Bob Parker's ESRmeter ?
Bd
Is there a way to fully build the ESRmeter from Bob parker without
buying the kit ?
(I mean, is the firmware available somewhere to download for free ?).
Thanks in advance!
-- Bernard
(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
--
Bob Parker
It took well over 100 hours of concentration and headaches to write
and fine-tune the firmware, so it's not available for free. Even if
you had the firmware, you'd need a programmer for that specific chip,
which you'd have to track down. :-(
Honestly, it's much easier to get the Dick Smith kit than to make
your own board, source the appropriate displays and other components,
cut out the display window in the front of the case, drill holes etc
etc. If you get the kit, you get a microcontroller containing the
firmware plus every single component you need except a 9V alkaline
battery.
Cheers,
George
Bd <nospam...@ifrance.com> wrote:
Hate spam? Go to http://www.bluebottle.com
Jim Yanik
Geez,some people.
$45 bucks US was a really great deal,IMO. And it was fun to put together.
--
Jim Yanik,NRA member
remove X to contact me
Arthur Jernberg
supplied probes. Been using one for quite a while and find it a excellent
value.
"Bob Parker" <bo...@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:9ie82v4cf4o6scf7v...@4ax.com...
Dan Cauley
i'm totally happy with it except that i've had to resolder the probes a
couple times, but otherwise i'm very happy with it.
Dan
"Arthur Jernberg" <stu...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:7vydnYvCKdc...@comcast.com...
Sam Goldwasser
> Geez,some people.
> $45 bucks US was a really great deal, IMO. And it was fun to put together.
Yeah, so how many man hours would he spend getting all the parts together,
let alone the micro and programmer, etc. :)
--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Home Page: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Site Info: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html
jonpi
--
thanks
John
ps. reply to my earthlink account
same username at earthlink.net
Stephen Shaw
No, and whilst I sometimes think big corporations get shafted because of
their rapacious pricing policies Bob Parker is a one man band - you are
taking bread off his table. Spend the money the kit is good value.
root
>
> No, and whilst I sometimes think big corporations get shafted because of
> their rapacious pricing policies Bob Parker is a one man band - you are
> taking bread off his table. Spend the money the kit is good value.
>
>
45 bucks is a fine price. Where and how do I order the kit?
John Bachman
wrote:
We have them but our price has gone up do to the weak dollar and
increased shipping costs. By the way, it is known as the Dick Smith
ESR meter - designed by Bob but packaged and marketed by Dick Smith
Electronics in Australia.
We also offer them fully assembled. Check out the ESRSavr too.
www.anatekcorp.com/testequipment/esr.htm
John
AnaTek Corporation
The Electronic Repair Center
www.anatekcorp.com
Bob Parker
Thanks to everyone for all your nice comments! Even after all this
time, it's great to know that the meter I was forced to design to get
me out of trouble fixing switching power supplies is helping a lot of
other technicians. :-)
Regards,
Bob
"Stephen Shaw" <bottr...@junkbuster.zzn.com> wrote:
>
>No, and whilst I sometimes think big corporations get shafted because of
>their rapacious pricing policies Bob Parker is a one man band - you are
>taking bread off his table. Spend the money the kit is good value.
PS: Your cheque's in the mail, Stephen. ;-)
Arthur Jernberg
true in your case. Occasionally there is a concept brought out but the
designer or inventor only sees the mirror rather than the possibility to
assist others. They plant the item in the hands of the manufacturer and then
with the distribution systems, making a sizable markup at each step. The end
user gets a product that is functional but many times far to expensive for
the small or medium size shop to afford.<
>In your particular case you had the foresight, having been in need, that
others may may need a valuable piece of equiptmant at a very favorable cost.
Then you personally followed after that lead, blessing the small, or
ocassional user with a incredable tool. It personally galls me that anyone
would have the adusity to try to reverse engineer this very afforadable
product.Let alone make it public that they are trying to do so!! IMHO
Cheers, & G'Day Gov. keep up the good work and THANKS AGAIN!! Art Jernbergnews:abua2vo90f8ja45u3...@4ax.com...
Bd
>> Geez,some people.
Hey, what's your problem ?
I just asked a question to know if a firmware was free or not. This
situation is very common on the Web, even for such kind of device and
I was not thinking agressing people asking such a question!
>> $45 bucks US was a really great deal, IMO. And it was fun to put together.
