原创 A look at electronic component testers

This little rascal (the toy, not Darryl) turned out to be a component tester. I have to say that I was pretty amazed by what I saw; so much so, in fact, that I raced back to my office to purchase one of my very own.

First, I placed an order for the model Darryl and Ivan were playing with -- a Mega328 ESR Transistor Resistor Diode Capacitor Mosfet Tester w/ Test hook -- which is a mega-bargain at only $15.98 USD ($0 shipping and handling):

Mega328 ESR Transistor Resistor Diode Capacitor Mosfet Tester w/ Test hook (Source: Max Maxfield)

 

It turns out that there are a bunch of these things. For example, while I was rooting around on eBay, I also ran across this All-in-1 Component Tester Transistor Diode Capacitance ESR Meter Inductance (they really could work on the naming of these little scamps) for only $19.33 USD (again, $0 shipping and handling).

All-in-1 Component Tester Transistor Diode Capacitance ESR Meter Inductance (Source: Max Maxfield)

 

It does take a couple of weeks for these little ragamuffins to wend their way from China, but I really wasn't in too much of a hurry. They both arrived a few days ago and I just now found a few minutes to take them for a spin.

A few thought off the top of my head are that the $15.98 unit is incredibly reasonably priced and I do like the fact that it comes with the three flying test leads. On the down-side, it was poorly packed, the display was loose, and it doesn’t have an "Off" button, which means that after you've pressed the "Test" button and seen the results, you have to wait for it to turn itself off automatically.

By comparison, the $19.33 unit is more "rugged" and was much better packed. It also has an "Off" button, which is jolly useful if you want to test a bunch of components. This unit didn't come with any test leads, but overall I have to say that it's my favorite.

Next, I gathered a few components together -- a resistor, a couple of capacitors, a FET, and a relay (inductor) -- whatever I found lying around, really. Both of the units come with ZIF (zero insertion force) sockets. You plug the leads from your component into the ZIF socket (it doesn’t seem to matter which pins go in which holes), close the socket, press the "Test" button, and observe the results on the display. The image below shows the test of a 10µF ceramic capacitor.

Testing a 10µF ceramic capacitor (Source: Max Maxfield)

 

To be honest, these testers would be worth the money if all they did was test capacitors. I can’t tell you how many of these components I have lying around that I couldn’t use (until now) because I couldn’t read their markings. The fact that these testers also work with resistors and inductors and diodes and transistors is just cream in the cake, as far as I'm concerned.

Check out this video showing the $19.33 unit in action:

One thing that did impress me is the fact that, when I tested my FET, it appears (from the diagram presented on the display) that the tester correctly identified the fact that there's an internal protection diode. I know there is such a diode because that was one of my selection criteria when I purchased these transistors (I'm going to use them to control the meters in my Inamorata Prognostication Engine and the relays in my Nixie Tube Clock, so I need to protect myself from the effects of back-EMF).

On the other hand, it may be that this diode is just part of the FET diagram they used -- I need to try this with a FET I know not to have this diode to make sure.

The only area I think these testers could use some work is the way in which they number the component pins on the display and associate these numbers with the pins in the ZIF socket -- sometimes the mapping is obvious; other times less so -- but overall I feel this is a minor niggle and I think either of these units would complement anyone's workspace and/or make a perfect gift.