Professional Documents
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'uh''E$M6tBr
Design.,of
lot has appearedin recent issueson the subject VCR ot monitor. A TV display may be pulled in from
of the ESR (equivalentseriesresistance)of an the sideVtop/bottom.Diode and transistor failure can
electrolytic capacitor. The Capacitor Wizard occur over a period of time.
was reviewed by Martin Pickering in June 1998. It's These and many other problems are often causedby
'
designedto measurea capacitor'sESR in-circuit while capacitors, with normal capacit'nce but high ESR,
ignoring any componentsthat are connectedto it. The. which does not exist as a static quantity and therefore
unit described'in this. artible performs the same task, .. cannot be measuredusing a conventionalcapacitance
and a lot of work has been put into achieving the end ' meter or a:DC ohmmeter.ESR exists onlv when alter-
result. Even if you don't get around to building the nating current is appliedto a cdpacitorbr when a capac-
meter, this article will give you insight into the design itor's dielebtric chargeis changingstate.It can be con-
criteria and the way in which the instrumentworks. But sideredas the total in-phaseAC resistanceofa capaci-
build it if you can: it's effective, very useful and inex- tor, and includesthe DC resistanceof the leads,the DC
pensive. resistanceofthe connCctionto the dielectric,the capac-
: . , ' itor plate resistanceand the in-phaseAC resistanc-e of
ESR the dielectric'material at a panitular frequency (my ri
'i
' In view of Martin's '
review and also the articlesby Ray italics) and temperature.. ,' , r
Porteron a capacitor'sESR (Januaryand April 1993)I The componentcombinationthat constitutesESR can
won't say a lot aboutESR here: it would simply be rep- be thoughtofds a resistorin serieswith a capacitor:the
etition. To put it in a nutshell,a capacitor'smeasured resistor does not exist as a physical entity, so a direct
ESR (in ohms) is an indicationof its 'goodness'.The measurement acrossthe,'ESRresistor,is not possible.
Iower the ohms reading, the better the capacitor. An If, however, a method of correcting for the elfects of
ESRcheckcan give an early indicationofcapacitor fail- capacitive reactanceis provided, aid consideringthat
ure, and is far more useful than a capacitancemeasure- all resistancesare in phase,the ESR can be calculated
ment. Indeed many faulty electrolyticsshow OK when and measuredusing the basic electronicsformula E = I
checkedwith a conventionalcapacitancemeter. x R! This is the basisof the designof the Capacitor
In recent months I've talked to many people who Wizard."
don't appreciatethe importanceof ESR and in what
senseit differsfrom capacitance. So I feel it worthwhile Design Criterio
including an extract from a technicalbulletin on the Capacitormanufacturers quoteESR valuesmeasured at
CapacitorWizard writtenby Doug Jones,the President l00kHz. So this is the test frequencyI chose.The
of Independence ElectronicsInc. It sums up the ques- impedanceof inductorsin the microhenriesregioncan
tion of ESR well. be measuredat this frequency,enabljngthe c-ondition
"ESR is the dynamicpure
resistanceof a capacitorto of video headsto be gauged--as they w6ar and the gap
an AC signal.High ESR can causetime-constant prob- deteriorates, their inductancefalls.
lems,capacitorheating,circuit loading,total failureetc. The Wizard has a buzzerthat soundswhen the ESR
A switch-modepowersupplymay not startreliably- or is below lCl or so. A capacitorwith an ESR of less
start at all. Slight hum bars appearin the video of a than about lC) is generallyconsideredto be good, so
r16
M a r c h 1 9 9 9T E L E V I S I O N
"=;;-;r;9,;:,
-
.:. ,i:;ril
:I r. ;; ,. .::,1 it .j
. ,. . :..:.:
. \
' 'Anyway,
this is a very useful feature in situations where you I digress.To get back to the point, the op-
waht to cheik a number of suspectcomponents,. it amp usually:requiresa positiveand a negativesupply
means that you need refer to the meter ohly when with respectto a common earth. These.suppliesare
there's no beep.I've incorporatedthis facility, b'utyou' often noi shown on circuit diagrams, being taken for
must bear in mind that a lot of the capacitorsin which granted.Thq common earth (0V line) servesas a refer-
we'ire interestedhave ESR values of less than 0.5C) eirce point for the voltages that are presentin the cir-
when good. More on this later. cuit and as a'return path to the power supply for any
I'd like to stressthis basicpoint before going any fur- currentsgeneratedby the device's operation.
then as with the CapacitorWizard, the meter described The main point here is that if the voltageat the + input
in this article doein't measure a capacitor's micro- increaseswith respectto the voltage at the - input, the
farads. It simply lets you know if the capacitor is or output voltage will be positive-going.Co,nverselyif the
isn't up to thejob. After gaining somepractical experi- voliage at the + input decreases with respectto the volt-
ence with the meter, you will soon get to know"what hge at the 1 input the output voltage will be negative-
reading to expect from a good capacitor - taking into going.Thus in normal practicethe outputcorrespondsto
accountits capacitanceand voltage rating. But in'any the difference between the inputs.
casethe readingobtainedwith a faulty capacitorusual- If the op-amp doesn't have any negative feedback
lf lea1e1little doubt as to its condition. and the + input is at only 0'lmV abovethe - input, the
output voltage will be close to that of the positive sup-
The Op-Amp ply rail. If the + input is lower than the - input by the
The circuit'uses the basic opamp as an oscillator, sameamount,the output voltagewill be close to that of
amplifier;' dslsctor, voltage-follower and .'comparator. the negitive supply rail. Thus the gain is equal to the
So'it's appropriateto devotesomespaceto a description' average slope, which is typically l0V/0'1mV =
of the op-amp and its associatedcircuitry. Incidentally 100,Q00.This very sensitiveproperty is used in com-
the term'opcrational amplifier' relates to its use in ana- parat<ircircuits (it's'used in the ESR meter's buzzei
logue computersand appearedin a paper by Ragaziuini circuit). But the op-amp is far more useful when.the
and others in 1947.The first general-purposeop-amp, output is restricted to narrower limits.
with.differential inputs and using the familiar triangular
symbol'for circuit rcprcsentation,was :introduced;in. The Precision Inverting Amplifier
'
1952r 6Model K2-W, by'.George A. Philbrook This is one cif the'riiost common opimpapplications
Re.searches Inc.). It's sobering to think that almost forty and is usedin the secondand third stagesof the meter.
yearsago an early op-amp, the P2, cost $227 - an eighth' Circuit operation will hopefully be made clear by the
of the cost of a VW Beetle at that time: now a superior rather unusudl representation(due to Tom Hornack)
device can tie bought for less than a pound. shownin Fig. l.