>
>Yeah, so how many man hours would he spend getting all the parts together,
>let alone the micro and programmer, etc. :)
I totally agree. But, from the many electronic devices I built on my
own myself in the last ten years, a lot of them, and this is
particularly true nowadays, were more expansive to build that to buy
already made from a dealer.
Some could call that "masochism", I prefer call that "education" as
you always better know what you put together by yourself and iI prefer
that way of learning. Most of the time, assembling a kit is just
welding wires together and you aren't really involved in the process
the same way as hunting for the parts, thinking of "equivalent parts"
and so on.
Sorry to be so long, but I admit I did not "receive" well the
sarcastic "Geez, people"! 8-)
That said, I totally understand why the firmware is not free and I'll
order a kit, that's it!
Best regards to everyone in here, anyway!
-- Bernard
(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
--
Bd
Bob Parker <bo...@despammed.com> wrote:
> It took well over 100 hours of concentration and headaches to write
>and fine-tune the firmware, so it's not available for free. Even if
>you had the firmware, you'd need a programmer for that specific chip,
>which you'd have to track down. :-(
> Honestly, it's much easier to get the Dick Smith kit than to make
>your own board, source the appropriate displays and other components,
>cut out the display window in the front of the case, drill holes etc
>etc. If you get the kit, you get a microcontroller containing the
>firmware plus every single component you need except a 9V alkaline
>battery.
First, thank you to answer personally (not sure how many n and l in
English 8-))
My concern was not to be the greedest electronician in the world but
just to know if it was possible to make this kit from scratch...and I
totally understand your will to sell your "headache" 8-)
Could you tell me if the only way to order a kit is from Australia
(Dick Smith) or if Dick Smith (or another company selling the kit) has
a (web) store in Europe (UK ?).
Looking forward.....
-- Bernard
(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
--
Bob Shuman
I understand that the ESR meter can be used to make an "in-circuit"
measurement of the "Equivalent Series Resistance" of capacitors. Is this
statement on the basic functionality and use of the ESR meter correct?
Since I am not familiar with how it works, could you provide a high level
description and comparison (pros and cons) of using this methodology over a
simple capacitance meter?
Thank you in advance for sharing on this subject.
Bob Shuman
"Bob Parker" <bo...@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:abua2vo90f8ja45u3...@4ax.com...
petrus bitbyter
As many others stated: The best way to build this specific meter is ordering
the kit.
If you only want to build a ESR-meter: Elektor published a design last year.
When you combine Elektors article and Bob Parkers (free!) assembly manual
you'd have enough info to mak a design of your own.
pieter
"Bd" <nospam...@ifrance.com> schreef in bericht
news:f8982vso52g1sapj0...@4ax.com...
Bob Parker
Under normal conditions, all the ESR meters currently available can
check the ESR of an electrolytic cap in circuit. They do this by
ensuring that there's only a small AC test voltage across the
capacitor, low enough not to make semiconductors in their circuit
conduct.
It has to be pointed out that occasionally you'll encounter
circuits in which there are more than one electrolytic cap in
parallel. In this situation, an ESR meter won't be able to indicate
the ESR of one capacitor alone, so they'll have to be removed from the
circuit to check them.
Not only that, but most ESR meters (including the DSE one) will
show a shorted electrolytic cap as having an incredibly low ("good")
ESR. This is something for the user to keep in mind too.
Last but not least, a small number of caps will have a perfectly
acceptable ESR but low capacitance. This can cause circuit
malfunctions but the ESR meter won't show anything wrong.
ESR meters were mainly created to identify electrolytic caps whose
electrolyte has dried out, and they are very good at doing this.
Normal capacitance meters are usually quite hopeless at showing them
up, unless the capacitor is open circuit or close to it.
There's more about this subject, including info on how to make a
99c ESR measuring adaptor, at http://octopus.freeyellow.com/esr.html
Doug Jones has even more on his Capacitor Wizard website at
http://www.awiz.com/cwinfo.htm. I've heard nothing but rave reviews of
the Cap Wizard, by the way.
I hope this has answered your question adequately. :)
Regards,
Bob
"Bob Shuman" <resh...@removethis.lucent.com> wrote:
>Bob,
>
>I understand that the ESR meter can be used to make an "in-circuit"
>measurement of the "Equivalent Series Resistance" of capacitors. Is this
>statement on the basic functionality and use of the ESR meter correct?
>
>Since I am not familiar with how it works, could you provide a high level
>description and comparison (pros and cons) of using this methodology over a
>simple capacitance meter?
