Question about failing starter capacitors on electric motors - Page 2

Sounds like they need more shelf space for the farting ashtray lines ;-(

    You might be thinking of Jaycar? ;)

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

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

There were two of each on the shelf in the Box Hill (Melb) store,
tagged at $49.95 - but the counter check showed they were $25.
Thanks for the heads-up, I almost bought one six months ago at >$70.
Now I have a MK2 to build.

What're the main differences in capability between the MK1 and MK2?

What else can it be used for apart from testing electro's?

Clifford Heath.

"Clifford Heath"


   ** Not a great lot

  The Mk2 has better protection for the meter .





**  Resistors from  0.01 ohms to 100 ohms -  but must be non-inductive,
lengths of wire or coils are out.

The ESR of cells and batteries -  indicates condition, plus approximate
state of charge or remaining capacity.

Just perfect or button & lithium cells etc.

Do a Google search  -  plenty of stuff  on Bob's site and elsewhere.




......   Phil

    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.

 > What else can it be used for apart from testing electro's?

    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:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/k7214.pdf
    There's also a lot of suggestions/hints from users at:
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrhints.htm

    Hope this answers your questions.



Cheers
Bob

.au:



Hi Bob,

I came across this review website and wondered if you think the
comments and tests on your design are fair?

http://www.anatekcorp.com/testequipment/esrcompar.htm

"Geoff C"




** How about this quote then:

"  But a good 1 ufd, 200 volt aluminum electrolytic can have an ESR of 100
ohms or more. That is beyond the measurement range of all of the meters
listed above!   "


I just checked a number of old but unused electros bought from WES in a bulk
pack.

Values ranged from 0.47uF to 1.0 uF with voltages from 250  to 400 volts  -
physical size all about 12mm by 8mm dia.

None tested more than 30 ohms on Bob's Mk1 meter.

Any that test over 100 ohms are FAULTY  !!!





........  Phil

Good to know, thanks.

    I agree with Phil!

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

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

"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
;-)

"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

Well, if you want to get picky then there were also some incorrect
pitch capacitors supplied, and some of the resistors were incorrect
tolerance. Also, I got Orange 3mm LEDs with Red 7-seg displays.

Dave :)

    Thanks for the feedback... I like to know what people building the
kits are experiencing, so I know what they're talking about if they
contact me about problems.

Bob

Oh, and your software fault diagnostics works a treat too. Built mine
in haste during lunch hour at work and my brain wasn't switched on, so
accidentally installed a wrong value resistor and got the F1 error
message :-/
Yes, you can build it and test it (and troubleshoot it) in under 1
hour, and still have time to each your lunch.

Dave :)