How did you destroy your DE-5000?
My guess is by connecting a charged capacitor.
You guess it right
Stupid mistake after almost 10 years of use...
Did you attempt a repair, or was it a total loss?
Yes, wrote to both, Cyrustek and DER, first ignored my mail, and the second requested to send it for repair in exchange for 70USD plus postage... new one for me (as I am now in Japan) is about 90, so not a big deal to get one...DIY, in fact, will be probable twice more expensive as I plan to build at least two or even more variants and compare them... The turning point was DER answer, I don't like the lack of control over the unit and no chance for repair by replacing the analog front-end chip, digital is still ok.
Embarked now on a DIY version and have a lot of fun learning about digital bridges and the math behind them
Think that most of the performance for the DE-5000 is attributed to the Cyrustek Chip set utilized, seems like a sophisticated mixed-signal chipset, altho this link doesn't show much about what's inside!!
http://www.cyrustek.com.tw/wp-content/uploads/ES51920.pdf
After inspecting DE5000 front-end PCB circuitry, I am sure that the front-end chip is nothing more than a bunch of analog switches and OPA as you may find in any digital bridges out there, even I-sense ref resistors have the same values. The second chip is handling the display and all the math, again the same as any other DYI, one like Elector is more sophisticated while xjw01 or LCR2 Go is probably on the lower side.
Another aspect is they seem to have factory calibration as there is a serial memory chip installed, and that is a pro point for DE5000.
FWIW, a couple weeks ago I borked my XJW01 by accidentally connecting a charged 'lytic. Fortunately, the input protection diodes did their job admirably. Replaced a couple shorted 1N4148's (easily accessible) and it was back in business.
Exactly, and unfortunately, DE5000 luck any even this rudimentary type of protection...
if you respect the DE-5000 open and close calibrations, never had bad surprises with it
I fully agree, it was a great meter, bad enough I destroyed it by stupid accident... On another side, if that would not happen, I would never learn about these devices' inner work