The op-amp is a high-gain (x100,000 or so) amplifi- At (a) the op-amp is arranged to provide a voltage
er that usually has two 'inputs, on-e non-inverting gain of two. The fact that in this case the output is
Qabelled +) and the other inverting (labelled !). For inverted (the gain'is.minus two) is not important. The
practical'purposes.the gain.rcan be considered as heavy negative.feedback,viaresistorRf forces the out-
infinitely high, with no cuirent flow at the inputs. The put to be such that the voltage at the - input is equal to
opamp'isr,designed primarily to' operate stably'with that at the + input rjvhichis'oV. Remember that the op-
hcarlr- nefative. feedback' In 'fact from 'the' hisfelisal:; ::amp responds'td the"difrerencebetween its' inputs. As
poiriio"f:vlcw:de opamp andithe concept of negative' ;,point X is at earth'potential, there is "lV across Rin'
,(lk0) .and,ther,cirrrdnt flow via Rin, calculated by
feddb4k(the, invention :of fi,S.'r Blach-'workingrforr' 'Ohm's
Bell_'[5t*iratories, in 1927) are synon5rmous.Black' Law;.iS lmA. jTherc is no current flow at the
wa5''w6ikihg'on telephones,'tis bu;ective biing to:. input of the op-amii So this lmA flows via Rf (2k0)
achieve'stable gain independent of the characteristics': whiih thus has 2V'across it.
of a valve (a thennionically-activated FET to youpg- Notice how Rf and Rin behave like a seesaw as the
sterSl). When he tried to patent his negative-feedback input goes from a positive to a negative value, with the
amplifier in 1928-the idea:was ridiculed. Over the piVot at the null point X. This point is referred to as a
years however this concept has become one of the virtual earth. There is no current path between point X
most important in the field of electronics. Marconi had and earth, and point X is always at zero voltage with
much the sameproblem. It seemsthat people often dis- respectto earth.
miss things they don't understand. The concept of a virtual earth is used as a short-cut
Fig. 1: Precision inverting op-amp circuit, ia) witn a positive input, (b) with a negative input. Note how Rf
and Rin behave like a seesawas the input goes from positive to negative, with the pivot at the null (virtual
earthl point X. The gain of the stage is RflRin, so the output is Vin x Rfl&in.
March 1999
TELEVISION 317
ESR METER #
The Oscillqtor - History
At the heart of the meter there's a Wien bridge net-
work oscillator.This form of oscillator has an inter-
estinghistory which is worth a few paragraphs.
In 1939 William RedingtonHewlett (co-founderof
Hewlett-Packard)producedhis StanfordthesisA New
TypeResistanceCapacityOscillator.It madeuseof a
resonantRC network that had beenconceivedby Max
Wien (pronounced Vene) in 1891. The American
inventor Lee DeForest(yes,we can blame him) had-
n't started the ball rolling yet with the creation,in
Fig.2: Jim Williams'original circuit, the firct I 906, of the triode valve.So therehad in I 89I beenno
attempt at combining an op-amp with a Wien meansof obtaining electronicamplificationand Max
bridge network to form an oscillator. couldn't have got his network to oscillate. That
wouldn't hav'etroubledhim, as he was using the net-
work for AC bridge measurement.Amazing what peo-
ple got up to over 100 years ago, isn't it? I think it
was, once again, somethingto do with telephones.
But Hewlett had the pentodevalve at his disposal.
He also had Harold S. Black's pioneering work on
negative feedbackto assisthim. In addition there was
Nyquist's Regenerative;Theory,which described the
conditions necessaryfor. oscillation.
Hewlett showed that the Wien network could be
made to oscillater A crucial problem had to be
resolved however, that of stage glin. With a gain of
less than unity there would be no oscillation. With a
gain of greater than unity there would be distortion.
With unity gain there,will be what Hewlett wanted, a
,sinewave.
'was He had a flash'of inspiration; the solution
literally staring him in the fate - the electric light
bulb. :
656t1 Hewlett's oscillator.wasa two-valve affair, with a
6J7 as the oscillator and a 6F6 as the output stage.His
solution for gain stability was to wire a tungstenbulb
Fig. 3: An op-amp Wien bridge oscillator arrange- between the cathode of the 6J7 and earth. The nega-
ment with the output set at 6V p-p (positive peak tive feedback was applied between the anode of the
shownl. At the resonant frequency points a, b and c output valve back to the cathodeof the triode oscilla-
are in phaseand the waveforms at the op-amp's tor valve. If the output increasesfor any reason, so
inpuF are a third of that at its outpttt. The ratio does the current flowing through the bulb. As it
BflRin = 2. warrns up, its resistanceincreases.So doesthe level of
negative feedback, thereby stabilising the oscillator's
when the operation of a current-to-voltage converter output. Hewlett's idea of employinga light bulb was
is analysed.From Fig. I you can see that, becauseof brilliant in its simplicity. It survived in the Hp200
the virtual earth,Rf appearsto be in parallel with RL. series audio oscillator during a fifty-year production
So the voltage acrossRf appearsacrossthe load as the run - into the mid Eighties.
output voltage. But although the null point is cortsid- About fifty years after Hewlett built his oscillator
ered to be at earth potential, at a microvolt level it's Jim Williams, who was working for Linear
very much active. Technology Corporation, was sitting in his den one
It can be seenfrom Fig. I that the stagegain, within rainy Sunday trying to think of something to do. His
the limitations of trhe supply, is determined by the old HP200 caught his eye. Peering into the back, he
ratio of Rf to Rin. Incidentally there's a frequency saw the light bulb where it had beenplaced half a cen-
limit on the gain: with common types of op-amp we tury ago, and wondered how Hewlett's oscillator
are limited to a gain of about x10 at 100kHz.If the would perform using a modernop-amp. He went on to
resistorsin Fig. I are transposedthe stagegain will be knock one up - the original circuit is shown in Fig. 2
0.5 - the circuit actsas an attenuator. - and was pleasedto find that it had a distortionfig-
ure of only 0.0025pei cent.
Overview Perhapshe could improve on it, by eliminating the
Before we go further, it would be as well to provide a bulb? Jim was the first to use a JFET in place of the
quick introductionto the meter circuit presentedhere bulb, but with this devicethe distortionfigure roseto
(seeFig. 5). The first stageconsistsofa l00kHz oscil- a massive 0.15 per cent. Unfortunately there's not
lator, whoseoutput is fed to the capacitorbeing test- spaceto explain why the use of a JFET gives such
ed. Put simply, the currentflow throughthe capacitor inferior resultscomparedto a bulb. In the event Jim
is sensedthen amplified as a voltage. It's finally discardedthe JFET in favour of an optically-driven
detectedand measuredby the meter movement. CdS photocell.This, in conjunctionwith five op-amps
The better the capacitor,the lower its ESR and the etc., producedan analyser-limiteddistortionfigure of i.
higher the meterindication.It's not quite this simple, 0'0003 per cent (threepartsper million). At one point :l
"!t
becausethe meter must ignore the other components during his questJim writes (AnalogueCircuit Design, ''{
connectedto the capacitorbeing tested.We'll come to Butterworth-Heinemann)"I could almost hear +if
the solution to this problem later. Hewlett's little light bulb, which worked so well, ,i$
,.*
*;
318 #
;ffi
M a r c h 1 9 9 9T E L E V I S I O N
'i{ii;r-."
::;
March 1999
TELEVISION 319
ESRMbTER
$
iq
Fig. 5: The basic meter circuit. VBI sets the oscillator's output level. Pin 8 of tCl and tC2 is connected to the +ve suppty, pin
1 to the -ve supply.
(b), the op-amp's output rises to the point at, which waveforms across R3 and R4,are virtually in-phase
D2 conducts. The current then flows via Rin, point X regardlessofthe value ofthe test capacitor.So we are
andD2. DI is now off and the output ib zero.- measuringthe total in-phase AC resistanceto which
Doug Jonesrefers (seequotation earlier).
