Der EE De-5000 alternative

[derree]

Hi everyone, ist there an alternative to the often recommended Der EE De-5000 LCR meter? The Der EE is quite expensive on german Ebay, I would have to pay quite a hefty tax, and I must pick it up at the customs offices.

All the other handheld LCR meters seem to be either total crap, or expensive as hell.

[cdev]

Just curious how much tax they add. I am in the US and paid a little leas than $100

It is very useful.

Hi everyone, ist there an alternative to the often recommended Der EE De-5000 LCR meter? The Der EE is quite expensive on german Ebay, I would have to pay quite a hefty tax, and I must pick it up at the customs offices.

All the other handheld LCR meters seem to be either total crap, or expensive as hell.

[Kean]

There is a reason they are so often recommended - very good value for money, and no real competitor in that same price bracket.

I have a Peak LCR45, a Tonghui TH2822C, and a CKT5000, so I never bothered to get a DE-5000 

[Martin72]

Hi everyone, ist there an alternative to the often recommended Der EE De-5000 LCR meter? The Der EE is quite expensive on german Ebay, I would have to pay quite a hefty tax, and I must pick it up at the customs offices.

All the other handheld LCR meters seem to be either total crap, or expensive as hell.

Hi,

Last month I´ve bought a DE-5000 and was impressed about the accuracy - Test it against our GenRad and Keysight LCR at work, really good and with the spending money in mind, it´s best bang for bucks and ways above it´s price.
It´s no surprise, because it is a 1:1 clone of a GenRad product.
I´ve bought it on ebay, with all options including.
All in I´ve payed appx. 140€ including taxes - Still best bang for buck, because:
Our Keysight LCR which is in many cases equal to the DE5000 costs about 700€ incl. calibration.

and I must pick it up at the customs offices.

No.
As wrote before, I´ve bought it on ebay from a japanese seller.
When it´s arrived in germany, I´ve got a letter from the customer office.
They wanted me to call them back via telephone - I´ve done it, they want simply a screenshot of my PayPal bill.
After sending them this, it came wit DHL Express Courier.
He wanted the additional tax in cash, appx 32€, then you got it.
Buy the DE-5000, You won´t regret it...

[switchabl]

I bought mine from amazon.com, they ship to Germany and take care of customs and VAT (taxes are paid up front). I think I paid around 120€, so may or may not end up cheaper than on eBay from Japan, but definitely more convenient.

[Martin72]

With all adaptors ?
Then congrats ! 

[cdev]

A nanovna 2 and a decent test jig, might make a fairly good alternative.

[Kosmic]

Mastech MS8911 LCR tweezer ? they are really cheap (46$US) and mine is working really well. Accuracy seem to be better than what's specified in the specs­. 100Hz to 10Khz testing frequency. 0.5V and 0.1V testing voltage. 0.1V should help with incircuit testing.

[Martin72]

Got this one, especially for the 0.1V thing.
Unfortunately, this won´t work everytime.
Accuracy in general is good for it´s price.

[Kean]

The DE-5000 can test at 100kHz.  There are cheaper options that only do 1kHz or 10kHz, but they probably also don't have the confirmed accuracy of the DE-5000.  e.g Hantek or crap from Banggood/Amazon.  Some will be even more expensive e.g. BK Precision.

[Martin72]

The 100Khz should be take with caution, even our Keysight model(UC1733C)"says", the accuracy on this frequency will decreasing remarkable.

[Kosmic]

Got this one, especially for the 0.1V thing.
Unfortunately, this won´t work everytime.
Accuracy in general is good for it´s price.

I compared mine to my Philips PM6303 (0.25%) and Sandford Research SR720 (0.05%) and was surprise with the accuracy of the MS8911. I was expecting a lot worst.

[Martin72]

Take five different LCR models, you´ll get five different values...

