is on the order of a couple of volts, i.e. a 9 Volt battery will probably blow out the ESR tester.

A better way to measure battery internal resistance is to use the HP 4328A milli Ohmmeter.

Moved to it's own Capacitors web page (too many to parts for this page)

Heathkit GC-1000 Most Accurate Clock

A used Heathkit GC-1000 Most Accurate Clock is not working properly.  The test results when first tested differed from the results a few days later (clock powered up in the mean time).  The results seemed difficult to troubleshoot.  Testing the electrolytic caps showed most of them to be bad.
The following are power supply or decoupling caps where low ESR electrolytics would be good:
C102, C203, C205, C206, C208, C212, C213, C301, C354, C357, C401, C404, C405, C424.
The following are caps where low leakage is important and so either a plastic or low leakage electrolytic would be good:
C348, C353, C355, C359, C412, C414, C421, C422,C425.
Look at the tables on the right side of the page where Red is out of spec and notice that some of the out of spec conditions are for capacitance and some for ESR.

Robertshaw Controller in GE Oven

My electric oven was running too cold last year ago (see: Recipes: 5 Minute Bread) and a couple of weeks ago my stepson baked a pie where the bottom was raw dough.  I had pulled the oven and started shopping for a new one then had sticker shock so decided to see of this one could be repaired.  It turneded out that a couple of caps (C1 & C17 in the analog section of the controller board were bad.  The repair saved $1,000 to $2,000 for a new oven.  See: Hints and Tips: Cold Oven

It turns out that more than half of the electrolytic and Tantalum caps in the GC-1000 are bad (either low capactiance or very high ESR or both).  Rather than use new plain electrolytics I'd like to use better quality caps.
1.    Where there is an available replacement (radial, adaquate DC working voltage) using Aluminum Organic Polymer caps adds a whole lot of reliability.
        It turns out that these are only available in a very limited number of physical and electrical values and are 10 to 100 times more expensive. 
        A better choice may be either the Low ESR electrolytic or the Low Leakage electrolytic, a plastic or ceramic cap depending on the application.
2    Using low loss electrolytics for things like the NE567 PLL or op amps would be good or plastic.
3.    Low ESR electrolytics would be better for power supply decoupling.

Test Equipment
HP 4260A Universal Bridge
HP 4274 & HP 4275 LCR Meters
HP 4332 HP 4332 LCR Meter
HP 4395A Combined Network, Spectrum & Impedance Analyzer
Impedance - in general
TF2700 Marconi TF-2700 Universal Bridge
Zo Transmission Line Impedance (is not constant with frequency)
ZM4 - DC Bridge
ZM-11 - Capacitance-Inductance-Resistance Bridge
EVB ESR Tester
SR715 LCR Meter

Fly Back Tester

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