Bosic Meter Gircuit You might wonder why the test.signal amflitude is
The circuit of the meter itself is shown in Fig. 5. The so small. It isn't becauserfe warit tg avoid turning on
Wien bridge oscillator, redrawn, is the same except semiconductordevices - we could go up to a'coiple
for the inclusion of a lf,l resistor (R3) between the of hundred millivolts before there'would-be:any wor-
bulb and the 0V line. Depending,onVRI's setting, the ries about thit, It's'similly'i"mattef .bf power con-r
bulb's current ii typically 3.5m4 RMS.'As a resriit, in sumption. Even our tittle iOmV requires 3.5mA, irnd
the absence of a capacitor under test about lOmV in this caseI have (dare I claim cleverly?) useda cur-
peak-to-peakat lOOkHzis developedacrossR3. " ' ' rent source thdt's already there. A l00mV test source
VRI sets the amplitude of the oscillator's ouq)ut. In would require a hefty 35mA, quirc a drain on
this case the butput is used only for feedback,ind is resources.If anything the value of the lQ resistor
set at 5V feak+o-peak; There is nothing magical could be even lower, so that with respoectto2.7Qit
about this figure, and with this application no test would more closely approximate a constant-voltage
equipment is required to set it. It's just that'to get a source.
higher level output you would have to use a higher You may think that to test an electrolytic capacitor
supply voltage. In fact however the higher thb output effectively a fair old currentishould be pumped
voltage the better.' - through it. Not so. A healthy l,Q00trrFcapacitor will
The ESR of the'capacitor being tested forms part of still present0.05C1or so to a couple of':millivolts and
a potential divider with thez.lQ resistorR4. The volt- thus be producea reading. :1 '
age waveform across this resistor, as a result of the The signal across R4 passesthrough two stagesof
current in the capacitor, is amplified by the rest of the amplification each with a gain of ten, and is then
meter circuit. Bear in mind thit with the range of ESR detected for the meter movement. There is furtheri
values we are measuring an ideal mid-scale figure amplification in the detector stage.The output iS inte- \i
.l
would be about 3Q. With low. ESR'value'C(good gated by C4 to produce a DC output of about l.3V ii
capacitor) the signal across R4 is high, while with a with the test leads shorted - this correspondsto zero ,+
poor capacitor it wlll be low - often, in relation to E S R . , i : . . r : ' ,.1.
2.7d2,there can be an effective open-circuit. The basic meter circuit usestwo dual op-amps.you'
Now if, for example, the ESR is 2.7Q, half the will seethat the signal path from the oscillatoi in ICI
sourcevoltagri acrossR3 would be passedto the meter passesto IC2 then back again.fhil is done to prevent
and a half-scale reading would be expected.It doesn't the first, sensitive stage of amplification picking up a
quite work out like. this however, becausethe source strong oscillator signal in the samepackage.
voltage is not independentof the lohd, and we will be
setting full-scale deflection with R3 and R4 in paral- The Power Supply
lel (test leadsshorted). There is no need for a regulatedsupply, becausethe
If the ESR tends to go below the value of R4, it bulb stabilisesthe oscillatorand the implification fac-
becomes more effective in increasing the voltage tor of the op-ampsis fixed by the ratio of the feedback
acrossR4. As the ESR rises abovethe value of R4, it and input resistors.
becomesless effective at incrEasingthe voltage across _Thepower supply arrangementusedis shownin Fig.
R4. Hence the non-linear scale,which is ideal with 6. IC3a generatessplit rails from a single supply line.
this application.R3 and R4 are of necessitylow in The voltage at its output pin 7 is at half thC iupply
value, becausethey compare with the values of ESR voltage,becausethe voltage ar its - input (pin 6) is
in which we are interested..Thebonus here is that equal'to the half-voltagelevel set by R[2 and Rl3 at
becauseof their low valuesthi effect of associatedin- its + input-(pin 5). This way of using an op-ampis'
circuit componentsbecomesinsignificant. known as the voltage-follower.There is total negaiive
The design of this littlernetwork is such that the feedback,and the c-losed-loop gain is unity.
ESRMETER
-
R1(
55k
22
ol
oa
321
March 1999
TELEVISION
In fhis second pqrt Alon
Willcox deqls, wirh construc-
fion ond setting up of rhe
meter, upgrcides qnd use,
ond provides oddirionol
bockground informotion
'bler
I n pu.t I lqt month the design criteria were spccified workirg.TV line outputstagein the vicinity. Ratherthan
I and a full description of the operation of the circuit use plugs and sockets,solder the test leadsto the ICB:
f was provided. The meter i3 simple to build and the we are often concemed wittr RSR values of less than
effort rcqufuedis well worthwhile. , : :::.: 0.1O, and it doesn't take long for a plug-and-socket
connectionto deteriorateand produceresistance.values
Construction greater than this. The length ofthe leadsis not at all crit-
Fig. 8 shows the board layout. For convenience,'0.lin. ical. I use a 24in. length of screenedaudio lead termi-
matrix stripboard is used. The most common problem natedby two 8in. lengthsof flexible wire.
qo.l9.".Ts-ilr9 print cuts. If these are made by rwisting a On- a cold, frosty morning, before the workshop has
d.itl lit by hanp, as I do, insteadof usingthe correct reached its normal comfortable, cosy (?) temperature,
tool, it's all too easyfor the cut to be incoirplete orfor
some of the print to spreadover qoan adjacent track. $9 leter's readings may increase,slightly. Alttrougtr
this_increasemay amount to the equivaleniof less thin
If a double-poleon/off switch is used,ihis is a cbnve- 0JO, the fact that accuratelow-rciistance readings are
nient point for the connection of an on/off indicator. A often required justifies the use of an off-the-board set-
flashing LED with a l0kQ seriesresistor does the job zero control rather than a preset type as used in the
.7t Suitable
'ier scale, ,relpro- we-ll:althoughit takesonly a coupleof mA, the flashing Wizard ESR meter.
ced full size. light doescatchyour eye. This control also comes in handy if you want to
It is best to use screenedcable for the test leads,in squeezethe last ounce out of the batteries, but the
order to avoid pick-up of unwantedradiation from any buzzercan't be relied on when the batteriesproduceless
than5V T9 th" outputfrom the oscillatorbeginsto fall.
Also useful in this respectis the ability to alte; the point-
7 5 4 3 2 er position easily at maximum output, to be able to
I
.5 observethe operationof the bulb and the correct func-
tioning of the oscillator. This is covered in the set-up
noteslater.
Probeclips wereusedfor the all-importantprobes.The
hooks were cut off, the internal springs were removed,
E S R a l 1 O Ok H z then the plastic was cut back to expose more of the
probes.They haveprovedto be ideal in practice,and are
small enoughto often be able to get under the capacitor
on the componentside of the PCB. The probesare not
polarity conscious,and it doesn't matter which connec-
tion is used for the screenofthe test lead.
The suggestedboardsize (3 x 2in.) is slightly larger
426
April 1999TELEVISION
ESRMETER
-
X - lrocl cut!
:. '.,
.
..r .::ii.i+r,....
_:{:f '
than it needs to be to.dccdmmodate the components. Apart from the bulb, the sp&ifrcation 6f ttre other com- Fig.8: Meiel.
There arc two reasonsifor this: First, so that it will slot ponentsis not critical. circuit layovt
into the case that was selected, and secondly to allow on stipboard.
spacefor future upgrades.With this in mind the set-zero The Mefer Scole Board size is 3
control is offset to the right, allowing spacefor a modu- The geometryof the meterlsscale(see'Fig.7) is dictar x 2in. lo allow
lar presetshaft. ed by the relative values of R3 and R4. If the value of for upgrudes.
The batteries are securcd with self-adhesive Velcro. R4 was'inbreased to say 10O, this would be the mid- See jex].
