Mastech LCR Meter, worth a shot at $60?

[pjanda1]

Has anybody tried the Mastech LCR meter? Here is an example. I assume that it is available under a few different names, or at least that is what one sees with their power supplies. I know a fluke would be a good investment. But honestly, it is either this or a VTVM. I generally get along fine with my terrible little craftsman, but it won't do the high voltages I need. And LCR would be handy. I'm also feeling bad that I didn't grab a gorgeous old Bakelite Simpson 260 at a show this weekend. It was in it's original case, with the manual and looking practically new for $20. I waited too long.

Paul
www.wildburroaudio.com

[star882]

The inductance and capacitance measurements are too limited in range to be all that useful.

[es44]

Try this one, you won't regret it: L/C Meter II, a digital inductance meter / capacitance meter.
I should point out, that i am in no way connected to the company, just a very satisfied customer.

Best regards
Ebbe

[dangus]

If you hunt around, the plans and firmware for the AADE meter are available. I've posted links before.

I'd also strongly suggest looking into setting up a sound card to do impedance measurements.

[star882]

I have used Baudline to turn a sound card into a signal analyzer, but its frequency range is too limited for a lot of stuff. Other than that, it's something that can be a lot of fun to use.

[abraxalito]

Originally Posted by pjanda1

Has anybody tried the Mastech LCR meter?

I recently bought this model - MY6243 LC meter. Very cheap and does the job well for the money. I was impressed enough to invest in one of their top-of-the-range DMMs which does a better job for less money than my old UT71E. So on balance, I'd say its worth a shot.

[star882]

Originally Posted by abraxalito

I recently bought this model - MY6243 LC meter. Very cheap and does the job well for the money. I was impressed enough to invest in one of their top-of-the-range DMMs which does a better job for less money than my old UT71E. So on balance, I'd say its worth a shot.

That one also has the problem of not going low enough for inductance. It would work nicely for capacitors, though. (The bigger ones can be tested using a power supply, known value resistor, and a common multimeter.)

I have a Mastech MS8226T multimeter. It works great and is very accurate for the price, but I had to take it apart a few times to clean the switch. So I would not recommend it for field use. Should work nicely for lab work, though.

Just keep in mind that the RS-232 interface (which is optoisolated) uses a binary format without any documentation. A friend of mine (who owns the same meter) plans to reverse engineer it in the future. Until then, just think of it as a meter without RS-232.

[abraxalito]

Originally Posted by star882

That one also has the problem of not going low enough for inductance. It would work nicely for capacitors, though.

2mH range has a resolution of 1uH - that's as low as is practical before taking into account the inductance of the leads themselves. I didn't buy it to measure the inductance of speaker cables, rather some passive crossover components, pulse transformers and the like. So its eminently suitable.

I have a Mastech MS8226T multimeter. It works great and is very accurate for the price, but I had to take it apart a few times to clean the switch. So I would not recommend it for field use. Should work nicely for lab work, though.

Poor switch quality seems to be a common thread for cheap Chinese-sourced stuff. I bought an induction cooker which stopped working just because the switches used stopped making contact. I just bought a new one and may use the old one for spares. My UniTech oscilloscope's trig level encoder has become almost completely unusable after only one year and it has never left my apartment. I'm guessing this is from insufficient gold plating on the contacts but haven't opened it up to investigate. That step may come when I've got the replacement scope...

Just keep in mind that the RS-232 interface (which is optoisolated) uses a binary format without any documentation. A friend of mine (who owns the same meter) plans to reverse engineer it in the future. Until then, just think of it as a meter without RS-232.

Thanks for the tip-off.