$20 LCR ESR Transistor checker project

[torch]

On the subject of typographical corrections, in the UK (and I suspect most native-English countries), we use "V" rather then "U" for voltage...

I had to watch that a second time. For anyone else who missed that the first time: He uses V for the results, but Uf for "forward voltage".

[hdlg_zhangyu]

Hi Madires,
I had a problem after updated the firmware with the most recent mega328_st7565 version in the trunk with my eBay ESR meter shown in #510.
While the meter still can be turned on/off after flashing the firmware, there is no display. I set the LCD_ST7565_RESISTOR_RATIO = 7,  and then i was able to see some faint display. I am wondering what parameters in the makefile should be set to make it working properly?

I used WinAVR-20100110 with an USBasp from ebay to updated to the newest firmware.

Thanks and appreciate your help!

I am new here and also a newbie for electronics. I got mine today from ebay. It is with Atmel Mega328p AU chip, it impressed me with all SMD components and even with a Tantalum capacitor!
However, they failed to acknowledge Karl-Heinz K"ubbeler, madires and everyone else who contributed to the firmware design.

The seller claimed it is 2014 "latest" version. However when started the program, it showed:
"Transistor Tester V2.1". Wondering what exactly firmware it is running.

ALso, I am planning to upgrade the firmware anyway to the newest version using the ISP port, I am actually wondering what version of LCD should I use? Thanks!

[MrJohnnny]

Karl-Heinz has fixed the diode symbol issue and the fix is out in the repository. Thanks!

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Software/trunk/

Hi guys, I have a problem here with fixed software. I push a button it says battery voltage and vcc, seems allright, but it lasts for around 5 sec. then it displays "Cell!" (see attachments), tried a new battery, no luck 

[moemoe]

it lasts for around 5 sec. then it displays "Cell!" (see attachments), tried a new battery, no luck 

You probably need to adjust the Makefile parameters for the voltage divider built onto your board (+protection diode loss).

[MrJohnnny]

You probably need to adjust the Makefile parameters for the voltage divider built onto your board (+protection diode loss).

Sadly enough, I probably can't do that because I'm pretty  on this kind of stuff. I have 7805 on board (you want to say in Makefile a LDO regulator is specified?) + I did not installed protection diode 

[MrJohnnny]

You probably need to adjust the Makefile parameters for the voltage divider built onto your board (+protection diode loss).

You meant this section "# Voltage divider for battery voltage measurement  10k / 3.3k = 133/33
#CFLAGS += -DBAT_NUMERATOR=133
#CFLAGS += -DBAT_DENOMINATOR=33
# Voltage divider for the external zener voltage measurement 180k / 20k = 10/1
#CFLAGS += -DEXT_NUMERATOR=10
#CFLAGS += -DEXT_DENOMINATOR=1" ?
Also I found this interesting section: "# The CAP_EMPTY_LEVEL  defines the empty voltage level for capacitors in mV.
# Choose a higher value, if your Tester reports "Cell!" by unloading capacitors.
CFLAGS += -DCAP_EMPTY_LEVEL=4"
More of it, I don't have needed software to compile it
P.S. Sorry for flooding, if you can I'll prefer to PM you

[madires]

While the meter still can be turned on/off after flashing the firmware, there is no display. I set the LCD_ST7565_RESISTOR_RATIO = 7,  and then i was able to see some faint display. I am wondering what parameters in the makefile should be set to make it working properly?

That value selects the resistor divider of the module's internal voltage regulator. For most ST7565 displays 4 or 7 work fine but you could also try other values from 0 up to 7.

[KK]

Bought this one with zener measurement. They say it has a atmega168 but the one sent to me had an atmega328.

I soldered pins into the icsp pads and updated the software to the latest trunk. The protection fuses weren't set but it came with an older version, I believe it was 1.08k of firmware.

The LCD is smaller than expected, and the backlight and readability are just ok.

But, it does work well.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Transistor-Tester-Capacitor-ESR-Inductance-Resistor-Meter-Mosfet-Diode-Battery-/121346078072

[hdlg_zhangyu]

I tried all values and seems only LCD_ST7565_RESISTOR_RATIO = 7 gave me a faint display, with other values, there is no display at all.
Is there anything else i should look at?
Thanks.

While the meter still can be turned on/off after flashing the firmware, there is no display. I set the LCD_ST7565_RESISTOR_RATIO = 7,  and then i was able to see some faint display. I am wondering what parameters in the makefile should be set to make it working properly?

That value selects the resistor divider of the module's internal voltage regulator. For most ST7565 displays 4 or 7 work fine but you could also try other values from 0 up to 7.

[MrJohnnny]

Got it working again! Reason is jumper on the solder side, when I pushed IC in place pin poked jumper through, effectively connecting pin 25 of AtMega328 to anode of backlight LED    Big thanks to Karl Heinz, no more issues with diode symbol & double diodes 

[madires]

I tried all values and seems only LCD_ST7565_RESISTOR_RATIO = 7 gave me a faint display, with other values, there is no display at all.
Is there anything else i should look at?

I think the next step is to identify the LCD module and to get the datasheet. Maybe it needs some additional initialization.

[MrJohnnny]

Excuse me please, but can someone show me where I can find full schematic (with ability to measure frequency). All I know - the pin 6 of the AtMega is the input 

[radioFlash]

Excuse me please, but can someone show me where I can find full schematic (with ability to measure frequency). All I know - the pin 6 of the AtMega is the input 

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Doku/tags/english/

click on link to download the "GNU tarball". You'll need the GNU tools tar and gzip or something like 7-Zip to extract the files. Look at the file ttester_eng110k.pdf.