It's a simple solution, and the Vrlcro will transfer sev- scale reading and R3, being low in comparison, would
eral times. hav,eless effecl Say a capacitorwith -iriil!
aerESR of l0O is
connected.Half the signal ai.rossR3 .bepassedon,
andrtittb'6f ,its curreni will,be' diverteidt6,.reduce R3's
voltage;.rvhich is the result of i6i ibtii.Ent
' l * i r * , - . through
'. the
. . . 1. . ! , . . .ir..; "':
Gomponenl Sources
I obtainedmost of the pans usedin the
prototype from Maplin Electronicsand
haveincludedthis company'spart num-
bers in the componentslist. The buzzer
and meter movement were obtained
from CPC. For correct operationof the
oscillator it's vital that Cl and C2 are
good-quality polystyrene capacitors.
lnlernal view oJ ihe meter.
:
,l
'n continued on Page 436
ffi T E L E V I S I OA
Np r i l 1 9 9 9 . 4,27
ESRMETER
bulb' A mid-scale reading of this order may be more Leave the set-zerocontrol at minimum and observe
appropriatefor testing surface-mountedelectrolytic the-operationof the bulb uy ttit.ting on with the
capacitors,which seem to have higher ESR va.luei. qrgbei shorted together. vou *iir see the pointer
have no data on this type of capacitorat the time of! deflectrrlcrrtrren"lil;;ir";;;ui"iy.;".pdownrothe
writing however. stabilised"position.
Anyway, the value of R4 used here,2'7{1, doesaffect Once the oscillator's output has beenset, adjust vR2
the sourcevciltageto an extent that has to be consid- for full-scale oenectionw-iirri;;;.;;,
ered.The current that shortedtogeth-
-flows through the bulb is con- er. ninaity, centrethe control knob.
trolled_by the settingof VRl. R3, being only le, does
not af-fect operationof the oscillatoi. Using the Meter
$e
scale calibration with an 0-100 dial ideally follows nxperi-encewith the meter providesthe bestguide as to
the rule wh;t ESR value to "ip""t oi ;;;; capaciror.Some
=(R3
Reading +R4v(R3
+R4+ESR)
x r00. ffiT*iJ,iff:il#t,::tiT'l#Y"""",T#"J,".TTi';
Inpractice
thesignar
becomes
s9rory
athighESR
var- ;#i%:!E:X'r?l3lY"'[119,1*ft,:"d:d#ti":il"#
uesthat somenon-linearityin the cjrcuitis apparent, electrolyticcapacitor_.oft00pF
oi-over value, you
the resultbeinga-slightdlparnrrefrom this rbrmura. a readingclose to this and cerrainly
Because itgtJ^"Id
of this,it's betterto useeitherfixed resistors below0.5h.
to calibratethe scaleor copyFig. 7. If a standard90' There * ,orn" exceptionshowever.I,ll mention
moYement of a differentsiif is used,it is easyenough trremtrereas they caniuur" "ooruri;;. A^irih*;lsR-
toreduce.olenlargb-thqscalebyphotocopyinE. valueis to be eipected
yrth ltF, ligh-vorh;;ei;-
letrlnS Un '-
.::', is.the oscillator's-outputlevel.
The first consideration rtutt-up"o.pon"ni. n"iog 6p"raiJin a pc context,its
with thespecifiedlamp,the oscillatorwil wbrk down Fsi iJil;ilp"rr-r
to peak-to-qeakBut bearin mind that the oscilla- "tlt ;*;;;Uuce a reading 4t an e-xample a new450v.rype
JV of thebrderof:30f,I At the
tor's outputsetringis not importantg ilryt{ . tru--scale otniq eqoir rhe.qnge.
, t9u.Eetrnp"r,oobpr,
deflectionissimplyadjustedby-vR2.wit_h.thelestleads:ryqgir;;ortnrriao"*i:prpioJ.ur.adingof0.le
sho{9!together'I,owsetting]ofthebircilIator:soutput<iireisiisau}f--:-:.i---:'.l1tr+-.lI
providesa longer battery-life,'iieduging the livel it Table l, from Dubilier,prwides a usefulguide,in
whichthe bulb ceasest9 functional.1 qery[tor. addition, ir ytu ar" unsurewhatreadingto expectit,s
testsignalcanhoweverbe so low at highEsR values Stre
"ury "nougtiio *ut"'u "o-f*iro" *iiri",i-iili;;
thataccuracy suffers.In practiceanoscillatoroutput - of rr9- yoor?"il-stockedluy-J"r""t oiyti"r.
about5V peak-to-peak is a goodcom-promise. The-meterhas good protectionagainstplacingthe
rf an oscilloscopeis not available,thefollowingsim- probe, u"ros u .f,.g"d .upu"it-, But this
ple methodcanbeused.Connecta 1o resistorbeiw""n "ourr" u" uuoia"a. shouldof
rfr" onryieui Juut" for
^uie",jiiig;:
concern is
thetestIeadsandturntheset-zero controlVR2 (shown . the.'mainsmootfring block,,i.". u *an,
incorrectlyas a presetiri ric,
wise.Advancbthescttingof wil .s*fas1,-g-.tql [ti"r*t: "i;t il*]l'ii-""paciior. we att tnow tr,atnis capacitor.
slowly.Iust:afterthe. can abtlnb;".rrif1f pun.l *n"o " piLr-suppty has,:
half waypointtheoscillatorwill startup andthemeter's faibd l; siilt up.If you are-ofthe type
pointerwill deflect.c1rry oq.yntil th-e-buzzer with a tendency
iounds ro suchacciJent,iiwour,l ue fruiiiito wke a couple:
steadily.Ar thispoint the oscillator'soutputshouldbe
cloqeto 5v.peak+o-peak. Note that with eachadj.ust- E F"fy ;F;; 6ack-to-babk acrossthemerer,sinpur.,,
rrris stioutaliotect the meter,but it won,t help your
mentthe pointerwill twitch briefly as the bulb se[des, heart- ot yo'otprobes- in the event
givingtheimpression of sucha misfor-
thatthepotentiometer is no5r, tune.rt'sgLoJpracticet" al*rr*ga irtit capacitorwith
a mains-type bulb - it is always reassurineto have a
visual indication that little chargeremains.Seewarning
Table1: TypicalESRvaluesat 100kH2... note later.
I
Capacitancevalue Voltage rating lmpedance* Inductonce
As the meter operatesat l00kHz, any inductancein the
ltrF 50v 4Q circuit under test becomessignificani. The loudspeaker
2.21tF 50v 2.8A that reads.8C)on your coqventionalohmmeterapp"*s
4.7pF 50v 2.4A to be nearly open-circuitwittr ttre ESR meter.
10pF 63V 1.9c) This propert_ycan be quite useful. When testinga line
221tF 50v 1.3c) oxtput stage for exampleyou might find that there,sa
471tF 25V' 1.3cr short-circuit acrossthe hansistor.In this eventthereare
471tF 50v o.7a in generalthree possibilities,(a) the transistoris short-
100pF 16V 0.scr circuit, (b) the line output transformerhasa primary-to-
100pF 35V 0.2scr secondaryshort, or (c) the HT line has a short-circuit
2201tF 16V 0.25fi across it. If the short-circuit is still presentwhen the
2201tF 35V 0 . 11 4 Q ESR meter is used,the transistoris almostcertainly the
4701tY 16V 0.114c) culprit: in the other two casesthe ESR meter will give
4701tF 35V 0.065fi an open-circuitreadingbecauseof the inductanceof the
1,000pF 16V 0.0650 transformer'sprimaly winding.
