another ebay gadget

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xciton

Member
Joined 2013
I can answer a few of the questions from the last two posts.

I received my Chinese version of the board (SMT ver 2.2) from eBay.

Most of the questions can be answered directly from the documentation from the revamped project at AVR Transistortester - Mikrocontroller.net .

The main repository of information is in subversion, but if you don't have subversion, you can browse it by doing to [transistortester] Index of / .

The manual is at http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Doku/trunk/pdftex/english/?view=tar . You'll need to download an archive of the complete directly, but there is a PDF in there once you open it up.

The unpopulated USB section is just for charging capabilities, there is no data transfer on it (you can see the USB data pins are not going anywhere). The diode should be removed and a proper 2.5 Zener put in place.

You can calibrate it without much worry. You just need a couple of small peices of wire (to short out all of the test inputs and a capacitor between 10 and 100 nf . It's all in the documentation.

I'm in the process of loading the latest 1.05 version instead of the 1.02 that came with the unit.
 
palmito

palmito

Member
Joined 2010
danny_66 said:
Can such a transistor tester also be used for matching of mosfets ?
Click to expand...

I don't know if this test mosfets, but it test a lot of other things and has a nice gui to plot the curve(s). http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/151253-diy-curve-tracer-pc.html I have one but have not used it. He sells either the board alone or a finished product on fleabay, the link is in the thread. Costs a lot more though. Sorry for the ot post but thought some here might be interested in this too.
 
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emardee

Member
Joined 2013
I am about to buy one of these little ebay gadgets since they are so cheap and appear to be great value for money (most of them even have free shipping!).

However there appear to be two main designs:


  1. The ESR Tester design (with two test pins)
    or
  2. The Transistor Tester design (with three test pins)

That leaves me with making a choice between the two variants (with their sub-variations!).

The ESR Testers:

  • Comes with a choice of either screw terminals (A); or my personal favourite: with 4mm banana test sockets (B) - either of which makes it much easier to use for in-circuit ESR testing of Capacitors using probes.
  • These seem to be sturdier in design with struts or bolts holding the screen on (and having the sturdier test terminals as mentioned).
  • These devices all seem to come with a backlit screen which is good.
  • Board labelled: ESR Tester v2 (dated 2012 12 12)
  • Unknown Firmware versions and upgradabilty... is this a similar design to the transistor tester platform?
  • Unable to test transistors (unless the extra test pin is there somewhere, but not wired currently)
  • Complex calibration instructions that make no sense to me.... :confused:

The Transistor Testers:

  • You can buy these very cheap but with uncertain firmware (C), or pay a few dollars more and get the latest firmware pre-installed! (D).
  • These all come with both a set of SMD terminals & a set of Flimsy IC Sockets. (might be able to hard wire in some probes to the underside if required - which would give me maximum choice of testing methods)
  • These devices no longer have backlit screens.
  • Labelled: "Booster Edition v2.2 2012 11 26"
  • Are definitely from the upgradeble platform linked to with new firmwares and better instructions available (from Mikrocontroller.net).
  • Likely to be able to improve the hardware quality by following advice from others (see posts above by xciton and kubi48 for ideas)

My ideal device would probably be a combination of the good points from the two platforms: ;)

  • so have SMD, IC & 4mm Sockets all on one board! (Ironically there does appear a few pictures on ebay of such a design with SMD, IC & 4mm sockets, but it looks to be an older design that is much more scrappily made, so not one I'd consider!).
  • It would have the backlit screen.
  • It would be the more sturdy design.
  • Would be upgradable, but already have the latest most accurate firmware installed.
  • Would be able to run all the tests, not just the two pin tests.
  • Would have the support of others to help improve and tweak the hardware over time.
However I am currently torn between buying (B) or (D). There are pros and cons to each.


So does anyone know if the ESR testers are fundamentally the same circuit design platform as the transistor testers, or are they completely different? Can you expose the 3rd pin for the extra tests?


So which would you buy?
ESR Tester with 4mm Sockts (B)

or

Transistor Tester with latest Firmware (D).
 
