DE-5000 vs DE-6000 LCR Showdown

[robrenz]

The shorting bar is not ideal for small impedance measurements, due to its own residual impedance, usually about 1mOhm and a handful of nHenries.

Agreed, but you have no choice if you intend to use the internal clips

[Yago]

Well, got my DE 5000, had to wrangle it from the post office... good job it was such a bargain as that just put another £30 on the price (£18 tax and £10 travelling).

Had an audio interface with duff caps, had replaced the caps and all was well, but kept the old caps.
On my Brymen 857S, the knackered caps read slightly high (should be 100micF, but read 110-140).
On the DE these are read 1-5micF with very high ESR, I ended checking some new caps as the readings were so low I thought the DE was faulty!

Can recheck and give accurate number if anyone wants, but heartening to see such a large fault indicated from DE.

[Rory]

No, they are not 4W at the blades unfortunately. The CEM is not even 4W at the PCB traces. I did do an open/short calibration with the U-shaped piece of metal supplied with the UT612 and a paper clip for the CEM.
If one wants to use these meters as a milliohm meter replacement, then a 4W rig is a must. But to read rough ESR values of electrolytic caps or check 10 Ohm and above resistors , a 2W LCR meter is just fine. When it comes to electrolytics, I prefer to work with the dissipation factor anyway.
The ESR displayed in Cs mode should be correct, but the resolution is only down to 100mOhm. That's enough to identify bad caps though.
The shorting bar is not ideal for small impedance measurements, due to its own residual impedance, usually about 1mOhm and a handful of nHenries.

What meter are you referring to here?

[Carrington]

No, they are not 4W at the blades unfortunately. The CEM is not even 4W at the PCB traces. I did do an open/short calibration with the U-shaped piece of metal supplied with the UT612 and a paper clip for the CEM.

I know the picture quality is terrible, but (UT612):



Source: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/iet-de-5000-lcr-meter-in-uk/msg197985/#msg197985

[LarryS]

I agree with robrenz; the kelvin clips supplied with the meter is a piece of c**p.  However, I do not have a machine shop any near the quality of robrenz.  I found the B&K test leads are a very good substitute for the alligator tips supplied with the meter.  I cost me about $30.  I'm sure that commongrounder's modification works as well.