1,000pF 25V 0.041c)
2,2001tF 25V, . Video headtestersoperateby measuring,in effect, the
0.036ct inductanceof the head.Its impedancefalls as the gap
2,2001tF 35V 0.034f) deteriorateswith wear. Althou;h this meter operatesat
*When new - low-ESRtype. a frequencythat's inappropriatefor a video heid, it can
436
A p r i l 1 9 9 9T E L E V T S T O N
give a irelative indication of the head's and considering the fact that ESR is an in-phasecom-
'don1thave,a collection of headsin various statesof poient, I have made the assumptionin my calculations
health to be able to confirm any figures, but it seems that ESR amountsto the samething as an equivalent
that new headsproduce a reading of about 20 while fixed resistor.
worn headsproducea readingofabout lf). Other uses for the meter emergethe more it is used.
Inductorswith millihenry values, of the type used in For'example, non-electrolytic capacitois can be mea-
EW modulatorcircuits, normally give an open-circuit sured and their capacitanceestimatbd.But becauseof
reading.But ifa shortedturn is presentthe inductance ' the different types of capacitor construction in use, I
dropsdramaticallyand the meter's pointer will deflect. can't coine up with any hard and fast rule. A lower limit
for measurementis about 0:lFF. There seemsto be less
Anotogue v Digitol and less needthesedays to measurethe actual value of
In dealingwith the problem of in-circuit ESR measure- a capacitor. With line output stage tuning capacitors
mentI've usedtraditional analoguetechnology.But, as and timing components'a conventional capacitance
is often the case,there's anotherway of doing things. meter is more appropriate.
Bob Parker, an engineet,fdown under' who was con- The ESR meter is one of those things that, once you
vinced of the importanceof such an instrument, hrst have one, you wonder how you ever managedwithout
tried analoguecircuitry. After "a few fairly unsuccess- it. Hats off to whoevercame up with the idea - it's not
ful attempts"he opted for a digital approach.His solu- mine. I've just taken this opportunity to sharewith you
tion'is to use a 7)log processor,with, instead of a the course I adoptedto end up with the solution pre-
,sinewaveas a test signal,shortcurrent pulsesappliedto sentedhere. I haven't clappedeyeson the Wizard yet -
the capacitorbeing tested.The resultantvoltagepulses, we can't afford one down here in Wales. I'd like to
which are.proportionil to the electrolytic's ESR, are know how the Wizard designer approachedthe prob-
compared to the level existing on a fttmp generator. lem, but no information has come my way.
Time measurementby the 286 processor determines The idea for my meter was triggered off by the
the amplitudeof the pulses. Wizard. When I first read about it I was impressed.It
.As far as the power,requirement is concerned, tliere's would test that most troublesomeof all components,the
a parallel in the form of a remote-control handset. The electrolytic capacitor.Not only that but.it would do so
LED is pulsedwith a high currentfor a short period, the in-circuit, ignoring associatedcomponents.t liked the
averagecurretrt drawl being low. The brief high cur- idea of a conventiohalmeter movementwith its easv-
'to-interpret
rent is supplied by a reservoir of stored power in an . scale, also the buzzer feature for quick
electrolytic capacitorthat's wired across the battery's checking. But the meter was shroudedin mystery and
connections. its price tag was beyond me. So I decidedto have a go
Friendly rivalry between the analogue and digital myself.
camps has existed for a long time. This brings to mind
an old story that sums it up well. Two male engineers, Development
. one specialising in digital design and the other in ana- A clear picture formed in my mind as to how to go
logue design, are working together in a lab. A nude about it. My idea was to supply a low-valuc resistor
.: femalc appeel! at the door, attracting the attention of (l0Q) with a constant-current l(X)kHz sinewave,
,, both men. This vision of beauty announces.that every - amptify and rectify the resultant ;voltage waveform
trlten'ieconds she'will reduce'the distance betrveen hei- acroSsthis resistor and feed it to h meter movement. [n
r::l'selfand the engineers.byone half. The digital engineer thii situation thb meter is to be set at full-scale deflec-
,r:lool3Sdisappginted and cries "that's terrible, she'll tion. The test leads were to be connected across the
. never get here". Xhe analogueengineer smiles and then resistor. Now ifthe capacitorbeing testedhas an ESR
rcplies i'that's OK she'll get close enough". ofsay 10f,1,the voltage acrossthe resistor would fall by
half. Thus half-scale deflection would correspond to an
More on ESR ESR of 10Q and so on. A very low ESR (good capaci-
,@ob Parker(E/earonicsAustralra, February 1996)puts tor) would produce a near-zero reading while a poor
it this way. capacitor would have little effect, the pointer remaining
"The electrolyte has an
electrigal resistance which, at near full-scale deflection. The result is a meter scale
along with the (negligible) resistahceof the connecting in opposite senseto that of the Wizard.
leads and aluminium foil, forms the capacitor's equiva- Within a couple of monthsof the startof development
lcnt seriesresistance.Normally the ESR has a very low work on the project I had a working prototype and
value, which stays that way for many years unless the decided to write an article about it. Then, at the
rubber seal is defective. Then the electrolyte's water eleventh hour, I had secondthoughts. Something was
gradually dries out and the ESR creeps up with time. naggingme. The meter looked OK, did its job, and oth-
The electrograduallycomesto act like a capacitorwith ers were happy with it. But after using it for some time
its own internal seriesresistor. . . Heat makesit worse. I felt that somethingwas not quite right.
If an electro is subjectedto high temperatures,espe- My main concernwas that it seemedto be very sensi-
cially from heatgeneratedinternally as a result of large tive to the inductanceof the test leads.This impedance
ripple currents,the electrolytewill start to decompose meant that even with the test leadsshortedthe reading
and the dielectric may deteriorate- the ESR will then could not be brought down to zero. I had introduced
increasefar more rapidly. To make things worse,as the measuresto offset this, but in this connection a more
ESR increasesso doesthe internal heatingproducedby seriousproblem emergedafter some further use.
the ripple current.This can lead to an upward spiral in When a capacitor with a very low (near zero) ESR
the capacitor'score temperature,followed by complete was being measured,the pointer would vary about the
failure - sometimeseven explosive , . ." zero point if the distance between the test leads was
Both Bob (Dick Smith Electronics)and Ray Porter,in altered. If they were close together, their inductance
an article on ESR meter designin this magazinea few would tend to canceland the reading would decrease.I
yearsback, mention the use of fixed resistorsto assist was aware how important it was to be able to differen-
with meter calibration. Armed with this information. tiate betweensay 0.5O and 0. lfl or between0'lfl and
T E L E V I S I OANp r i l 1 9 9 9 437
ESR METER
Componentslist
Item Value/type Order code
R 1 ,R 2 3kQ,1yo M3K
R3 1Q M1R
R4 2.70 M2R7
R5, R7, R9 1oka MlOK
R6,Rg,Rls 100kf) MlOOK
R10 - 91kO
M91K
Rl1 5.6kfi M5K6
R 1 2 ,R 1 3 ,R 1 4 56kO M56K
R16 2.7K1or 10kfl* M2K7or M10K
VR1 500Qcermet preset WR39
VR2 10kCtlinearpotentiometer JM71
*Valuefor current,economy
438
A p r i l 1 9 9 9T E L E V T S T O N
OHMS
7 5 4 3
-.oix compa re
E S R a t l O Ok H z
changed.An ESR metergets
aroundthis problemby usinga test
frequency(or pulserate)that'shigh
enoughfor the capacitivereactance
to be almostzeroohms,leaving
just the ESR as the measurement.
