| ak_47_boy |
I am looking to buy a LCR meter. Should it have variable test frequency? I see very nice units but they are fixed at 1khz.
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| Conrad Hoffman |
| A 1khz test will identify bad caps and let you match caps and inductors. It's definitely way more useful than not having any test capability. OTOH, if you want to find out a bit more about a component, you need a wider test range. You also need a good dissipation factor readout. I'd far rather have one of the old GR portable or bench bridges, than a modern handheld unit without frequency choice or DF readout. OTOH, the old bridges usually won't read high enough for really big electrolytics. If you really get into this, you'll find there's no such thing as a truly "universal" bridge :( and the modern units are either limited or expensive. BTW, though I don't know the best software, your sound card and computer can be a very effective LCR meter, probably better than most LCR meters. |
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| thomas997 |
0.3% for what, the whole range of measurements? Somehow I doubt that claim, but who knows.
If you can find a B&K 878/878A/879 they are a similar product, and should be much cheaper (they are also re-branded a lot).
The only thing is you wont get those fancy probes, and also the accuracy is less. 0.7% for most values, then up to 5% for the large uF range (10,000uF).
but it does look like a nice meter. |
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| Conrad Hoffman |
| The meter looks ok, though I also doubt the .3% claim. For that price I'd be more apt to go pick up a used traditional bridge. For PC software, try http://www.audua.com/SW/Feature%20Summary.htm If you do a Google search including the term "reference resistor" "sound card" and maybe loudspeaker, you'll find lots of interesting stuff. There's a note from a guy using the above link software that shows how to build a nice little adapter box to make things easy. IMO, the somewhat expensive handheld tester offers easier bench troubleshooting, but that's about it. For general purpose measuring and matching, I'd rather have the wide frequency range available via the PC or a traditional bridge and signal generator- hey, you'll need one of those eventually anyway :devilr: |
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