Cheap capacitor tester spotted

[Vectorman]

First off the carrying case. It stinks. Literally. I don't know what kind of plastic is it made out of, but it is going in the garage for a few days to air out.

I'm sorry but that box was never anywhere near a cow, much less made of the skin of a cow! I can smell the plasticizers in it from here and it is on the other side of the room (at least 15 feet away from me).

Holy Schmotz! I got mine and I could smell the package as soon as I walked in to my building. It smells massively like moth balls to me. What a stench. I don't know if it will ever go away. Even if I throw it out....I think it has permanently fouled the air in my shop.

Haven't tried using it yet....need to buy some batteries.

John

 

[Tighe]

So did you guys buy for the $28 source?

 

[Vectorman]

So did you guys buy for the $28 source?

don't know about that. I clicked on the original link in the first post and it was like $60 with shipping. Did I screw up?

John

 

[KenLayton]

Don't know about that. I clicked on the original link in the first post and it was like $60 with the shipping. Did I screw up?

John

The second link later in the thread was for $28 for the tester.

Has anyone done any testing with it yet?

If the carry case stinks, I would just go to the store and buy a cheap Tupperware or Rubbermaid plastic box with a lid to store the tester in. It's what I did with my battery operated Dremel tool and all it's accessories.

 

[YellowDog]

The tester is fine. It was the "leather" case that it was shipped with. It took about 2 days for most of the smell to come off the tester. The case is still out in the garage airing out. It is almost bearable now.

I have been testing caps and so far either I don't have any bad capacitors or the meter doesn't work. It does measure resistance accurately from what I can see, but all the caps seem to come out in the good range. In the defense of the meter, if a cap is obviously bad, I usually toss them without a second thought, so most of the used caps I've kept are probably good. If I find any though, it will be worthwhile.

ken

 

[stangbat]

Ordered one from the jewelry place. $38.73 shipped. Should be handy and for the price I figured I may as well pick it up.

 

[stangbat]

Holy crap, this thing does stink! I could smell it when it was still boxed up! Out to the garage it goes.

That was quick though, ordered on the 3rd, in my hands right now.

 

[demogo]

Holy crap, this thing does stink! I could smell it when it was still boxed up! Out to the garage it goes.

That was quick though, ordered on the 3rd, in my hands right now.

I wonder what their warehouse smells like with row after row of them stacked high...

 

[badgamer]

Just a heads up for anyone that dosn't live in the States that is thinking of getting one of these.

I put an order in last night(the jewelry place), postage to Australia was $32....a bit steep considering I get some PCB's for about $40...but I can live with that!

BUT, today I get an invoice from them (international checkout) asking for another $11.53, with no explanation what the extra charge is!

I'm just waiting for a reply from them.


Maybe It's a stench tax!!!

or maybe I didn't read the terms of international sales properly????

I'll post the outcome.



john

.

 

[Sectorseven]

LOL I wonder if customs would hold it because of the stench.

 

[YellowDog]

Maybe the $11.53 was the fumagation tax.

BTW. I checked the case today and it is almost done outgassing. If I held it up near me face, I could still smell it but it wasn't knock your socks off strong.

ken

 

[2600]

Just another heads up, the blue esr meter kit can be had on ebay for $75 shipped. It does come with a free odor, but it is a known good esr meter.

 

[danweb]

I am pretty sure the smell is the plasticizer evaporating out of the case. Its what they use to make the case flexibile to get that fake leather feel. Apparently they use alot of it in making this case. I imagine that in China the regulations regarding the use of this stuff are probably pretty loose. I would definitely recommend airing the case out for a while in a well ventilated place. And for gods sake stop smelling the damn thing!

 

[Vectorman]

ok, call me stupid, but how is this thing supposed to work? I thought it actually tested capacitance. But does it work more like a battery tester?

Every single cap I test it on, the needle just goes all the way to the right. Does that mean they are all good? Or is my tester broken?

The scale shows MFD on the bottom, which I assumed was MicroFarads. That's why I assumed it was to test capacitance.