Meosuring ESR
ESR obviouslycannotbe measured
directly,usinga conventionalohm-
meter,so a meanshasto be found
to 'get to'the ESR that'shidden
insidethe capacitor.A numberof
ready-made meterdesignsand kits
are now availablefor measuringthe
ESR of an electrolyticcapacitorin-
circuit,usingcold checks.They
achievesuccessandsimplicityin
varyingdegrees.Useof a suitable
meterenablescold checksto be
madewithout the risk of any fur-
therdamageoccurring.Strictly
The equivolent series resistqnce (ESRI of qn electrolytic speakingit is the impedancethat's
beingmeasuredbut,over a particu-
copocifor is o relicrbleindicqtion of its condifion. lar rangeoflest parameters,it can
Alon Willcox's firsr ESR mefer".detign, published in these be shown that this presentsmore or
Iessthe samevalue.
pqges some five yeors a9o, wqs very populor. This Mork 2 It is all too easyto over-compli-
catethings when it comesto ESR.
version incorporoles severql improvements, in porficulor q Thereare thosewho arguethat
simpler oscillotor design ond single-botfery operotion ESR metersdon't measurethe ESR
precisely.But, in the real world,
simplified equivalentcircuit tancebut, when it deteriorates,it how precisedoesthe readingneed
of an electrolytic capacitoq increasesthe impedancepresent. to be? It really doesn'tmatter.The
seeFig. l, is usuallyshown The lower the ESR, the betterthe serviceengineerjustneedsto
when providing a briefexplanation capacitor! know,as quickly as possible,which
of what ESR is all about.In addi- Electrolytic capacitorsusedin capacitoris causingthe trouble.An
tion to the ideal capacitor Xc, a switch-mode(chopper)power sup- ESR meterdoesjust that!Once
secondcomponentis present.It has plies and thosemountedclose to technicianshave becomeaccus-
a significanteffect on the capaci- heatsinkstend to run hot. Heat is tomedto using an ESR meter,they
tor's performance,and is referred inclined to dry out the electrolyte wonderhow they ever managed
to as the equivalentseriesresist- and, in time, a capacitormay devel- withoutone.Althoughthe ESR
ance(ESR).Electrolytic capacitors op a high ESR.This will itself variessomewhatwith frequency,
are usedmainly for decouplingand, introducea power loss - and more we can in practiceregardit as
to a lesserextent,for signal cou- heat!The effectoffailure ofthis beinga constantin-phasecompo-
pling. This being so it's important type in a power supply can be cata- nent,and calibrateour meterusing
that, for optimum performance,the strophic.For example,if the capac- fixed resistors.This is useful,as the
impedance(AC resistance)of the itor is in the HT monitoring section meterwill alsoservewell as a low-
capacitoris as low as possible. of a TV set'spowersupplythe HT ohm meter.
An electrolyticcapacitor'sESR voltagemight rise, damagingthe So.if an ESR meterdoesn't
is mainly determinedby the condi- line output transistorand maybethe measurecapacitance, what readings
tion of the electrolyte(paste)that field outputIC. can we expectfrom good and bad
separatesits foils. The electrolyte This type of problemis more capacitorsusingsucha meter?
increases the component'scapaci- significant when a set is startedup How do you know whethera
from cold, as the conditionof a capacitoris OK or not?The curve
faulty electrolytic capacitoris shownin Fig. 2 givesa practical
worsewhencold.Thus cold checks ideaof the sort of ESR readings
are by far the bestapproachto test- thatshouldbe obtainedrvith good
ing! Problemswith electrolytic capacitorsof differentvalues.
capacitors,particularlythoseused Thereis no hard-and-fast rule horv-
in switch-modepowersupplies,are ever- it's not an exactscience. All
causednot so much by a changeof it needsis a bit of gettingusedto.
Fig. 1: Simplified equivalent circuit
capacitance valueas by an increase This doesn'ttakelong:just meas-
of an electrolytic capacitor. Xc
in thecomponent's ESR.Thus ure the ESR of a f'ewnervcapacl-
represents an ideal capacitor. lts removalof a suspectcapacitorto tors.Try l, 10,47, t00, 470 and
reactance moves towards zero checkit with a conventionalcapac- 1,000pF. You will find thatvalues
ohms as the frequency increases. itancemeteris largelya wasteof of 47pFandabovemeasure quite
Xc = l/(Zt fcl. The value of the time-Furthermorea faulty capaci- low.0'5O or less.with thebuzzer
equivalent series resistance ESRis tor may be overlookedbecauseits comingon (thebuzzerturn-on
determined mainly by the condition capacitance valuehashardly pointcanbe varied,seelater).The
of the electrolyte.
76 D e c e m b e r2 0 0 4 T E L E V I S I O N
impo.rtantpoint is just how low ES8(o)
capacito-is with valuesof 47uF and
abovemeasure i At 47018 and ovr.,
the readingis closeto zero'ohms.
If, in practice,a 1,0004Fcapacitor
producesa readingas high as O.SSI,
rt's no good! i:
Anqtd$i,i'ditiin"l ,
dtsPlg)B.ri,. -.. ,
Digital..methods bf measurement
andlisiildy are'generallyregarded
as pro,vldrng&ore accurateresults.
F9r mpny applicationsrhis is true.
but itjs nqr:,45pessarily so wi*r gSn
measureineriflThere ire two wavs
of interfacingthe,capacitorbeinl
tested'eiffi the m6tir:ftre capaciicir
can be connectedin parallel-with
the test sign4l.g"ourqe, as shownin
Fis.3(a);Wiii"i;?:ii6b',
t#'rie. irbi.'
\_ If a digital ESR readouti; ii;ad.
the capacitormust shuntthe test
ItF*
signal.,Withan deal,capabito4the
resultrwill be:z0ro,ohms; and.z&te.,.: :t
display:.-witha.badcapacitorthere
will be d hieh rcading;with linle
s_h_untlng away of. the test-signal.
We are interbstedin ESR viues of
3Q or less,rbuta digital meter
gives readingsfar higher than this.
It's not a major problem,but can
,Qgq$anr; Rsample.Value
grve nse'to superfluousinformation gl9se cfiosen for
aSfar aSESRtmeasUrements are r_j qf9:3lgt.' optimum
concemed;A inore.important factor meterscale
is ftat the:bqraltdmetnoa results in
a signifiidrftlniiease in,tne read::^ :
ings obaiiied&ecauiff 'of,ejri:i:Ssivei
sensitifi.df0lttiri[dluctiriie,ofithe,,l
$! le3+,rffis".ii,ii'be.overcomety-
fi tting.twollehds.tor6actlprobe:;It
provides.cancellation"toi,laige- .
extent,;but:thissolution.is a U'it .. ,
rmsyin.r'seand'toconshuct.The
""cries method ofiinterfacing
does ,;.,
not sufferrfrom,this.ilrawback;so
the useof;conventional test leads ,
becomes'acceptablelll don't know
y h y t h i s e f f e c t o c c u r s - I j u s:t,.
found out the hard way. . .
Although we have6ecomeused
to_digitalreadoutsnowadays,for
ESR measurementthere is-little
doubt that a moving-coil meter is
the.besttype of display.It gives a
raplo, ei$y-to-rnterpretindication
of the conditionof the capacitor.
