5 Transistor ESR Meter

Joshua R. T. Purba
Electronics

At the start of December 2022 I started my build of the 5 Transistor ESR Meter. The original design was made by user Jay_Diddy_B of the EEVBlog Forum. My build is now finally complete. I’ve posted my completed build in EEVBlog Forum.

I had posted my progress to get there to the Fediverse. I just thought it will be nice to have everything in one place, so I reposted everything in this blog.

  1. Initial incomplete breadboarding.
  2. Later breadboarding and problem encountered. I received a lot of responses and suggestions on how to solve the problem here.
  3. Soldered to perfboard and problem solved.
  4. Built into enclosure.
  5. ESR scale drawn.
    The front view of the completed build. The enclosure is black plastic box. The front panel is visibly fastened using a screw on each corner. The majority of the front panel is the meter. The meter is really a microammeter that I redrawn to a non-linear ESR scale. Below the meter, on the left, there are a pair of sockets for banana plugs: one red, one black. On the middle below the meter is the 0Ω ESR adjustment potentiometer. The knob's side is black and the top is yellow. On the right of the potentiometer is the on/off switch. It is a rectangular rocker switch with on/off symbol. The switch is currently at off position.

    The front view of the completed build. The enclosure is black plastic box. The front panel is visibly fastened using a screw on each corner. The majority of the front panel is the meter. The meter is really a microammeter that I redrawn to a non-linear ESR scale. Below the meter, on the left, there are a pair of sockets for banana plugs: one red, one black. On the middle below the meter is the 0Ω ESR adjustment potentiometer. The knob's side is black and the top is yellow. On the right of the potentiometer is the on/off switch. It is a rectangular rocker switch with on/off symbol. The switch is currently at off position.

    Close-up of the meter's redrawn ESR scale. I tried to trace the original μA scale. Under the scale curve is a large ohm symbol (Ω) with ESR underneath it. The big points on the ESR scale is ∞, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1, and 0. The scale is non-linear. The needle is coated in orange paint. It is at rest on the ∞Ω point, because the ESR meter is turned off.

    Close-up of the meter's redrawn ESR scale. I tried to trace the original μA scale. Under the scale curve is a large ohm symbol (Ω) with ESR underneath it. The big points on the ESR scale is ∞, 10, 5, 3, 2, 1, and 0. The scale is non-linear. The needle is coated in orange paint. It is at rest on the ∞Ω point, because the ESR meter is turned off.

Build complete! A bit late, that is 🤭. Late because several days before my build was complete Jay_Diddy_B had just designed an improved ESR meter. The new design uses 7 transistors and can detect short-circuited capacitor. The schematic is not released yet. I’ll try to build that one too once it is released 🤞.

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