Hi Bob
I built your kit a few years ago and it has been a great addition to my
shop. It still amazes me the dead sets I get working without a
schematic by just poking around a SMPS and finding a high ESR cap.
Prior to getting this meter I would resort to other tricks. I would try
powering up and after fifteen minutes or so feel the caps around the
power supply. Sometimes a warm one turned out to be the culprit. Then
there was always the hot bridging method. Lots of sparks and excitement
At least once you will inadvertently reverse polarity. I wiped out a
regulator and scared the crap out of my wife that day. With my meter
though it doesn't lie. Among many other things we do here, I rebuild
apartment house intercom amplifiers. These things sit in a lobby wall
for twenty years and will suddenly start sounding like crap. I find
dried up electrolytics with my meter almost every time. Its a quick
profitable repair. and the building managers love it too as I rebuild
their equipment at a fraction of the cost of new. One serious concern I
have though is that on more than one occaision I have discharged caps
through the meter . Apparently, and luckily these were not charged
enough to damage it but seeing an arc even a small one through my meter
sure disturbed me though. I read somewhere in this thread about the
installation of two diodes. Could you please tell me the specifics of
this modification? Thanks very much and best regards, Lenny Stein,
Barlen Electronics.