ESR Meter Recommendations

[Marc Verdiell]

I have been using the BK Precision 879B:
http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/bk-precision/lcr/879b.htm?ref=gbase&gclid=
CKj82-uIoMgCFRNrfgodYOYOvA
It's at a completely different price point ($250-ish), and much more than an
ESR meter - but it's a bargain for a full R,C,L,Z meter. Very useful to know
not only the ESR, but the actual value of the capacitance (which for big
power supply caps could have diminished significantly over the years). It
can measure components at 100Hz, 1000Hz and 10Khz. You could not justify it
for a single power supply repair, but if you do a lot of old electronics
restoration projects, it is a precious tool to have. I couldn't live without
it now.
You can see it in action in the middle of this video here, in this case
exonerating a capacitor that I sure thought was the cause of my power
problem, but turned out to be perfectly good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqD6xVI6qNs

Marc

 ======================
From: Ken Seefried <seefriek at gmail.com>
Subject: ESR Meter Recommendations

I'm going to be working on my 11/730s power supply, so I'm in the
market for an ESR meter.  I've seen some (older) recommendations for
the AnaTek 'Blue' and various 'Dick Smith' derivatives.  However, eBay
is flooded with knockoff Mega328 based ESR/Transistor/SCR/etc. testers
all looking like:

http://www.amazon.com/DROK-Multifunction-Mega328-Transistor-Capacitor/dp/B00
NKY3M1W/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1443561246&sr=8-16&keywords=esr+meter
Anyone had any experience with one of these devices?

KJ
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