Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

Howdy,
Take a look at
http://www.anatekcorp.com/testequipment/esrcompar.htm which gives a
reasonable comparison between the cheaper ESR meters on the market.
The B&K units aren't mentioned, though.

Bob



Michael Fiedler wrote:

Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

"Michael Fiedler" wrote in message
...
Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

Mike I bought an ESR meter in kit form several years ago & I love it. I
think it was about $50. If you are going to work on SMPS you will need one.
Here is a link to the Dick Smith model I have. Your local supplier is making
a pretty good mark up, they sell a finished meter for $87 at the web site
I'm sending you. (also in NY, probably the same meter.)


http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrmeter.htm

I have a Sencore LC103 and the Dick Smith meter I built from a kit. For ESR
measurements I find either to be adequate. The ability to test DA on the
Sencore is a big help in finding problem caps. I have found quite a few
that I probably would not have changed based on just ESR measurements.

In general, however, the DSE ESR meter is a must have for any tech, IMO.

Leonard Caillouet

"Michael Fiedler" wrote in message
...
Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

There's also a way to check ESR with a scope:

http://octopus.freeyellow.com/esr.html


"Michael Fiedler" wrote in message
...
Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

On Fri, 23 Apr 2004 18:24:24 GMT, Michael Fiedler
wrote:

Since I do a lot of repair at work and at home, I wanted to pose a
question to the techies in the group. At work I use a Sencore LC
meter. At home, I have nothing to check caps with. Is there that big
of a difference in cap checkers, especially when checking ESR between
say a Sencore high end as opposed to a B&K $300-$500 model. Also, a
local supplier in town is selling ESR meters that are made by some guy
in NY and they sell for about $140. He claims everyone that has
bought them has paid for it with the first two service calls. It is
an in-circuit checker. It comes with a chart for several cap values
and kind of tells you what a good one should read and what a bad one
will read. It looks like it is a home-brew type thing. Anyhow, my
bottom line is I am going to get something for use for my home
business and I can't spend the money a Sencore costs, but I am trying
to get info on the B&K's and or this home-brew unit. Any opinions are
greatly appreciated and thanks in advance. To reply privately, if the
nospamo is in the address, just take that out.

Mike

Thanks to all who posted; I have been given some very good ideas, and
a good direction to go in selecting something to check cap ESR's with.
If I hit the big jackpot someday ( ) maybe I can afford a Sencore
LC meter. Thanks again!