Help me out please!!!!

John

 

[dorschel]

ok, call me stupid, but how is this thing supposed to work? I thought it actually tested capacitance. But does it work more like a battery tester?

Every single cap I test it on, the needle just goes all the way to the right. Does that mean they are all good? Or is my tester broken?

The scale shows MFD on the bottom, which I assumed was MicroFarads. That's why I assumed it was to test capacitance.

Help me out please!!!!

John

This is not a capacitance meter. It is an ESR meter. Capacitance meters are not always accurate in that a bad cap may not look bad when just reading its capacitance. An ESR meter is just another tool to help make repairs a little easier. I don't own this model but I suggest starting by testing some known bad caps. Compare the readings of the known bad caps to a good cap of the same voltage/value/type. This will help build confidence and a better understanding of what to expect. I think using this tool will take a bit of experience working with different value capacitors. In general, question any reading over 3 ohms and anything over 10 ohms is almost certainly too high. Typically, as the rated working voltage of a cap goes up, the so does the NORMAL (acceptable) ESR. Capacitors used in power switching applications need to have really low esr... less than .5 ohms. Nonpolar caps are normally less than .5 ohms. ESR meters work very well for finding in circuit open caps. When testing caps in-circuit, there is no need to de-solder them unless the cap is in parallel with another cap. In this case, pulling one leg of the cap to be tested will suffice. Oh yeah, you should never test on a live circuit. Power down the device and discharge the capacitor before you test it.

 

[stangbat]

ok, call me stupid, but how is this thing supposed to work? I thought it actually tested capacitance. But does it work more like a battery tester?

Every single cap I test it on, the needle just goes all the way to the right. Does that mean they are all good? Or is my tester broken?

The scale shows MFD on the bottom, which I assumed was MicroFarads. That's why I assumed it was to test capacitance.

Help me out please!!!!

John

dorschel covered this pretty well, but it does not test capacitance. I think the MFD scale on the bottom is there to give you an idea of an acceptable resistance range for those value of capacitors. However, you should read very low ESR for most caps. Small value caps will give you a higher ESR, although everything I've tested has been near zero. Only really small ceramic caps like a 0.1 uF have given me higher ESR readings, which is normal.

Some info here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESR_meter

 

[Vectorman]

Thanks guys. I'll put this thing on all the caps on some monitor chassis I'm rebuilding and hopefully see what a bad cap looks like. I'm with some other earlier posters...until I see it give me a "bad" reading on something I won't feel as confident that it's doing anything.

Thanks,
John

 

[stangbat]

If you are getting a near zero reading on a good electrolytic cap, you can be pretty sure it is working properly. You can also test some very low resistance resistors to double check. I tested a few power resistors I had on hand in the 1-5 ohm range and it worked fine.

 

[Level42]

Dunno.....I get itchy from analogue dials these days....

I'm happy with my Russian ESR meter
(http://www.radiodevices.info/zakaz_e.php) but you'll have to ask if he has some in stock because he had some delivery problems with the displays....

Here's a test video (in case you missed it)....http://youtu.be/vQB7te6SunY

I bet that analogue one is based on this (or something similar): http://ludens.cl/Electron/esr/esr.html
The microprocessor based one's have lots of advantages over the analogue, but I agree it's a great price.

 

[Vectorman]

Wow, I just watched that utube video and that is the meter for me. Just put in an order (hope he gets the parts soon to build one).

Got an extra you'd sell me?

Anyone?

John

Dunno.....I get itchy from analogue dials these days....

I'm happy with my Russian ESR meter
(http://www.radiodevices.info/zakaz_e.php) but you'll have to ask if he has some in stock because he had some delivery problems with the displays....

Here's a test video (in case you missed it)....http://youtu.be/vQB7te6SunY

I bet that analogue one is based on this (or something similar): http://ludens.cl/Electron/esr/esr.html
The microprocessor based one's have lots of advantages over the analogue, but I agree it's a great price.