Electronic parts tester

[Bi11Hudson]

Yeah, I have a Series 6 and a Series 5. That's one reason I'm still alive.

 

[markba633csi]

I have found that analog multimeters are often more useful than digital ones for the same reasons- quick events and trends are easier to see

 

[Chris Hamel]

For my limited knowledge the $25 scope has worked great. For several projects, including a metal detector and a driver for my mc 2100 treadmill controller board the scope has been a valuable tool.

 

[warrjon]

For my limited knowledge the $25 scope has worked great. For several projects, including a metal detector and a driver for my mc 2100 treadmill controller board the scope has been a valuable tool.

I think that would be a great little scope for project work. In fact I could have used it when I was installing the electronic cruise control in my car. I have a Tektronix TDS3000 but a battery pack for it is a $1000.00 and I didn't have long enough extension lead to drive up the road with the scope on the passenger seat.

But looking for a random glitch, I will always prefer a CRT scope. The retention of the phosphers will give enough time to see that "once in a while", random excursion from the norm.

I have been repairing electronics most of my life, last job was in the repair dept for a military calibration laboratory, mostly RF so low frequency was 10MHz. My go to scope was a Tektronix TDS3054 I really like these scopes ( I have one in my home lab), easy to use, and as a DPO scope has excellent transient capture capability. The Digital Phosphor database captures the transient and it is displayed, unlike a regular LCD scope that will most likely miss the transient event. It will even show the transient event as a different colour on the main waveform. Even if the transient event only happens once every 300-400 triggers the scope will display the spike unlike a CRT where the spike will fade.

 

[cathead]

These are really handy for anyone who builds electronic stuff or does repair and or testing of electronic parts.
You can order the kit on E-Bay for about 10 dollars more or less depending on which one you choose. You can
find the tester ready built or as a kit using a 328 IC chip. I built one kit a year ago and was so impressed I had to
get another.

Today's project was to mount the completed tester on an aluminum scrap plate and machine a holder for the
battery and switch. You can buy the tester by the board itself or with a clear plastic case for a few bucks more.
I opted to make my own as one had to always find a battery and hook it up before using it.

This unit will test a myriad of parts from transistors to resistors to diodes and capacitors. It will show the pin-out of
transistors and even tests for ESR(equivalent series resistance) on electrolytic capacitors which is VERY handy.

This kit takes a couple of hours to build but I must tell you that the parts are VERY small and require a magnifying
glass and a tiny soldering iron tip to accomplish it.

The screen identifies the part and gives many details to identify the part or test it..... totally amazing!View attachment 281744
This unit will identify transistors and indicate if NPN pr PNP if one is sorting out a bunch of unknown parts, very handy.
It also has a square wave output for which I have not had a need for yet. It is really handy for repairing switch mode
power supplies to test the electrolytic capacitors for ESR.




That's what I did today, so far...........................................

My original tester worked fine for parts like small signal transistors and circuit board electrolytic capacitors
but it was difficult to use without soldering on some little wires to fit into the little blue clamping device
on the circuit board. The color coded clips allow one to identify the pinout on the part as the screen identifies
by number.







Here is a side photo of the case I made for the tester using the bottom inch of an old Makita
docking cradle for a battery powered electric drill. I sliced the case in half with a band saw
and fit a clear plastic cover over the top of it. I will use this unit for larger parts like power
transistors and for testing big axial electrolytic capacitors by using the color coded clippies
that protrude out of the box. I thought of milling out a hole for the original wire clamps but
liked the clean look as it is and still can use the first one I built for that.