ESR Meter Recommendations

[Tothwolf]

On Wed, 30 Sep 2015, John Robertson wrote:
> On 09/29/2015 2:59 PM, Jay West wrote:
>
>> This is the one I have used for years.....
>> 
>> http://clientes.netvisao.pt/greenpal/evb1.htm
>> 
>> About $88 USD
>
> 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!

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.