Question about failing starter capacitors on electric motors

Good question - it sorta looks like they might be, doesn't it?

You might be thinking of Jaycar? ;)

In the case of DSE it'd be MP3 players, cordless phones and TomToms etc...

The Mk2 version can do some basic checks of its own circuitry if there's a problem getting it working after construction. Generally irrelevant if you know how to solder and put components in the right place. ;) Also the automatic switch-off time is 3 minutes as against 2 minutes for the Mk1. Mk1 is powered by a 9V alkaline battery while Mk2 uses 6 x AAA cells. Mk2's front-panel typical ESR value chart is more up to date. There's no difference in their circuit boards or components.

Phil's already given some possible uses. The kit notes have more suggestions (page 13). You can download it as a 1.3MB .pdf file from:

There's also a lot of suggestions/hints from users at:

Hope this answers your questions.

Cheers Bob

G'day Geoff, Reasonably fair. What it doesn't mention is that you don't need a lot of accuracy to identify which electrolytic cap's causing a problem in a circuit. Its measured ESR will be so far above what the chart says (often not even giving a reading because it's >99 ohms), that it'll stand out like the proverbial(s). That's why the meter's only got a 2 digit display. I don't agree that there's a problem with the component quality. No-one's ever complained to me about it.

Bob

I agree with Phil!

Bob

"Bob Parker"

** But what folk here don't know is that Bob is very large, heavily tattooed and very mean looking .....

....... Phil ;-)

DAMN!!!! I was hoping no-one would identify me at the aus.electronics get-together. Now the cat's outta the bag.

Bob ;-)

That's true, both Mk1 and Mk2 are the same price, I wanted to get one yesterday and first DSE shop I went had only Mk1, had to drive to a second one but it was worth it as they had Mk2 (and few more cheap kits in stock). Tom

Well done! I hope the meter pays for itself before too long. :-)

Bob

At that price it is well worth buying even if I don't use it too often and this kit stands out of the rest - good quality PCB with overlay and nice front panel. Good work Bob!!!!

Tom

Thanks Tom, but John and Bill in the DSE Kits Dept get all the credit for making it into a nice kit. :-) See

Cheers Bob

absolutely. Ive seen some new 10uF 25V smt electro's with 27 Ohms of ESR; I'd expect that from anything which wont spec ESR on the datasheet. Such caps can not be considered "good". A better description would be "awful"

Cheers Terry

Hi Bob,

I gave up, and got my Dad (who lives in Brisbane) to get me one and mail it over. Thanks :)

Cheers Terry

Hi Terry Postage to NZ from the Western Island shouldn't be too pricey so you'll still get it at a good price. ;-) I hope it'll pay for itself in time saved.

Cheers Bob

it should do; 30 minutes will suffice. at present I use a signal generator, a little PCB I made and a small amount of arithmetic. But at that price, its silly not to get one.

interestingly enough, I want it to measure motor run caps. I'm finishing off a design now that starts and runs three-phase SCIMs on a single phase supply, with no inrush (which is a fairly good trick). Suffice it to say I use +24Vdc and -900Vdc to achieve this, along with some baby

1200V 30A SCRs.

besides, arent we east Tassie?

Cheers Terry

"Bob Parker"

** I picked up an ESR Meter mk2 kit from DSE's "Mid City Centre" store on Saturday - for a mere $25 it means I now have a spare. All the components look to be of good quality and the instructions even printed on decent ( glossy) paper for once.

However, the LTS5503AE displays included are rather dim - IMO not useable in the sort of light most would have on a service bench. My old one used the LSD5114s and is quite OK in such light.

Farnell have common cathode HE red displays from Kingbright ( # 622-205 ) for about $1.40 each + gst that should be a lot better.

....... Phil

The Mk2 kit I got the other day also has the dim display, pretty annoying. But considering that I will rarely use such a meter it's not a big deal for me. But I can imagine it would drive a tech who uses it every day nuts.

Dave :)

OK, now I can say I've had complaints about component quality. :-( In the original project, I specified Kingbright SC56-11SRWA 'super red' high efficiency displays. In fact when Jaycar were making the kit, they did the right thing and included them. You can almost read a Jaycar ESR meter in direct sunlight. DSE decided to supply those considerably dimmer orange displays they were already selling. I was never very happy about their brightness. Looks like they've gone to including even lower efficiency displays now. The Kingbright SC56-11EWA ones Phil's found appear to be a later version of the original SC56-11SRWA and should be brilliant. Thanks for the info, Phil.

Cheers Bob

I never was too good at geography. :) Good luck with your design, and just be careful to discharge those caps before you touch them, let alone measure their ESR....

Cheers Bob