[BigBoss]

I have recently-few days ago-bought a DER-EE LCR Meter from e-bay, it cost me 106 Euros all included.Paypal accepted.
Delivery has taken almost 10-15 days.Supplier is very responsible.
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/DER-EE-DE-5000-High-Accuracy-Handheld-LCR-Meter-w-TL-21-TL-22-TL-23/282040803373?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[graybeard]

I am very happy with me DerEE DE-5000.  I bought mine from someone in Japan for just over $100.   For what it does it is a bargain.  I have not seen anything that is as good for the money. 

It is probably the second most used instrument I have (I and have no shortage to choose from).  Only a my hand held multimeter is used more.  Just get one.

[SilverSolder]

A nanovna 2 and a decent test jig, might make a fairly good alternative.

I like that solution better than an LCR meter, because the meters really only give you one point on what is actually a curve...

That said, the NanoVNA has a pretty high minimum frequency, if I remember correctly?

[coromonadalix]

you have uni-t  ut611 and ut612 i think who is made with the same ic's

[indman]

The 100Khz should be take with caution, even our Keysight model(UC1733C)"says", the accuracy on this frequency will decreasing remarkable.

Yes!I have a quality DE-5000(it has some problems at 100kHz measurement frequency), but not as an advertisement, I also want to draw your attention to an affordable DIY kits LCR-bridge XJW01(has real accuracy not worse than 0.3%), which I use quite often and which in some cases is more convenient in terms of observing the measurement results.

[derree]

Hi, the price right now is 156 Euros directly from Japan, shipping included. The tax for the import would be 37 Euros, so the whole price adds up to 197 Euros. Ouch!

[switchabl]

A nanovna 2 and a decent test jig, might make a fairly good alternative.

The NanoVNA V2 doesn't go below 10kHz. Also, measuring impedances much smaller or larger 50ohms with a VNA is possible, but not completely trivial and I do not believe it is supported out of the box with the NanoVNA. It is certainly much less convenient than an LCR meter. I would also guess that the accuracy may easily be an order of magnitude worse on some ranges, though I don't have the data to back it up (yet).

So, while the NanoVNA may be a very useful addition for higher frequency impedance measurements (and many other things!), I would not consider it a real alternative to an LCR meter for everyday use.

This is the one I bought: https://www.amazon.com/5000-Handheld-LCR-Meter-accessories/dp/B00S298KJO/
Not sure which seller, but it probably doesn't matter, they are the same price and all are shipped by Amazon. It shows 138$ including shipping to Germany and taxes, so around 117€.

[coromonadalix]

You have some cheap lcr component testers, and some of them are precise, not ultra precise, but they can help to find some defective coils or capacitors,   i had one of them, and was pretty impressed bfore buying an DE-5000

You have here a very long thread about them   20$ lcr tester
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/$20-lcr-esr-transistor-checker-project/

[BravoV]

Test frequencies matter, at least for me, as the 100 or 120Hz is for basic capacitance especially for electrolyte caps as specified as in all cap's datasheet, and also at 100kHz which is for ESR measurement as standardized in all low ESR caps manufacturers datasheet.

Beyond 100kHz, mostly belong to desktop type non handheld (read : more expensive) LCR meters, and also this kind of measurement needs special test jig/clips for the DUT @ >100kHz, cmiiw.

[derree]

Hi, I already have this tester, which is in fact quite ok. But the overall build quality is toy-like, and I am looking for a proper tool.

[BravoV]

... The Der EE is quite expensive on german Ebay, I would have to pay quite a hefty tax, and I must pick it up at the customs offices.

All the other handheld LCR meters seem to be either total crap, or expensive as hell.

Hi, I already have this tester, which is in fact quite ok. But the overall build quality is toy-like, and I am looking for a proper tool.

As you're complaining the price even for DE5000, don't think you will be interested at far more advanced LCR meter as most the times they're expensive, even used.

Just curious, what do you mean by "proper tool" in the LCR meter context ?

[coromonadalix]

The "proper tool" will be expensive, the de-5000 is the best features vs price model you can get ....  if not go to Aliexpress and search all their lcr meters

You can't get best of both world without paying more to get a "proper tool"

I think you are very picky  ?    and this thread is a going nowhere one ... seeing your reactions.