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I like that Peak ESR70 tester. Pretty expensive though. wonder if this MESR-100 is as good. MESR-100

I like that Peak ESR70 tester. Pretty expensive though. wonder if this MESR-100 is as good. [MESR-100](https://poal.co/static/images/9393939796969292.png)

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[–] • 1 pt (edited )

You've probably seen it, but in case you haven't, Bob Andersen just showed his LC1020E with some caps. https://youtu.be/TV2FvRSIKBo

From the video, it seems to be a decent enough device, especially for the price. Is that Kelvin adapter included or a separate puchase?

At work we use more expensive LCR bridges daily and this seems to have most of the minimum specs that I'd like to see in such an instrument. Namely 100Hz to 100kHz frequency settings and adjustable level (ours go from 10mV to 2V) and looks like manual settings for everything to override the AUTO functionality. Is it remote controllable by SCPI? If yes, that's pretty schmick, as Dave Jones would say.

Edit: Just looked at the manual and the levels are 0.1 0.3 and 0.6 Volts only and no mention of remote capability but the Kelvin adapter seems to be included. Not bad. Edit 2: Didn't see a way to manually specify parallel or serial equivalent circuit which comes in handy sometimes. Still ok for the price.

[–] • 1 pt

The kelvin adapter is included. It's a comprehensive kit. It's not remote, and it's low voltage - not a leakage tester, but I don't really consider that lacking. Leakage isn't terribly important in older devices, you can usually see it easily with a meter because B+ is on one side and a noticeable positive is on the other side.

I know the specs are great, but when it doesn't agree with my other devices I can't necessarily trust it. What I'm planning on doing is doing a test with all of my devices against a known part. I have access to a calibrated high-end instrument at work, I'll measure a couple of parts and see how each of them do. In no particular order, I have these things available to me:

An older HP digital LCR meter. I consider this one to be my gold standard. A NIU M-Tester An unbranded digital LC tester A B&K Precision digital capacitor tester Several multi-function units (DVM/Freq/Cap/etc) Several eye-tube devices

I'll probably pick an old dry electrolytic and a mica or a molded paper, since the older stuff won't do film.

The most bang for your buck definitely came from the m-tester.

[–] • 1 pt

We mostly do inductors but if you can't get a hold of a capacitance standard, just be aware to stay far away from their first resonance, an order of magnitude in measuring frequency, to be safe. For electrolytics, it usually doesn't make sense to go beyond 1kHz.

Normally, higher levels give better accuracy, just because the DA-converters see more signal. (We usually use very low levels of 10-50mV only for some inductors with many turns or with easily saturated core materials, where µi is influenced by the measuring signal.) Our standard level is 250mV and the capacitance in our RFI-filters only goes up to 2µF and the capacitors are foil types (X2 class). Ultra-high precision is not required in that application.

[–] • 1 pt

I believe the FNIRSI unit is the only one I have that allows the end-user to change test frequency. The rest, including a big mil-type (currently dead, the oscillator quit) use 1Khz. It does the job for most things.

I might set up to do the testing next weekend, I'll point you to the results when I'm done if you're interested.