After someexperienceof using it,
oxe getsto know wherethe pointer
shouldapproximatelybe with good
capacitorsof different values.
Indeeda meterscalebecomes
almostunnecessary. I know of
peoplewho haveusedthis type of
meterquite satisfactorilywithout
ever having takenthe trbuble to fit
a scalededicatedto ESR measure-
ment.
To repeat:it's not an exact sci- Layouio( Non willcox's Ma* 2 ESRmeF,ron stripboard.
severol.improyements, n" n4z incorporates
encebut, with someexperience, includinga simpler""riil.i";-i;;b" i,ii;igb_bottery
operalion.
ptb
?d anp
Fig' 4: The basic ESR meter circuiL new version. lcl and IC2 require positive
and-negative supplies at pins g and 4 respeaiiely.
Further circuitry is required, see nert month, to generate tne sim-riit iujpfu
and provide a buzzer comparator.
7B ,)OO4
l.)ecemhcr TFI F\/lqlr.)\l
w h o l e m c t e r s o t h a ta s i n g l eP P 3
battery could be usedas the porvcr
s o u r c ew h i l e s t i l l a c h i e v i n gv e r y
lorv po"vcr consumption.The
problem '"viththe use of a bulb is
t h a t i n t h e s ec o n d i t i o n st h e b u l b ' s
temperatureis not sufficiently far
away from the ambient tempera-
ture to ensufegood stability. so
this time I decidedto use the
brute-forcemethodof diode stabil-
i s a t i o n( D l , D 2 ) .
The idea here is that when the
output from the oscillator rises
above the conductionpoint of the
diodes the negativefeedback
increases,the output settling at an
amplitude which dependson the
characteristicsof the diodes. In
this case the net result is a
sinewavesourcesignal acrossR5
, with an amplitudeof about 6mV
L
peak-to-p"uk.Diod. stabilisation
introducesgreaterdistortion, but
this is not important here. To
maintain oscillation,the value of
R3 must be over trvice that of R4.
A preset resistor, adjusted to just
sustainoscillation(lorvestdistor-
tion), is usually used in the R3
position. I decidedto use a fixed
value that's a ferv ohms on the
Internol view
high side, to ensurereliable oscil- than the value of R6, as rn rnost I have achievedlow current con-
of the new
l a t i o n r e g a r d l e s os f d i s t o r t i o n . casesit is, the lvavefonn voltage s u m p t i o na n d c i r c u i t s i m p l i c i t yb y ESR meter.
acrossR6 increases. tusingthe feedbackcurrent and fhe test leod
Interfocewith rhe copocitor A s t h e E S R r i s e sa b o v e t h e comprornisingsomervhaton the connections are ol
being tesfed value of R6, the latter becomes ideal. constant-voltage source. the bonom, with
The interfacewith the capacitor less effective. The result of all this proteclion diodes
being tested is the crucial part of is a non-linear scale, expandedat Nexf month bet,tveen them.
the meter. It took me a long time to the lolver range and somewhat I n t h e c o n c l u d i n gi n s t a l m e n nt e x t
get this right. SeeFig. -5.The wave- l o g g e do u t . T h i s i s i d e a l f o r t h e r r r o r r t hI ' l l c o m p l e t ct h e c i r c u i t
form acrossR5 (the source resistor) p r e s e n ta p p l i c a t i o n ,b e c a u s eI n description,deal rvith sonrepracti-
is not an ideal,constant-voltage s o m e c a s e si t i s i m p o r t a n tt o b c cal points and protectionntethocls,
source,becauseof the needto a b l e t o d i s t i n g u i s hb e n v e e na v c r y provide a detailedcontporre nts list
'--,.nclude the sampleresistor(R6), l o w v a l u e ,c l o s e t o z e r o , a n d o n c and a stripboardlayor-rt. I
rvhosevalue must be comparableto of about 0 -5Q.
the ESR valuesin rvhich we are
interested.The ESR of the capaci- 6 m V p - pu n d e r
tor being testedforms part of a 0 6V P-P anncr2nr oPen-circuit
potentialdivider rvith R6. Thus if, ( l C l a p i n2 ) : : ; : : : ' , " condirions
i Y""""'
for exanrple.a good 1,0007rF i / I
c a p a c i t o r v i t ha n E S R o f a b o u t i t i
0'lO is connected i o r t e s t ,R 6 i s I lR4 1oo() I Esn
c { ' f b c t i v c l iyn p a r a l l c rl v i t h R - 5 T . his
I n c a n st h a t t h e s u p p l y - s i g n aslo u r c e
i \ l c s \ h r ' t ' a u s rr' v. l r c rtrr c i l p : r c i l o iIs
b e i n gt c s t c c lt.l l c c o n s t i r n t - c u r r e n t Constant-voltage
s o u r c ct o l l 5 i s s h l r r c trl v i t l rt h c source
t : S I l u r r d[ { 6 i n p l r a l l c l . (from osc
'['hc
v o l t a q cr i , u r ' c l i r r ni lrc v c l
f e e d b a c kl o o p )
o p c t la c r o s s1 1 6l t s : rr c s u l to l l h e
, l r i l , ' i l 1l l t t , ' t t . - l lrl r e , l r P i r r ' i t r r t '
l r c i r r g{ c s t c t l i s l r n r l l l i t i c cul n t l t h c n
r l c t c c t c c bi y t l r c r c . l o l t l r c c i r c u i t .
l l t h c t r S I { o l t l r e c r r p a c i t o rb c i r r g
Fig.5: The method of test capacitor interface used in this nreter. The source voltage is not a true
t e s t e ( li s c q u a l t o t h c v a l u c t r l l { 6 .
constant voltage because of the need for R6, whose value nrust be cotrtparable to the ESR of the
l u r l l o l t h c s t r p p l yw a v c l i r r r n r v i l l capacitors in which we are interested.
-l'lrc
bc passctlorr. supply rvavc. Current economy and circuit simplicity are achieved by using feedback current front the
'logged'
I r l r r n i s r r o t i r r t l c p c n r l c r rot l l l r e oscillator circuit as the source fed to the capacitor under test. The outltttt is inversely
I o a c l l t o r v c v c r - .I l t h c I : S I t i s l c s s out in relation to ESR.
l l l l \ ' l \ l r r ' ,
This second, concl
Wittcox'slotest ESRmeter,with o suggestedstripboqrd loyout ond
component specificotions
1999issues,so only a briefdescrip- to low frequencies(mainshum or
I n Part I last month I dealt with
whatever).Rl2 setsthe gain in the
I gSn and its measurement, and tion is given here.
I describedthe significantfea- The frequencyof the Wien- detectorstage.Becauseofthe high
turesof my latestESR meter bridge oscillator is approximately intrinsic gain of an operational
design.I'll startthis month with a equalto ll(zfiRq when resistors amplifier,the forward voltagedroP
descriptionof the basic circuitry Rl andR2 and capacitorsCl and acrossdetectordiodesD3 and D4 is
used. C2have equal values.At this fre- overcomeand detectionat evenmV
quencythereis no Phaseshift level is not a problem.
