This is the one I have used for years..... http://clientes.netvisao.pt/greenpal/evb1.htm About $88 USD J

John wrote.... ---- That is an authorized Bob Parker variation of his original Dick Smith ESR meter kit. On this side of the pond they were made by Anatek until the owner was killed in an accident, then the series (now called the Blue ESR) is made by Alltronics and sold by dealers such as I. These all use Bob's licensed code, just different box and PCB layouts. If you want a Blue ESR I sell them on my web site's catalogue section, or you can order the EVB from Portugal if you are on the east side of the pond. I've been selling variations (evolution by intelligent design) of Bob's ESR meter kit since 1999! ---- That is great info, thanks! Question - I could be mistaken, but I think someone mentioned that these were not good for testing caps that had a higher operating voltage. Is that correct? My understanding was that the testing method used by this ESR meter was valid for most all the large electrolytics...? J

On 09/30/2015 7:14 AM, Jay West wrote: As for testing large capacitors, about the highest value that gives useful readings is around 10,000ufd. Larger than that and the ESR is too close to zero ohms unless the cap is really bad... One other unmentioned (I keep forgetting to add it to the list) benefit to the meter is it does read down to 0.01 ohms which can be handy when looking for shorts. Blue ESR Kit Manual: https://www.flippers.com/pdfs/BlueESR.pdf John :-#)# -- John's Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 Call (604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, VideoGames) www.flippers.com "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out"

"How are folks testing the very large electrolytics in the 25,000, 80,000 or even 100,000 uF range that are encountered in the power supplies of some of these old machines?" The method I use is pretty close to what you mention, though I lack an electronic load. Here are some thoughts... For measuring capacity - on these rather large-value caps, it's quite acceptable to time their discharge rate through a known, stable resistance of some reasonable value based on the marked capacitance. Make several runs and average them out. Calculating value is then simple arithmetic - C=T/R. For leakage, I use a variable voltage-regulated PSU with current-viewing resistor in series. At what percent of marked voltage does leakage clear the noise? At what voltage does it become significant and at what point does it exceed allowable? All electrolytics leak, and the larger value the part, the more expected leakage. Check a datasheet, or just use your experience and make educated guesses - hint: how much power (as in heat rejection) is the cap dissipating at working voltages vs. its marked value and physical size? And as you suggest, watching supply ripple on the scope, with the cap under some nominal load, is a tried & true method. It's usually my first step, if I think a cap might be in trouble. (I was certain that I'd have to replace the 30 yr-old 95,000uF part in my Altair.. but the dang thing proofed out just fine. Ran it for a day at 10% over working voltage, and leakage sat right where it was when I began the test. ) On Wed, Sep 30, 2015 at 1:35 PM, Chris Elmquist <chrise at pobox.com> wrote:

I can put in another vote of confidence for this one. I have one from Portugal (because I didn?t know about the this-side-of-the-pond source) and it works as advertised. - Mark On Sep 30, 2015, at 12:54 PM, John Robertson <jrr at flippers.com> wrote:

On Wed, 30 Sep 2015, John Robertson wrote: I bought a kit from anatekcorp.com last year to replace my Dick Smith version that spouted legs and was rather disappointed with how it had been kitted up. A lot of the components were very low quality or did not fit the board properly, so I substituted my own. Even the 9V battery snap was made wrong (bad quality wire and the snap was made backwards). Another oddity was the kit included two 18 pin dip sockets instead of an 18 pin and a 16 pin (I used some 3M dual wipe sockets that I had anyway). One thing that really bothered me about the 'Blue ESR' variation compared to the original Dick Smith version was the lack of banana jacks, however I found some shrouded jacks which fit the blue Hammond enclosure. If there is any interest in the changes I made to my meter, I'll see about digging up my notes/parts list and the photos I took during assembly.

On Wed, 30 Sep 2015, John Robertson wrote: It wasn't really a case of missing parts, just really poor quality parts apparently purchased in bulk based on price and little else (which may also be the reason why my kit had two 18 pin sockets in it). Some of the parts also looked suspiciously like the really junk stuff you find from the far-east eBay resellers. The capacitors they included did not match the lead spacing on the board (cheaper off-brand 5mm dia, 2mm ls parts instead of low profile 6.3mm dia 2.5mm ls), although I had no trouble at all finding the correct low-profile parts from Mouser that the board seemed to be designed for (IIRC, Nichicon SA and SR series electrolytics). Even the trimmer resistors were the wrong format for the board, which I replaced with some high quality Bourns parts that fit perfectly. Heck, even the Omron button cap was selected based on price...a tiny square cap intended to poke through a round hole? I used a larger round button cap ...yeah. About that...those leads and banana plugs are *terrible*. Absolutely junk. [Not to mention if you plug the "banana plugs" they include into the test probes they offer, there is no safety shroud at the plug to probe connection.] The little short wires they included were kinked, sticky, and were /never/ going to work out well. Maybe they would be find for a hobbyist who uses the tool every once in awhile, but for daily use? No way. I also wanted to be able to use my Probe Master and Parrot Clip test leads with it. The original Dick Smith version had banana jacks, although they weren't shrouded and weren't standard 0.75" spacing, however the shrouded jacks I added to my Blue ESR meter are standard 0.75" spacing, so I can use double-banana plugs with them if I want to. I took lots of photos and notes with the intent to write up a full critical review of it, but I've just been too busy with other projects. My personal opinion is the fit and finish of the Blue ESR meter out of the box isn't up to par and they charge way too much for the kit to be substituting in low quality components.