[dentaku]

Has anyone done a video showing the self-test/calibration process for my MK-168 Transistor Tester M168_V2.20. I see lots of videos about these things but I'm not sure if the Calibration process has been demoed.
section 3.3 Selftest and Calibration in the .PDF explains it a bit - http://www.avrtester.tode.cz/upload/ttester_en.pdf - but I'd like to see how it works by watching someone doing it.

The documentation mentions disconnecting the leads for a certain test and only connecting a cap after a certain prompt so I don't want to do it wrong.

[MrJohnnny]

http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Doku/tags/english/
click on link to download the "GNU tarball". You'll need the GNU tools tar and gzip or something like 7-Zip to extract the files. Look at the file ttester_eng110k.pdf.

Thanks a lot, I didn't knew that this directory is existing 

[madires]

The documentation mentions disconnecting the leads for a certain test and only connecting a cap after a certain prompt so I don't want to do it wrong.

It's pretty simple. Short circuit the three probe pins/leads and start the calibration (actually adjustment). After a few tests you'll be asked to remove the short circuit and some more tests are run. Then the tester displays the cap symbol and you connect a cap (film cap 220nF - 1µF recommended) to probes #1 and #3. That's the procedure for the k-firmware.

[firewalker]

The main difference between the k and m firmwares is that the k-firmware includes support for ESR measurement and the m-firmware has a simple menu system and a PWM tool.

Is the above statement still valid?

Alexander.

[dentaku]

The documentation mentions disconnecting the leads for a certain test and only connecting a cap after a certain prompt so I don't want to do it wrong.

It's pretty simple. Short circuit the three probe pins/leads and start the calibration (actually adjustment). After a few tests you'll be asked to remove the short circuit and some more tests are run. Then the tester displays the cap symbol and you connect a cap (film cap 220nF - 1µF recommended) to probes #1 and #3. That's the procedure for the k-firmware.

OK, seems simple enough.

[dentaku]

The documentation mentions disconnecting the leads for a certain test and only connecting a cap after a certain prompt so I don't want to do it wrong.

It's pretty simple. Short circuit the three probe pins/leads and start the calibration (actually adjustment). After a few tests you'll be asked to remove the short circuit and some more tests are run. Then the tester displays the cap symbol and you connect a cap (film cap 220nF - 1µF recommended) to probes #1 and #3. That's the procedure for the k-firmware.

I'm not sure which firmware I have but the Version 1.11k May 27, 2014 .PDF I found says...

"A capacitor with any capacity between 100nF and 20F connected to pin 1 and pin 3 is required
for the last task of calibration. To indicate that, a capacitor symbol is shown between the pin number
1 and 3, followed by the text " >100nF". You should connect the capacitor not before this text is
shown. With this capacitor the oset voltage of the analog comparator will be compensated for better
measurement of capacity values. Additionally the gain for ADC measurements using the internal
reference voltage will be adjusted too with the same capacitor for better resistor measurement results
with the AUTOSCALE ADC option. If the menu option is selected for the tester and the selftest is
not started as menu function, the calibration with the external capacitor is only done for the rst
time calibration. The calibration with the external capacitor can be repeated with a selftest call as
menu selection.
The zero oset for the ESR measurement will be preset with the option ESR ZERO in the
Makele. With every self test the ESR zero values for all three pin combinations are determined.
The solution for the ESR measurement is also used to get the values of resistors below 10 with a resolution of 0:01."

[robimarko]

Hi,
finally spare amtega 328 arrived,where can I find compiled 1.11k firmware ready for flashing?
Tried to find it myself but no luck so far

[madires]

The main difference between the k and m firmwares is that the k-firmware includes support for ESR measurement and the m-firmware has a simple menu system and a PWM tool.

Is the above statement still valid?

No, the current major differences are a frequency counter and support of ST7565 based LCD modules (k-firmware). The next m-firmware version will include the frequency counter too.

[madires]

Hi,
finally spare amtega 328 arrived,where can I find compiled 1.11k firmware ready for flashing?
Tried to find it myself but no luck so far

Please see http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Software/trunk/mega328/ or one of the other mega328 subdirectories for different hardware setups.

[madires]

I'm not sure which firmware I have but the Version 1.11k May 27, 2014 .PDF I found says...

That's the long explanation I'm pretty sure that your clone runs the k-firmware.

[dentaku]

I'm not sure which firmware I have but the Version 1.11k May 27, 2014 .PDF I found says...

That's the long explanation I'm pretty sure that your clone runs the k-firmware.

I just connected all three mini-grabbers together and it's firmware 1.10K

I went through all 7 tests and used one of those 200nF X2 caps. I tested some caps I already tried out this morning and the ESR readings are much lower now.
One that was 0.36ohm this morning is now 0.05ohm.

Next I ran the seven tests again but this time I used a 10uF Nichicon electrolytic.
I think I'm maybe getting more realistic numbers now. A 224uf 100V cap that measured Vloss= 1.3%, ESR=0.7ohm this morning now measures Vloss= 1.4%, ESR=0.4ohm

[ion]

I just got one of these testers and tried to update the firmware using these files:
http://www.mikrocontroller.net/svnbrowser/transistortester/Software/trunk/mega328/

I successfully flashed the .hex and .eep files using avrdude, but the tester doesn't working any more.  The LCD just displays solid blocks for the first row.  Did I use the right files for this tester?:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Atmega328-Transistor-Tester-Diode-Triode-Capacitance-ESR-Meter-MOS-PNP-NPN-/181442767546
(note: the IC is actually a TQFP 328P)

I wasn't too worried as I had made a backup of the original firmware before updating, but when I tried to restore these avrdude wouldn't recognise the format.  I'm attaching the files and would appreciate any advice on what is wrong with them.


Also, I tried to use the makefile through WinAVR but I kept getting an error.  Does the makefile work on the .hex/.eep files linked above or do I need to download some other files?