Circuir description acrossthe bridge and thus maxi-
Fig. 4 (seepage78 last month) mum positive feedback.At reso- SpliFroil genetator ond
showsthe basic ESR metercircuit. nance,the upPersectionof the net- buzzer
The important features of the oscil- work (Rl, Cl) hastwice the imPed- That is all thereis to the basiccir-
lator and test interfacesections anceof the lower section(R2, C2), cuit. But the operationalamplihers
were coveredlast month. There is so there'sa transmission lossof requirepositiveand negativesup-
1/3.To sustainoscillation,the over- plies.This requirement is provided
no needfor a regulatedPowersuP-
ply. Just to remind you, the amPli- all gain (ALC) must be greaterthan by IC3b,seeFig. 6, which is config-
tude of the HF output waveform unitv.The transmission loss ured as a voltage-follower.Thereis
obtainedfrom the oscillator(ICla) throughthe network is offset by the 100 per centnegativefeedback(pins
is setby the characteristics, which gain determinedbY the ratio I + 7-6), so the outputvoltagemust set-
are virtually temperature-stable, of (R3/R4).In this circuit theALC tle at half the supplyvoltage,setby
the two diodesDl and D2 in the would be more than the threetimes the equalratioof Rl4 andRl5. I
negative-feedback between requiredwere it not for diodesDl was pleasedto find thatthe circuit
Path
pins I and 2. The amplificationand . andD2, which overridethe effect remainsstablewith outputsaslorv
detectionlevelsprovidedbY the of R3 as mentionedabove. as +3'lV. This lower supplyvoltage
otherstagesaresetbY the ratio of The following two stflgesof rangeis quiteconsistent.
lhe sourcelnd feedback resistor amplification (IC2a and IClb) are IC3a is configuredas a voltage
valuesused.This is standardopera- straightforward,rvith no needfor comparator. Whenthe ESRrcading
tional-amplificr practice. The way conectioncircuitry.CapacitorC3 in is lessthan0'5Q, theoutputfrom
in whichopcrational amPlifiers the feedto the detectorstage(IC2b) thedetectorgoeshigherthanthe
work rvas cove red in some detailin is includedto removeanYDC com- forrvardvoltagedrop acrossD8.
my articlesin theMarch/APril oonentand alsoto rctluccsensitivity The outputat pin I of IC3 thcrcfore
158 J r r u a r y2 0 0 5T i l E V I S I O N
FromRl2lC4
lcl,lcz
pinI
lcl,lc2
pln4
TELEVISION 2005
January 159
...\
Partslist \
Rl,2 3ka R E M F R 4f o l l o w e d b y t h e v a l u e
R3 220A
R4 100a
R5 1A
R6 2.7A
R7,9,11,16,17 10kc2
R 8 ,1 0 100ka
R12 *68kQ
R13 3.9kA
R 1 4 ,1 5 56kO
R18 *100Q
R19 *2.7kf2
A l l 0 . 5 W1, %m e t a l f i l m
VR1 1OkQcermet preset RE01881
c't,2 470pF low-loss high-stability*r cA02068
c3,4 0.1pF cer-amicmultilayer cAo2098
c 5 ,6 , 7 221tF,16V cAo1613
D 1 , 2 , 34, , 9 , 9 1N4148 sc1N4't48
D5,6 1N4004 sc1N4004
D7 1N4002 sc1N4002
lc1,2,3 TLO82CN scTL802.
LED 3mm Superbright sc00023
M1 1 0 0 p Am o v i n g - c o i l PM11119
S1 M i n i a t u r et o g g l e s w i t c h sw-z201lz
Buzzer 5V DC 1S00654
Case ABS box EN55030. Seetext
Testleads 2mm plugto probes 1N00772. Seetext
Veroboard PC00046
Spotfacecutterfor Veroboard PC00066
PP3batteryclip lead 8T02187
protectionchoke
High-current PWo0037. See text
r60 J , u r u a r2y0 0 5T E L E V I S I O N
Table 1: T.yRicalESRvalues at,1Q0(Hz.r. ,",
... t
Capacilaicbvatie Voltagerating tmpedih'ce*
:
lttF 50v 4rl
2-21tF 50v 2.8cr
'
4.71tF ' . 50v 2.4A
10ttF , 63V
'50v 1.gfi
221tF 1.3cl
471tF 25V' 1.3fi
471tF 50v 0.7ct
100pF 16V 0.5c)
100pF 35V. 0.2scr
2201tF 16V 0.25cl
22O1tF 35V 0.114cl
47OpY 16V 0.114ct
. a7O1tF 35V 0.065cl
1,000pF 16V 0.06sfi
1,000pF 25V 0.041rt
2,2001tF 25V', 0.036rl
2,2O0pF : . 35V 0.034cl
*When new - low-ESRtYPe.
I
ponelmeters
Anologue t-.#
FAnuetc zz 98278 onoers
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s t * i l r e r i c .
a
Attrocfive md moderndextign
a
Clxfce of printed scdes
tulttrtlr, o
?*,rrlrrrrlrrrrlr a
4 popdqr sizes
r'rr'4 a "Eosy-frf'scdes
a
Chss eO
^1t,ttl'l'l'lrrr7, ,
M o dA eB l c D E F H I J W S c a | e
s/cvl8xcz100 cv 8X 100-0-100
Length S/CV20XB CV-20X Blank
CV-15X 57 48 43 24 40 35 1 . 5 1 4 . 52 8 . 5 5 0 x 2 3 . 5 40 s/cv20x10 cv-20x 0{0
CV-16X 68 58 45 31.5 48 48 1.5 14.528.5 61.5x28 50 s/cv20x30 cv-20x 0-30
cv-18x 80 67 50 38.5 64 48 5 14.5 28.5 72 x35 63 s/cv20x100 cv-20x 0-100
CV-20X 100 83 50 51.5 80 64 1.5 14.5 28.5 92x45 78.5 s/cv20xcz100 cv-20x 100-0-100
rO A mOQ OF 25 PC$
AVA1ASIE FRort NATKta,lA!OlglRlBUtORs OR DIRECTFaOl ANO*S SUEJECT ANALOGUE\CVl Revision4 03/06/04
plc Bayham
Onders electronics LondonNWl OEU UK
Place,
Tel:+44 (0)2073808167 Fax:+44 (0)2078741908 wwwmeters.anders.co.uk
I MULTICOMP I PanelMetersI ElectricalI Farnell
SD80/0-100UA PageI of I
2OO7
/08/08
S D S O I O - I O O U -A M U L T T C O M -P M E T E R 8, 1 X 8 1 M M O - I O O U A
Manufacturer: MULTICOM
P
,Availability
4S 60 Order Code: 4433932 Availability: 1
Manufacturer Part No: SD80/0- Price For: 1
lOOUA
Minimum Order Quantity: 1
Rol15 : Order Multiple : 1
Description U*it ?rice: 99"5$
a M E T E R8, 1 X B 1 M MO - l O O U A
a D e p t h , e x t e r n a :l 3 6 . 5 m m .._. -^:":
_ _Qtv
a D i a m e t e r ,p a n e l c u t - Orire
out:63.5mm
Image is for illustrative purposes L e n g t h/ H e i g h t , List Price
only. external:81mm :
Pleaserefer to product description Meter Movement i L - 4 €9.5B
FSD:100pA f 9.38
a Pitch:34mm .t-n
a Resistance, coil: 1 500R .LO-24 89.t9
a Width, external:81mm :25-49 €8.96
E7.37
fi0ierL*qc
p : i , / a c y $ l : a t c m en t I S i t er f l e p j T er r r s c f P r r c h a s e I T e r m S l f A c c er :
08108/2007
http://uk.farnell.com/jsplElectricaliPanel+MeteTsAvIULTICOMP/SD80/0-100UA/disp...