LCR Meter Suggestions

I guess B&K just rebrands things; some is good, some is bad.

But after you null an AC bridge, all you see are the harmonics. A deep null requires a really low distortion oscillator, and cheap function geneartors don't do that.

You need a super-low distortion oscillator or a bandpass or synchronous detector.

Which signal generator? Their TV shop grade models were designed to produce harmonics, which requires the distortion. It was never intended to be lab grade. That was the 200 series which started as a tube design when they were called 'Precision Electronics'. I have several 'Precision Electronics' E200C generators I rescued. They are great for people how repair old AM radios with SW bands.

Yep. The answer was Agilent 33220A.

Joe Gwinn

preferred.

define requirements for the meter. One requirement is that it be capable of measuring capacitance in the range from 1 pf to 10 uf, at 10% accuracy. Actually, I'll aim for the greatest accuracy I can get for a cost of around $500.

I see some have denigrated some B&K models, but I have a BK878 LCR I got 12 years ago, and I like it just fine. Claimed accuracy is around 1 percent and capacitance resolution is 0.1pF, and it goes to thousands of uF. Reads at 120Hz or 1kHz, displays dissipation factor or Q, but not ESR (perhaps the main reason you might want something else if you want to know ESR of electrolytics). There was an 878A with RS232, and the current model is BK878B with USB, and still in the $250 range.

preferred.

Update: I decided to purchase the Agilent U1733C LCR meter. Moderately priced ($428) and HP/Agilent test equipment generally has excellent long term reliability. Again, thanks for all of the input.