10. diymore LCR-T4 Multifunction ESR Meter Transistor Tester Diode Triode Capacitance SCR Inductance M328 MOS PNP/NPN with Battery Case 12864 Backlight LCD Display
“ Amazingly smart electronics tool for little money. ”, says one reviewer. “ Works, but very poor socket layout. ” notes John L. Meissen . One person commented that “ Handy for identifying caps and resisters. Not so accurate for inductance “.
I’m a community college prof teaching electronics and electrical engineering technology. We have a capacitance meter, one sold here on Amazon. It’s a good product, costing close to $40. It does one thing well – measure capacitors. I was wanting that same meter for my home electronics repair lab but stumbled upon this device. Concerned about the inconsistent manufacturing quality and poor documentation from Chinese manufacturers, I still took the risk. I suppose price mattered for home use. I will tell you that you are buying exactly what you see in the photo, nothing more. You get this populated printed circuit board in a anti-static bag with no documentation. I plugged in a battery and started fumbling around with it. I quickly discovered how to measure resistors, capacitors, and transistors. It’s a pretty smart device and for the money, can’t really be beat. There are cons to it. It will
Amazingly smart electronics tool for little money.
Update: I changed my original 3-star to 4-star because, frankly, in spite of the issue I have with the ZIF socket described below, it works well and is quite useful. – First, please give credit where credit is due. As the original creators say,”We don’t mind if you produce and sell clones, but PLEASE note the links to the project’s webpage, source repo and documentation.” This unit comes with zero documentation. The biggest problem is the wiring of the pins on the ZIF socket. The board comes with a 14-pin ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket. The tester can handle two or three wire components, so original design split the socket into three zones, typically splitting the upper portion in half, by soldering the pins together. So, for instance, pins 1-3 would correspond to wire 1, pins 4-7 to wire 2, and the bottom (pins 8-14) to wire 3. That makes it
Works, but very poor socket layout.
I really like this device, especially for the price. It’s easy to quickly identify basic components and transistors that accumulate in my project bin’s thruhole and smd casserole. I will say that I tested it on some inductor coils for crossovers, and a .35mH got reported as a .14mH… Ouch. So take inductance and probably ESR readings with a grain of salt. It could be the ranges I was working in, but you still can’t beat the functionality of this thing for the price.
Handy for identifying caps and resisters. Not so accurate for inductance
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