root wrote:

When I have encountered power supply problems in the past
I have just replaced all the caps. I have wanted to get
an in-circuit ESR meter but they either came as kits or
were more than I wanted to pay. A while ago someone posted
here that one could get a functional ESR meter from China
for under $30. I hastily did a web search and found this:
http://www.dx.com/p/lcr-t4-meter-tes...ticolor-364576

I ordered one and after several weeks it came today.
I hadn't paid attention to the picture. The device came
without any instructions. There is an EZ-insertion socket
which as far as I can tell utilizes only three pins, say
1,2,3. The unit works fine for testing resistors connected
either from 1-3 or 2-3 or 1-2. I wanted to test some
capacitors in circuit so I cut a clip lead in half and
connected the wire ends to pins 1-3. The device seems
to read electrolytic capacitors as diodes but gives
two uF readings which bear no relationship to the values
written on the capacitors. For example, an 800uF cap
might read 1.3v, 2.1uF.

I am hoping that someone in this group can shed some
light on the device, specifically how it can be used
to tell me which caps have to be replaced in some
device.


First, was the capacitor discharged before the test.

Second, did you connect it, and then press the button to start the
tests?

I have one that is similar, and it displays the capacitance and ESR for
electrolytics. I also have the original Bob Parker, and a couple other
cheap ESR meters that all give adequate readings.