HOME     STORE     BLOG     SCHEMATICS     TUTORIALS     DOWNLOADS     CONTACT

Most accurate and simplest LC inductance / capacitance Meter that you will find. It allows you to measure incredibly small inductances starting from 10nH to 1000nH, 1uH to 1000uH, 1mH to 100mH and capacitance from 0.1pF up to 900nF.

PIC Volt Ampere Meter can measure voltage of 0-70V or 0-500V with 100mV resolution and current consumption 0-10A or more with 10mA resolution. The meter is a perfect addition to any power supply, battery chargers and other electronic projects where voltage and current must be monitored. The meter uses PIC16F876A microcontroller with built-in ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) and 16x2 green backlighted LCD display. With slight modification it is possible to measure higher voltage and current.

This is 60MHz Frequency Meter / Counter for measuring frequency from 10Hz to 60MHz with 10Hz resolution. It is a very useful bench test equipment for testing and finding out the frequency of various devices with unknown frequency such as oscillators, radio receivers, transmitters, function generators, crystals, etc. The meter provides very stable readings and has excellent input sensitivity thanks to onboard amplifier and TTL converter, so it can even measure weak signals from crystal oscillators. With the addition of prescaller it is possible to measure the frequency of 1GHz and above.

Function Generator is an essential laboratory equipment. The module described here is based on high quality XR2206 IC. 1Hz - 2MHz XR2206 Function Generator is capable of producing high quality sine, square and triangle waveforms of high-stability and accuracy. The output waveforms can be both amplitude and frequency modulated. Coarse frequency adjustment is accomplished using 4-DIP switch for the following four frequency ranges; (1) 1Hz-100Hz, (2) 100Hz-20KHz, (3) 20KHz-1MHz, (4) 150KHz-2MHz. Frequency output can be fine tuned using P1 and P2 potentiometers. The kit includes output that can be connected to our 60MHz Counter kit to measure output frequency. 1Hz - 2MHz XR2206 Function Generator kit includes premium quality components, including Audio Grade Gold Capacitors, Gold Plated RCA Connector, WIMA Capacitors, 1% Metal Film Resistors and premium quality PCB with red solder mask.

Measurement of transmitter output RF power has never been easier and more precise. AD8307 USB 0-500MHz RF Power Meter allows to measure the power of transmitters from 1nW to 2W. Output is displayed in dBm, Watts (nW, uW, mW and W range) as well as input voltage. USB RF Power Meter is based on popular AD8307 watt meter IC and PIC18F2550 microcontroller. Instead of using LCD display module the meter connects to a PC via USB port and displays measurements on a computer via USB RF Power Meter software. The software settings can be changed to use 10-50dBm attenuator and thus allowing to measure higher RF power than 2W.

PIC voltmeter can measure 0-70V voltage providing excellent reading accuracy and resolution. It has two input channels for measuring two voltage sources at the same time. PIC voltmeter project uses PIC16F876 microcontroller with built-in ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) and 2x16 backlighted LCD display. Circuit design uses very few components and may be mounted on a small PCB.

"ESR" stands for equivalent series resistance. ESR is one of the characteristics that defines the performance of an electrolytic capacitor. Low ESR is highly desirable in a capacitor as any ripple current through the capacitor causes the capacitor to heat up due to the resistive loses. This heating accelerates the demise of the capacitor by drying out the electrolyte at an ever increasing rate. Over the lifetime of a capacitor, it is not uncommon for the ESR to increase by a factor of 10 to 30 times or even go open circuit. Typical lifetime ratings for electrolytics are 2000-15000 hours and are very dependant on ambient operating temperature. As the ESR increases, the filtering operation of the capacitor becomes impaired and eventually the circuit fails to operate correctly. Why are ESR Meters so Useful? A typical capacitor checker measures the capacity (usually in micro farads) of the test capacitor. Some advanced units also test for leakage current. Most of these testers require that the capacitor be removed from the circuit. Unless the capacitor has totally failed, they will not detect a high ESR value. In a typical circuit, there may be 10's or 100's of capacitors. Having to remove each one for testing is very tedious and there is a great risk of damaging circuit boards. This tester uses a low voltage ( 250mv ) high frequency (150khz) A/C current to read the ESR of a capacitor in the circuit. The in circuit testing is possible because of the low voltage used for obtaining the measurement. The voltage is low enough that solid state devices in the surrounding circuitry are not activated and do not affect the low resistance reading we are attempting to obtain. A lot of capacitor checkers will be damaged if you happen to test a charged capacitor. This circuit is A/C coupled and will withstand up to 400vdc of charge on a capacitor (but watch your fingers!). The ESR checker will not detect shorted capacitors as they will read with a very low ESR value. If you are trouble shooting a circuit, you will have to use several instruments including your nose, voltmeter and oscilloscope to locate all the possible failure modes. My experience has found that the ESR meter catches about 95% of capacitor problems and potential problems.

ESR Meter is an irreplaceable tool for troubleshooting and repairing electronic equipment by determining performance and health of electrolytic capacitors. Unlike other ESR Meters that only measure ESR value this one measures capacitor's ESR value as well as its capacitance all at the same time. Additionally, ESR Meter also tests and identifies PINs of all transistors such as Bipolar (NPN, PNP), FETs, MOSFETs (N-Channel, P-Channel, enhancement-mode and depletion-mode MOSFETs), Thyristors, SCRs and Triacs. Tests and identifies PINs and voltage of diodes, dual diodes, varicap diodes (and their capacity), zener diodes (test voltage up to 5V) and LEDs. It measures resistance of resistors, power resistors, coils starting from just 0.1Ω up to 20MΩ.

This simple to build PIC Temperature meter allows to measure temperature from -55°C to 125°C or -67°F to 257°F in two different remote locations at the same time using DS18S20 digital sensors. DS18S20 sensors don't require any calibration and send temperature in digital format providing 100% accuracy. Temperature is displayed on two line green backlighted LCD display.

This handy prescaler divides input frequency by 1000. It takes maximum input frequency of 3.5GHz and converts it into 3.5MHz that may be measured using standard frequency meter.