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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

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.

[–] • 1 pt

That would be neat. Appreciate it.

[–] • 1 pt (edited )

I have some parts selected to do testing on, and I'm going to measure them with an Agilent E4980A unit as my reference standard. This is a calibrated instrument my employer uses to do capacitor matching on some very interesting things.

I've chosen a number of parts from the following:

Electrolytics (dry and wet) Mica (postage stamp and dipped - however the stamps may be paper, there's no way to know.) Molded paper Wax paper Bumblebee (oil and dry)

I'm not going to do any ceramic or film because some of the testers are old eye tube devices, and they don't like ceramic or film devices. I need to make some jigs here, but should have some results soon. Essentially: these are parts that I would find in the old equipment I work on.

For the testers:

Fnirsi tester generic M-tester generic L-C tester B&K Precision tester A couple of eye tube devices (EICO and Olson) An old compensated HP device that I don't remember the model number of and I'm too lazy to go look. I might try my ZOTEK meter as well, but those are generally chargetime meters and as such, probably aren't useful for these old things.

I'm going to do a chart of all the values. I'll let you know ASAP.