In the Sept – Oct 13 ARRL publication of QEX, W0PCE has a nice article on ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) meters. I won’t go into details because I did on a blog post I have saved in drafts for when I finish my own ESR meter but the one sentence version; An ESR meter tests electrolytic capacitors. This meter is a nice analog ESR meter that works well if you are just looking for a good/no-good meter reading.
A friend of mine when in on a buy from FAR circuits to get the board. I believe I reviewed this earlier? If not it’s in my ESR post.. so that’ll come. The board was dirt cheap but if you’re particular you might be better off using protoboard. I don’t know where they got the parts package, but it all worked and came with everything except the connector, meter and battery pack.
Shown is a 33 Ohm resistor for testing to see that 33 Ohms is nearly-full scale which is about perfect for me. I went with a BNC connector and cable… just because I have a ton of them. It’ll be hard to finish my updated ESR meter now that I have this but I’ll find the inspiration some time. 😀
