"Michael Black" wrote in message
xample.org...
Surely if one buys an ESR meter, they should be practicing with it.
Check
every electrolytic and tantalum, get a feel for the variation. Don't just
use the meter to "check some electrolytics that look bad" and be done with
it, until the next time you need to use the meter.


That should be done with any piece of equipment. Practice with it and learn
the odd things about them.

That $ 15 component tester will sometimes show odd results of the older
transistors and if you change the leads around it will show up differant.
This is also in some of the documentation of the tester.

Where I worked there were many wires in a conduit carring 120 volt control
voltage. With a digital meter there was so much induced voltage you could
not tell if a wire was really active or not. You had to put some kind of a
load on them. YOu could take an analog meter and start with a high voltage
range and then switch to a lower range. If the meter stayed in the same or
near the same physical position, it was just showing the induced voltage.
Even with a wire disconnected at each end,it would still shock the crap out
of you due to that voltage.