J

John8

Member
Joined 2005
I have built an option D into a small box to give the PCB some protection along with 4mm terminals to make connecting components easier.
The display is a standard 16 x 2 line so it would be easy to change it for one with a backlight if required. Because the unit is battery powered I really think that this is not necessary due to the extra current drain.
If you are really interested in measuring the ESR of capacitors then a dedicated ESR meter is the way to go. I completed an analogue one a few weeks ago and it does give really accurate results as well as being fully protected against being connected to charged capacitors. (These PCBs would probably be destroyed if connected to a capacitor with a residual charge) Another advantage of the stand alone approach is that the test voltage is only milli-volts at 100kHz so measurements can be carried out in circuit without forward biassing any semi-conductors.
 
K

kasey197

Member
Joined 2009
I got one of these option D ones and it's absolutely indispensable IMO .... Saved me a truck of cash as well as misidentified parts - maybe a touch of irony I guess but I bid for and bought some dual jfets of eBay - before they went into a pcb, I just tested them on this device and it showed them up as dual npn transistors instead of jfets !!! Some more detailed testing and I was certain I had fakes. A pp complaint was duly logged and two weeks later I got my 70 bucks back form the vendor of the fake transistors. So yeah - best 20 bucks I ever spent.
 
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emardee

Member
Joined 2013
For better or worse, I plumped for the ESR Tester with 4mm Sockets (option B in my above list).

My rationale was:

  • it advertises itself as in-circuit testing, which is likely to be my primary usage, so hopefully it will be good at this.
  • The backlight could be handy
  • Sturdy looking construction
  • 4mm Test Sockets for flexible usage
  • It does the tests I'm buying it for (mainly ESR). The tests requiring a 3rd pin, are likely to be fringe cases for me, so better to get a unit that meets my needs better, rather than one that does extra things I'm less likely to use.
I had already ordered this last week before any replies, so hopefully I won't be disappointed with my choice. I guess if the backlight appear to drain battery excessively, I could always put a switch into that part of the circuit, to make the backlight optional.



At the end of the day, I decided it was cheap enough that if I wanted the other one, (or a fancier more expensive unit) I could buy one of those too!! :D


Been a week since ordering now, so will report back when it arrives.


Thanks for the thoughts...


Mike
 
C

caliston

Member
Joined 2013
I just did some digging on these, and my googling came across this thread. Some other things to add:

The two-terminal ESR tester boards are marked 'XJW Putian 2012-6' and have a STC12LE5A60S2 microcontroller (8051-clone). I found a Chinese site with a schematic, firmware and a Word document explaining the algorithm (in Chinese):
ÎÒÉè¼ÆµÄESR±í(¿ÉͬʱÏÔʾÖÐСÈÝÁ¿µçÈÝ) - ¡þÒÇ±í¹¤¾ßרÇø¡þ - ¿óʯÊÕÒô»úÂÛ̳ - Powered by Discuz!

In that ESR.rar there seem to be four firmware versions.
aDC.c and two with Chinese filenames have versions:
lcd_puts("LCR 2.0");
lcd_goto2(0);
lcd_puts("XJW Putian,2011");

meanwhile a.c (10K smaller than the others) has:

lcd_cur0(); lcd_puts("ESR 1.0");
lcd_goto2(0); lcd_puts("XJW Putian,2012");

diffing the firmware shows they do different calculations, but I'm not sure exactly what.
 
E

emardee

Member
Joined 2013
Thanks for the info. I will attempt to brush up my Chinese deciphering (or in other words just use Google Translate!).

I guess in buying this unit over the other one, I was resigning myself to probably having a fixed firmware (to all intents and purposes). As long as it works reasonably well at its stated job, I will be happy. If some improvements (in the form of updated firmwares) arrive in due course, that would be a real unexpected bonus!

I'll report back when the unit arrives and is tested.

Mike
 
R

Ray LaRue

Member
Joined 2013
China Transistor-Cap-Ind checker

I purchased the tester above and received it, but there was no information on it or operations instructions. Are there any existant? I see the German website but have not been able to find English copies therein. Your attentioni is appreciated. Ray, W4BYG
 
F

frankstudio

Member
Joined 2013
We are the exact ebay seller of this item,
welcome to view our ebay shop about this tester:
Transistor Tester Capacitor ESR Inductance Resistor Meter NPN PNP MOSFET 9V | eBay

Many buyer want to get the newest firmware,
you can download in below link(link valid period:15 days):
http://www.adrive.com/public/FfDAjF/AVR tester upgrade.rar

we welcome wholesale,or you can buy with your friends together.
we have discount if you want to buy 6 pieces or more.
welcome to contact us via ebay message or our email:fjcl@live.cn
 
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