Fnirsi LCR-P1, $30 LCR tester (August 2024)

[mawyatt]

WRT to the IM3570 measurements from Josh, we've including a plot of a frequency sweep

A great point, as always. The cap I was using is an electrolytic. Here's what that looks like across the range. You can see where there's a small section of overlap.

Can the IM3570 show Z and R in Log/Decade format vs. Log/Decade Frequency?

This should show Z and R in more detail around the resonate frequency area.

Best,

[KungFuJosh]

Can the IM3570 show Z and R in Log/Decade format vs. Log/Decade Frequency?

This should show Z and R in more detail around the resonate frequency area.

I was already screwing around with zooming in using a shorter frequency range. I tried messing with setting Y to log instead of X (and with both set to log). Let me know what you think, or if I should set something specific.

I made some firmware feature update suggestions including being able to capture any screen. I hope they actual do some of the changes I suggested.

Thanks,
Josh

[TheDefpom]

FNIRSI sent me one of these to review, I recorded the video yesterday which resulted in 12GB of footage to edit, I intend to do that this weekend and expect to release the review next week.

[mawyatt]

@ Josh,

We should probably take this over to the IM3570 thread, try a much wider sweep sat 100 to 1MHz Log Scale and post on the IM3570 thread.

Best,

[indman]

Attached are the 100kHz and 118kHz screenshots, note that they were taken at different room temperatures, hence the change.
At 1kHz the ST42 makes sense and Z/ESR agree, but at 10kHz Z makes sense, and ESR is too low.

Hmm.. I have no serious complaints about the ST42 in terms of ESR measurements; based on your photos, there are more questions about the Hioki results. In order not to clutter this topic with unnecessary information, I moved my answer to your topic here
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/hioki-im3570-lcr-impedance-analyzer/50/

[1audio]

I just got one as well. Not as useful as I hoped. Doesn't understand many Jfets. And testing TO92 transistors in IC sockets is not as easy as it seems it should be. I was hoping for more usability. I have a vintage M3 tester that does more and better. Just not as pretty.

[TheDefpom]

I just finished editing my review video, got it down to 31 minutes from nearly an hour of footage, I plan to release it on Tuesday night NZ time.

[GuustFlater89]

I just finished editing my review video, got it down to 31 minutes from nearly an hour of footage, I plan to release it on Tuesday night NZ time.

Too bad Fnirsi did not take the effort to update the device sent to you to the latest firmware 1.05. The video shows 1.02... 1.05 seems to fix some annoying issues like unrecognised/wrong recognised components.

[KungFuJosh]

.05 seems to fix some annoying issues like unrecognised/wrong recognised components.

Some being the key word, as there's still a lot left to be desired with the device.

[BillyO]

Some being the key word, as there's still a lot left to be desired with the device.

It's as good as some and better than most.  None of these little things are, or ever will be, perfect.

At least this one provides a civilized means to update the firmware.  Therein lies hope .. 

[KungFuJosh]

Some being the key word, as there's still a lot left to be desired with the device.

It's as good as some and better than most.  None of these little things are, or ever will be, perfect.

At least this one provides a civilized means to update the firmware.  Therein lies hope .. 

The DSO-TC3 was better in every regard for me, and at least 5 times faster identifying transistors. It also has firmware updates. That said, I wouldn't hold my breath for Fnirsi to give many firmware updates. Especially not after the next new device that does the same stuff is released in a different shaped case.

[Andrey_Ak]

The device is crude, not modified.
Like previous Fnirsi toys, it does not measure the ESR of capacitors correctly.

It does not measure the ESR, but simply shows pre-programmed ESR values based on the capacitance of the capacitor! 
Even the old original LCR-TC1 transistor testers show the correct values.

Here is a 1.5uF x 400v capacitor that should show an ESR of about 25 ohms, the old TC1 shows close to the actual 21 ohms.
And the Fnirsi toy gives a completely wrong value of 4.9 ohms.
The Fnirsi tester is not suitable for measuring the ESR of capacitors.

This 1.5uF x 400v capacitor was tested on expensive Der EE DE-5000 and RuoShui 4091C devices,
its actual ESR is approximately 30 ohms. Updating the Fnirsi firmware to the latest 1.0.5 also did not help.

[madires]

The problem with that newTransistortester clone is that the Chinese manufacturer simply copies a modified OSHW firmware (the Transistortester k-firmware in this case) to a different MCU. The ESR measurement method is written and optimized for the ATmega family. Porting it to a different MCU will take a lot of effort. My advice would be to stay away from any clone with an alternative MCU.

[indman]

My main question was as follows:
"FNIRSI DSO TS3 and TS2 do not measure ESR correctly or do not know how to measure it at all!   
FNIRSI LCR P1 - Does it know how to measure ESR and does it measure correctly?"

So, you can now add another FNIRSI LCR P1 to these FNIRSI DSO TS3 and TS2!