>
>Thank you in advance for sharing on this subject.
>
> Bob Shuman
Bob Parker
Thanks for understanding the situation regarding the firmware. :-)
I know how much work it would be to find all the parts to build one of
the meters, so I was trying to save you time and especially headaches
of the kind I had when I made the prototypes.
Satcure in England is re-selling the Dick Smith kits. His website
is at http://www.netcentral.co.uk/satcure/hobby/tools/tools.htm
Don't forget that if you have an oscilloscope, you can make your
own ESR testing adaptor extremely cheaply. This might be all you need.
See http://octopus.freeyellow.com/99.html for the details!
Thanks for your interest in the meter. If you have any questions
etc, you can e-mail me direct at <bo...@despammed.com>.
Regards,
Bob
Bd <nospam...@ifrance.com> wrote:
PJ
> Thanks to everyone for all your nice comments! Even after all this
> time, it's great to know that the meter I was forced to design to get
> me out of trouble fixing switching power supplies is helping a lot of
> other technicians. :-)
>
> Regards,
> Bob
>
CDRW(2 yrs old) drive started acting up. Wouldn't read intermittently.
Finally quit altogether. Found 2 10uf 16v caps at 14, same kind close
by was .43. The others weren't terribly bad, but didn't measure as new
either. Working fine again after replacing the two......Thanks again-Paul
Jim Adney
wrote:
>$45 bucks US was a really great deal,IMO. And it was fun to put together.
This is one of those things I've been putting off forever. Who has the
kits for $45? It's been too long since I got to build a good kit. ;-)
-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney jad...@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------
PJ
news:9nj92v8fcgmoaojsh...@4ax.com...
Here's where I got mine....Paul
http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/3e25f170049b1a88273fc0a87f9c071
4/Product/View/K7204
Stephen Shaw
Again?! That's what you said the last time ;) A tinny of Fosters XXXX
would be better :)
Bob Parker
At the bottom of this page is a list of the people who are selling
this kit: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrmeter.htm
If you can't access this page immediately, please try again later.
At the time I'm writing this, it looks like there's some problem with
the Ozemail system.
Regards,
Bob
Jim Adney <jad...@vwtype3.org> wrote:
Bob Shuman
Thank you for taking the time to reply. I'll pursue the link when I get
time to better understand the concept of ESR. I did understand that
capacitors that are in parallel needed to be isolated to determine which was
defective, but the info on shorted caps showing good ESR is new information.
Thanks again.
Bob
"Bob Parker" <bo...@despammed.com> wrote in message
news:o2nb2vgee9h9t320a...@4ax.com...
Great response deleted to allow posting, but left reference below for
others.
Laurence Dishman
more to build than buying the Bob Parker/Dick Smith ESR meter
outright.
"petrus bitbyter" <p.k...@hccnet.nl> wrote in message news:<VBkV9.54$6Y3....@amsnews02.chello.com>...
Maarten A.E.Bakker
> ocassional user with a incredable tool. It personally galls me that anyone
> would have the adusity to try to reverse engineer this very afforadable
> product.Let alone make it public that they are trying to do so!! IMHO
I might be ordering an ESR meter soon, with Bob Parker's design having a
good chance of being the one I order. Regarding the firmware, there is one
reason I could imagine for wanting to have the source or reverse engineer
the firmware: availability. When I really like to use it, I might want to
order a second one or a replacement in, say, 10 years. No way to know if
it will still be available then.
Regards,
Maarten Bakker.
Bd
Le Wed, 15 Jan 2003 21:43:17 GMT, "petrus bitbyter"
<p.k...@hccnet.nl> écrivait:
>As many others stated: The best way to build this specific meter is ordering
>the kit.
Yes, I understand. I have to admit that I was not looking neither for
the simplest nor the cheapest way to build it but the "hobbiest" if I
can use such a word 8-).
>If you only want to build a ESR-meter: Elektor published a design last year.
>When you combine Elektors article and Bob Parkers (free!) assembly manual
>you'd have enough info to mak a design of your own.
I saw it on the magazine but as stated by so many people here, Bob's
one seems to be the best one, or close to it, so why re-invent the
wheel when there is a perfect one in this world..? 8-)
Thanks for your answer and regards!
Bd
Le Thu, 16 Jan 2003 09:24:29 +1100, Bob Parker <bo...@despammed.com>
écrivait:
> Satcure in England is re-selling the Dick Smith kits. His website
>is at http://www.netcentral.co.uk/satcure/hobby/tools/tools.htm
I'll get in touch with them, thanks!
