[Test-Equipment] Bought a New LCR / ESR Meter

[Dale H. Cook]

Two very useful pieces of test equipment are an LCR 
(Inductance-Capacitance-Resistance) meter and an ESR (Equivalent Series 
Resistance) meter. I have owned an LCR meter for many years for field 
use to evaluate inductors and capacitors. I have not previously owned an 
ESR meter. I have a laboratory grade instrument in the shop - a General 
Radio Type 1608-A Inductance Bridge, with great range and a variety of 
measurements, but it is too big and heavy for field use.



For about 25 years I used an inexpensive LCR meter in the field. It was 
an Elenco LCR-1801 that had a guard terminal (used with shielded leads 
to reject noise and RF) but only measured to 200 uf. In recent years it 
has developed problems including a failure of one of the flat spring 
contacts for lead contact and problems with the rotary function/range 
switch. I decided to replace it, preferring the convenience of a 
battery-powered handheld LCR meter to the more cumbersome but more 
functional line-powered meters such as the Sencore Z-meters. I consulted 
fellow engineers who own LCR meters, and through a combination of 
reading manuals and reviews and borrowing meters for tests I reached a 
decision.



I bought a DER EE DE-5000 meter made in Taiwan. It has been rebranded by 
Extech, IET Labs, and possibly others. I learned that IET Labs, who 
bought most of the General Radio instrument designs, had rebranded this 
meter when a fellow engineer, whose DE-5000 mater I borrowed for 
testing, pointed out that he uses a PDF of the all-English IET manual in 
preference to the multi-lingual manual packed with the DE-5000. The fact 
that a company that manufactures high-quality impedance-measuring 
instruments for the bench would rebrand and sell this meter was an 
important consideration in my choice. It measures to 20,000 uf (values 
of 10,000 uf and higher display as millifarads), 2,000 H, and 200 
Megohms (measured with DC or AC). It has selectable AC measurement 
frequencies in decade steps from 100 Hz to 100 kHz. It can also measure 
D, Q, Theta (complex impedance phase angle) and ESR. It can measure in 
4-wire mode, has guarded terminals, and a calibration function to 
compensate for the test leads used. I ordered mine with guarded 
alligator clips (with short 4-wire leads) and guarded 4-wire lead SMD 
tweezers. I passed on the factory external guard lead, preferring to 
roll my own using test lead wire that was much more supple than what the 
factory used. I also bought a pair of inexpensive Kelvin clips and 
rolled my own 4-wire Kelvin leads with guarded 2 foot leads made from 
RG-174. I also added a 25,000 uf 16 volt electrolytic cap (measured with 
my General Radio 1608-A impedance bridge at 27.4 millifarads) that I can 
use in series with an unknown capacitor for values above 20.0 
millifarads. I have around $150 invested and have been well pleased with 
my DE-5000.

-- 
Dale H. Cook, GR/HP/Tek Collector, Roanoke/Lynchburg, VA
https://plymouthcolony.net/starcity/radios/