Ken, I have two of the Atmega328 uC based 'swissknife' testers you mention, cost about $25 ea. on eBay, and have been exceptionally happy with them. They're a brilliant little piece of instrumentation, and IMHO no electronics hobbyist should be without one. For quick testing & ID of SS components, they're just the ticket. Secondly, I have one of these units: http://midwestdevices.com/ - "Capacitor Wizard". They are also quite useful, and have some nice features like a quick-reading analog scale and audible indicator allowing you to set an ESR threshold and then test eyes-off the meter. This can be a real safety measure, if you're working deep inside a chassis. They are a bit overpriced for what you get, though, IMHO. If you're mainly interested in testing for leakage in caps, and want to test them +at+ real working voltages, then you need a device like a Heathkit IT-28 or its Eico / Paco equivalent. Note that these are all "LCR bridges" with leakage test as an added feature. The Heath unit goes to 600V DC, not sure of the others. Finally, there are the "in circuit capacitor checkers" made by Paco and possibly Heath / Eico. These are semi-useful, but in reality, they are pretty dang obsolete - and for some reason, folks pay a lot for them on eBay.. no idea why. Thing is, to really peg down any ESR trouble, you always need to disconnect one end anyway (in case of circuit loading or other fault) - so what's the real value of "in circuit" in that case? HTH On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 5:34 PM, TeoZ <teoz at neo.rr.com> wrote:

Just to clarify a little more (at the risk of being explaining things everyone already knows)... In an ideal capacitor, after the capacitor has charged, all DC current is blocked. However, when applying a DC voltage to a real capacitor, some small current will continue to flow as electrons pass through the dielectric because the dielectric is not ideal. So to model this using ideal components, we show a resistor in parallel to the capacitor that represents the amount of current that continues to flow even though the capacitor is supposed to be blocking. This modeled parallel resistor represents the leakage current. In this case, it is important to test at the working voltage of the circuit (which is usually lower than the working voltage of the capacitor itself with some margin of safety). This is because the current through a resistor is dependent on the voltage across it. Now, at AC, a capacitor will pass current and lead the voltage across it. In an ideal capacitor, no power would be dissipated. However, because it is not ideal, some power is dissipated. This dissipated power is represented by a series resistance. Because an idealized circuit with a cap and a resistor in series will not pass DC current, this circuit must be tested at AC. And the most accurate result will be achieved at the working frequency of the circuit, again, typically 120 Hz (or 2xline frequency). I hope this helps someone Eugene -----Original Message----- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of W2HX Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 8:10 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: RE: ESR Meter Recommendations It seems you may be using two terms interchangeably that have different meanings. Leakage is parallel resistance (DC) and ESR is series resistance (actually impedance so it is frequency dependent. Typically 120 Hz with a full wave bridge rectifier in front of it). -----Original Message----- From: cctalk [mailto:cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of drlegendre . Sent: Wednesday, September 30, 2015 12:11 AM To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: ESR Meter Recommendations Ken, I have two of the Atmega328 uC based 'swissknife' testers you mention, cost about $25 ea. on eBay, and have been exceptionally happy with them. They're a brilliant little piece of instrumentation, and IMHO no electronics hobbyist should be without one. For quick testing & ID of SS components, they're just the ticket. Secondly, I have one of these units: http://midwestdevices.com/ - "Capacitor Wizard". They are also quite useful, and have some nice features like a quick-reading analog scale and audible indicator allowing you to set an ESR threshold and then test eyes-off the meter. This can be a real safety measure, if you're working deep inside a chassis. They are a bit overpriced for what you get, though, IMHO. If you're mainly interested in testing for leakage in caps, and want to test them +at+ real working voltages, then you need a device like a Heathkit IT-28 or its Eico / Paco equivalent. Note that these are all "LCR bridges" with leakage test as an added feature. The Heath unit goes to 600V DC, not sure of the others. Finally, there are the "in circuit capacitor checkers" made by Paco and possibly Heath / Eico. These are semi-useful, but in reality, they are pretty dang obsolete - and for some reason, folks pay a lot for them on eBay.. no idea why. Thing is, to really peg down any ESR trouble, you always need to disconnect one end anyway (in case of circuit loading or other fault) - so what's the real value of "in circuit" in that case? HTH On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 5:34 PM, TeoZ <teoz at neo.rr.com> wrote:

Holm Tiffe wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlfT9LEMbV4 Regards, Holm -- Technik Service u. Handel Tiffe, www.tsht.de, Holm Tiffe, Freiberger Stra?e 42, 09600 Obersch?na, USt-Id: DE253710583 www.tsht.de, info at tsht.de, Fax +49 3731 74200, Mobil: 0172 8790 741