> Don't forget that if you have an oscilloscope, you can make your
>own ESR testing adaptor extremely cheaply. This might be all you need.
>See http://octopus.freeyellow.com/99.html for the details!
I know this site and I have an oscilloscope. But, as you certainly
guessed, even if I'm not a professional, just a hobbyist, I think that
to have a dedicated device to track capacitor defaults is better than
to use the 99c 'device', even if the idea is very smart!
> Thanks for your interest in the meter. If you have any questions
>etc, you can e-mail me direct at <bo...@despammed.com>.
Just one and I post it here as the answer could be of interest for
other people:
Considering 2 used capacitors of the same value (let say, 100 µF) but
with different voltage limit, say one is 16V and the other 63V.
Does the ESR will mesure the same or is the voltage limit having an
influence on the reading of the ESR (we suppose both components have
been used 'normally' inside their voltage limit bounds... )
TIA and best regards,
-- Bernard
(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
--
Bob Parker
That's a very good point. It shows up one of the problems of making
a device dependent on firmware.
Dick Smith Electronics always tries to carry stocks of replacement
parts for their kits, including the ESR meter. Also, all the resellers
of the ESR meter have a small stock of programmed microcontroller
chips. I can supply them too.
Hopefully in another ten years someone will still have the chips
and Zilog will still be making the Z86E0412PSC devices. If not, the
meter might have to be redesigned around some other microcontroller.
Regards,
Bob
"Maarten A.E.Bakker" <maa...@panic.et.tudelft.nl> wrote:
>
>I might be ordering an ESR meter soon, with Bob Parker's design having a
>good chance of being the one I order. Regarding the firmware, there is one
>reason I could imagine for wanting to have the source or reverse engineer
>the firmware: availability. When I really like to use it, I might want to
>order a second one or a replacement in, say, 10 years. No way to know if
>it will still be available then.
>
>Regards,
>
>Maarten Bakker.
Bob Parker
ESR is a figure which varies with capacitor manufacturer, capacitor
value, voltage, size, type and temperature. Rather than me going into
detail here, it might be easier for you to look at the ESR Meter Hints
web page which tries to answer questions about this kind of thing, at
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrhints.htm
I hope you are able to access it OK. Ozemail has been having
problems lately...
Regards,
Bob
Bd <nospam...@ifrance.com> wrote:
>
>Just one and I post it here as the answer could be of interest for
>other people:
>
>Considering 2 used capacitors of the same value (let say, 100 湩) but
>with different voltage limit, say one is 16V and the other 63V.
>
>Does the ESR will mesure the same or is the voltage limit having an
>influence on the reading of the ESR (we suppose both components have
>been used 'normally' inside their voltage limit bounds... )
>
>TIA and best regards,
>
>-- Bernard
>(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
>(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
Bd
On Fri, 17 Jan 2003 09:35:44 +1100, Bob Parker <bo...@despammed.com>
wrote:
>http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrhints.htm
> I hope you are able to access it OK. Ozemail has been having
>problems lately...
No problem accessing the page...which is very interesting and full of
tips.
Thanks again!
-- Bernard
(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
--
Bob Parker
It appears that the problems lasted only about 6 hours. If you
contact me by e-mail, there are some other details I can tell you that
I would not want to bore this newsgroup with. :)
Regards,
Bob
Bd <nospam...@ifrance.com> wrote:
>
>No problem accessing the page...which is very interesting and full of
>tips.
>Thanks again!
>
>-- Bernard
>(NB: mon adresse de retour est valide. Ne rien y changer)
>(NB: This is a valid Reply-To. Do not remove anything)
Martin Pickering {UK}
Bob Parker <bo...@despammed.com> wrote:
>Newsgroups: sci.electronics.repair
>Subject: Re: Bob Parker's ESRmeter ?
I can confirm that we have Bob's ESR meter kits AND fully built/tested
units in stock:
http://www.satcure-focus.com/hobby/page5.htm
In the UK it is called the "Genie ESR meter" to distinguish it from "The
Wizard" meter which we also stock.
We do keep replacement Zilog micros in stock and sell them on an exchange
basis (you send the dud and we send you a good one).
We also carry service parts for both meters.
Martin Pickering
http://www.satcure.co.uk
http://www.satcure.com
http://www.The-Cool-Book-Shop.com
http://www.satcure-focus.com
http://www.netcentral.co.uk/satcure
________________________