Just a heads-up to those in the market for a decent looking LCR meter
I have LCR meters already, including the AVO Megger B131, Wayne Kerr 4210 and Uni-Trend UT-203. From these units I have established the pros and cons of the different models and one glaring omission annoys me royally. None of these meters can measure ESR
I bought the Bob Parker ESR meter kit from Dick Smith Electronics (works well) and a 'cottage industry' built desktop model from Hungary (works well for the money). The Hungarian unit may be found on ebay here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ESR-Meter-Electrolytic-Capacitor-Meter-DC2-1x5-5-Blue-LCD-/140686944681?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20c19869a9It costs a reasonable $70 + $15 shipping.
I was still looking for an 'all in one' solution to capacitor testing from a known meter manufacturer and considered the ATLAS offerings that I believe are quite good, if a little funky looking
The ESR 70+ is the top model and would cost me around GBP100 delivered.
Now to the title of this message (AT LAST you may say .... but I am setting the scene for you
)
I found the Mastech MS5308 listed on ebay this evening and from a company that I have had good experiences with, "aidetech_us" have the MS5308 on 15% discount at the moment for $211.65 inc delivery. That is the best price that I have found for the whole kit and some are listed for considerably more.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300611462699?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649I took an interest in the meter and noted that it uses the same chip set that is believed to inhabit the IET DE-5000 that Dave tore down in Blog Video #229. The chipset impressed me , especially the ESR capability.
I already own a Tektronix THS720 DSO and I like the similar styling of the MS5308. The 4" screen is nice and large for displaying the required information and to top it off....you get the full set of accessories including PC interface kit included in the price
Be careful of cheaper quotes for this meter...many are for the meter alone with no accessories.
After some thought, I purchased the MS5308 and shall report on it when I have it in my paws
The odd thing is that I can't find the MS5308 listed on the "Precision Mastech" website. One reseller lists it as a new Mastech model so maybe the site is just out of date ?
I am attaching pictures of the kit, plus an internal picture that I have stolen from the DE-5000 thread (thanks BravoV). I also attach the chipset datasheet. I also include a picture of the THS720 DSO for interest. They will look good together
Update:
There is an interesting discussion about the MS5308 and the DE-5000 on this Chinese site:
In Chinese:
http://www.crystalradio.cn/bbs/thread-217337-1-1.htmlTranslation url:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=zh-CN&u=http://www.crystalradio.cn/bbs/thread-217337-1-1.html&ei=2Uk0T7TtIqar0QW6x8S6Ag&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.crystalradio.cn/%2Bms5308%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1523%26bih%3D734%26prmd%3DimvnsThey compare the MS5308 with readings from an Agilent E4980A .... it comes through the comparison of readings pretty well
There is also comment on the chipset used in the MS5308 and the DE-5000
Interestingly the internal picture shows what appear to be standard 4mm sockets available on the side of the MS5308 (under the pimpled side cover ?). I see no mention of such in the manual or sales literature. No 4mm leads are supplied either. It will be interesting to see if the sockets are usable on my unit or just an unused option built into the case moulding. The downloadable manual is crap though so it may just have been missed out.
Manual is here:
http://www.aidetek.com/New_products_info/Datasheet/huayi/MS5308_english_manual.pdfI just found the Mastech alibaba web site. As opposed to the one that had no reference to the MS5308 this site has it proudly shown on the front page
http://mastech.en.alibaba.com/Watch the Mastech video for a laugh ...they employ a robot for the voice over
The main Mastech site only has details of the MS5308 in Chinese and not on the English version of the site. Most odd !
http://www.mastech.cn/Productdetail.aspx?id=10675English translation:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mastech.cn%2FProductdetail.aspx%3Fid%3D10675The model was released on 13 May 2011 so is quite recent to the market place.
Update +1
I have found the Russian instructions ! They clearly show 4mm sockets in the side of the MS5308 unit
So hopefully I can use whatever 4mm test leads I desire
Russian manual attached.
UPDATE 4 March 2012.... Aidetech price has returned to $249 Aurora