The Importance of LCR Meters

[Audiofire]

Do you use one and do you think it is worth having for people who would not use it very often, and are not in a professional setting?

I am going to buy some electrolytic capacitors from Nichicon at Mouser, and film capacitors from Miflex at TME. I don't have an LCR meter, although B&K Precision 880 is a really neat device in my opinion. It has selectable frequency, which is said to be important for getting accurate measurements from capacitors.

By the same token, a lot of people have a multimeter and don't use it very often.

Edit: I am not going to buy those Miflex capacitors, because they use oil inside and have inconsistent prices compared with the capacitance values. This seems to be an indication of poor quality, since oil could cause worse dielectric absorption or something else and is used in industrial environments (where the voltage is high and needs cooling). Panasonic has some industrial-grade film capacitors available at Mouser that have linear capacitance in the audio frequency range.

 

[Doodski]

Do you use one and do you think it is worth having for people who are not using it very often, and are not in a professional setting?

I am going to buy some electrolytic capacitors from Nichicon at Mouser, and film capacitors from Miflex at TME. I don't have an LCR meter, although B&K Precision 880 is a really neat device in my opinion. It has selectable frequency, which is said to be important for getting accurate measurements from capacitors.

By the same token, a lot of people have a multimeter and don't use it very often.

I would not buy one if I where a causal user and not needing one often.

If you observe page 6 of the data sheet it will give you specs for capacitance measurements.
The range is not really useful for casual users. You may need bigger capacitance testing ranges. The 880 is the one to buy from what I see.
I'll skim and scan the manual... unno momento.

EDIT the capacitance test range is good to 20mF.

 

[mansr]

Why do you think you might need an LCR meter? (I have one, but I very rarely use it.)

 

[Doodski]

The 880 owners manual gives details as well.

 

[Audiofire]

Why do you think you might need an LCR meter? (I have one, but I very rarely use it.)

It's because the capacitance range of multimeters is very limited (it can go to 9,999 uF on expensive models), and they are said to be somewhat inaccurate due to the technical method used for measuring capacitance.

 

[Killingbeans]

(I have one, but I very rarely use it.)

Same here. An ESR meter is way more useful.

 

[Doodski]

Same here. An ESR meter is way more useful.

What does a good ESR meter cost these days?

 

[antennaguru]

I have one and use it all of the time!

I recently was populating a power supply filter capacitor board for an amplifier, and had ordered 6 X 15,000uF caps from a vendor in China. I measured the caps upon receipt and they were all between 10,000uF and 11,000uF, which means I caught the vendor in a lie. I sent photos of the caps connected to the LCR meter showing the digital readout and insisted on a refund!

 

[mansr]

It's because the capacitance range of multimeters is very limited (it can go to 9,999 uF on expensive models), and they are said to be somewhat inaccurate due to the technical method used for measuring capacitance.

My Fluke goes to 100 mF, so there's that. Why do you need to measure such large capacitances, though?

 

[Audiofire]

I measured the caps upon receipt and they were all between 10,000uF and 11,000uF, which means I caught the vendor in a lie. I sent photos of the caps connected to the LCR meter showing the digital readout and insisted on a refund!

Yup, pretty much the most important reason for having an LCR meter in my opinion.

I added a poll to allow people to give an easy yes or no answer, if they want.

Edit: That counts for defective ones too, which could be useful for getting a refund.

 

[mansr]

I have one and use it all of the time!

I recently was populating a power supply filter capacitor board for an amplifier, and had ordered 6 X 15,000uF caps from a vendor in China. I measured the caps upon receipt and they were all between 10,000uF and 11,000uF, which means I caught the vendor in a lie. I sent photos of the caps connected to the LCR meter showing the digital readout and insisted on a refund!

Ordering from a reputable vendor would have been cheaper than an LCR meter.

 

[mansr]

Yup, pretty much the most important reason for having an LCR meter in my opinion.

If you can't trust your parts supplier, you're doing something wrong.

 

[Killingbeans]

What does a good ESR meter cost these days?

Depends on how good it needs to be

Mine is just one of those DIY Anatek Blue clones. Can't remember the brand.

 

[Doodski]

I have not used a LCR meter much but when wanted they are really wanted.

 

[DonH56]

An LCR meter is nice but I doubt I'll ever have one for myself, just too little value on a daily basis. Maybe a VNA... That said, if you have a bunch of unknown (or questionable) L's, C's, and R's around, it can be very convenient.

If you've a signal source (generator, sound card, whatever), a resistor, and a way to measure the voltage, you can measure the step response or steady-state drop across a resistor to determine the capacitance. I used to do that with a decade resistor box, a 1 kHz source, and a voltmeter to measure the voltage across the resistor to calculate the capacitance.

 

[Doodski]

Depends on how good it needs to be

Mine is just one of those DIY Anatek Blue clones. Can't remember the brand.

Well. He is looking at a ~USD$500 for the 880 LCR model.

 

[Audiofire]

My Fluke goes to 100 mF, so there's that. Why do you need to measure such large capacitances, though?

Well, that is indeed a good point.

I have a Yamaha A-700 integrated amplifier manufactured about 1985, and there are two massive capacitors in there that have 22,000 uF and 69 "WV" from what I remember (working voltage, which means the same as normal voltage from what I understand). The only replacement on the market is Nichicon LNR1K223MSE. I also bought a bunch of other vintage equipment like a Yamaha M-2, so there are outdated capacitors in my equipment and Mouser is unfortunately the only authorized distributor for Nichicon in Europe (20 years from manufacture is outdated for electrolytic capacitors in my opinion).

 

[amirm]

I have two I think. Main use is fir measuring small resistances such as speaker wire.

 

[Doodski]

Well, that is indeed a good point.

I have a Yamaha A-700 integrated amplifier manufactured about 1985, and there are two massive capacitors in there that have 22,000 uF and 69 "WV" from what I remember (working voltage, which means the same as normal voltage from what I understand). Those caps are pretty hard to even find now. I also bought a bunch of other vintage equipment like a Yamaha M-2, so there are outdated capacitors in my equipment and Mouser is unfortunately the only authorized distributor for Nichicon in Europe (20 years from manufacture is outdated for electrolytic capacitors in my opinion).

Try these doods for capacitors.

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www.tedss.com

Audio High End Store Upgrades Recap

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www.audio-high-store.com

 

[DonH56]

I have two I think. Main use is fir measuring small resistances such as speaker wire.

So, give/sell one to @Audiofire ?

As long as I have access to one at work I am good. As a matter of fact, we just tossed an old one. I can ping our tech and see if it is still on the cart to be recycled. Don't know if it works, however...