My advice would be to stay away from any clone with an alternative MCU.

Madires, as always, gave very practical advice, golden words!

[Andrey_Ak]

There is one clone of the LCR-TC1 with the APT32F172 controller, which also works correctly and measures as well as the LCR-TC1 with the original ATmega328 controller.

So, you can now add another FNIRSI LCR P1 to these FNIRSI DSO TS3 and TS2!

I don't have a DSO TS3 and TS2, I didn't buy these toys.

[mawyatt]

The device is crude, not modified.
Like previous Fnirsi toys, it does not measure the ESR of capacitors correctly.

It does not measure the ESR, but simply shows pre-programmed ESR values based on the capacitance of the capacitor! 
Even the old original LCR-TC1 transistor testers show the correct values.

Here is a 1.5uF x 400v capacitor that should show an ESR of about 25 ohms, the old TC1 shows close to the actual 21 ohms.
And the Fnirsi toy gives a completely wrong value of 4.9 ohms.
The Fnirsi tester is not suitable for measuring the ESR of capacitors.

This 1.5uF x 400v capacitor was tested on expensive Der EE DE-5000 and RuoShui 4091C devices,
its actual ESR is approximately 30 ohms. Updating the Fnirsi firmware to the latest 1.0.5 also did not help.

If this is true, and not questioning so,  then our decision awhile back to avoid all Fnirsi products seems justified. We just overlooked the Fnirsi ST1 Tweezers in favor of the Zone MD1 which were just received, seems like another good decision to avoid Fnirsi!!

Don't like to bash products, but this is not a bug, oversight, or UI quirk, but a deliberate attempt to mislead and cover up a lacking instrument capability and totally misrepresent instrument measurement results! Totally unacceptable behavior by Fnirsi IMO

Anyway, thanks for pointing out this shortcoming.

Best,

[Andrey_Ak]

If this is true, and not questioning so,  then our decision awhile back to avoid all Fnirsi products seems justified. We just overlooked the Fnirsi ST1 Tweezers in favor of the Zone MD1 which were just received, seems like another good decision to avoid Fnirsi!!

Don't like to bash products, but this is not a bug, oversight, or UI quirk, but a deliberate attempt to mislead and cover up a lacking instrument capability and totally misrepresent instrument measurement results! Totally unacceptable behavior by Fnirsi IMO

I created a dispute on aliexpress where I bought this tester, and also wrote an email to the official Fnirsi support service.

[indman]

There is one clone of the LCR-TC1 with the APT32F172 controller, which also works correctly and measures as well as the LCR-TC1 with the original ATmega328 controller.

The clones on the APT32F172 MCU also have a host of other disadvantages compared to the original AVR. You just haven't tested it thoroughly enough.
In my opinion, there is no alternative to the transistor tester as an inexpensive multifunctional device on the ATmega644/1284 MCU!
The ATmega328/324 is also good, but because of the insufficient memory size, it is less relevant now.

[KungFuJosh]

our decision awhile back to avoid all Fnirsi products seems justified.

Indeed, Fnirsi only makes toys. I have the DSO-TC3, and I was aware it was a toy when I bought it. I like it for what it is. It does better than the P1 at detecting transistors, and the scope was good enough for testing outer foil position on certain capacitors.

Nobody should buy anything that says Fnirsi on it and expect any type of a precision instrument.

[BillyO]

It does not measure the ESR, but simply shows pre-programmed ESR values based on the capacitance of the capacitor! 

No, it doesn't.  I do not know what it is doing, but I know it its not doing this.  I tested 10 100uF capacitors, some used, several different voltages and several different manufacturers.  They returned very different values for ESR.

Stop repeating stuff you saw or heard someone else spout.  It makes you sound like a flat earther.

Even the old original LCR-TC1 transistor testers show the correct values.

Like to place a bet on that?

The Fnirsi tester is not suitable for measuring the ESR of capacitors.

None of these things can be counted to give a good reading of ESR.

[Phil1977]

Nobody should buy anything that says Fnirsi on it and expect any type of a precision instrument.

It seems FNIRSI just scans the chinese market for products that are cheap and make good revenue. Then they design a little fancier housing and sell them for a little more than the version out of the wild.

They have a few good products like the SG04, the spot-welder and also the LCR-tweezer. E.g. the SG04 can't be called just a toy, it´s more kind of a backup tool for experts.

But this LCR-P1 seems to be better avoided.

[indman]

It does not measure the ESR, but simply shows pre-programmed ESR values based on the capacitance of the capacitor! 

No, I don't think it's what you're suggesting. As madires correctly pointed out, clones with an alternative MCU use an ESR measurement algorithm that is very roughly copied from the original and not adapted to the capabilities of the other controller. Therefore, for some capacitors it will show values close to the real ones, and for others on the contrary it will be wrong 10-100 times.