This second, concluding instolment completes the description of Alon

willcox's lotest ESRmeter, with o suggesied stripboqrd loyout ond

component specificqtions
; n Part I lastmonrhI dealtwith 1999issues,so only a brief descrip- to low frequencies (mainshum or
I ESRand its measurement, and tion is givenhere. rvhatever). Rl2 setsthe gain ln the
I describedthe sisnificantfea- The frequencyof the Wien- detectorstage.Becauseofthe high
turesof my latestEISRmeter bridgeoscillatoris approximately intrinsic gain of an operational
design.I'll startthis monthwith a equalto ll(2nRC) whenresistors amplifier,the forrvardvoltagedrop
description of the basiccircuitry Rl andR2 andcapacitorsCl and acrossdetectordiodesD3 andD4 is
used. C2 haveequalvalues.At this fre- overcomeanddetectionat evenmV
quencythereis no phaseshift level is not a problem.
Circuir description acrossthe bridgeandthusmaxi-
Fig. 4 (see page 78 last monrh) mum positivefeedback.At reso- Splirrcilgenerctor ond
shows the basic ESR meter circuit. nance,the uppersectionof the net- buzJzer
The important features of the oscil- work (Rl, Cl) hastwicethe imped- That is all thereis to the basiccir-
lator and test interface sections anceof the lower section(R2, C2), cuit. But the operationalamplifiers
were covered last month. There is so there'sa transmission lossof requirepositiveandnegativesup-
no need for a regulated power sup- l/3. To sustainoscillation,the over- plies.This requirement is provided
ply. Just to remind you, the ampli- all gain (ALC) mustbe greaterthan by IC3b,seeFig. 6, which is config-
tude of the HF output waveform unity.The transmission loss uredas a voltage-follower.Thereis
obtained from the oscillator (ICla) throughthe network is offset by the 100per centnegativefeedback(pins
is set by the characteristics,which gain determinedby the ratio I + 7-6),so theoutputvoltagemustset-
are virtually temperature-stable,of (R3/R4).In this circuit theALC tle at half the supplyvoltage,setby
the two diodes Dl and D2 in the would be morethanthe threetimes the equalratio of R I 4 and R I 5. I
negative-feedbackpath between requiredwereit not for diodesDl was pleasedto find that the circuit
pins I and 2. The amplification and andD2, which overridethe effect remainsstablewith outputsas low
detection levels provided by the of R3 as mentionedabove. as+3'l V. This lower supplyvoltage
other stagesare set by the ratio of The followingtrvostagesof rangeis quiteconsistent.
the source and feedback resistor amplification(IC2aandIClb) are IC3a is configuredas a voltage
values used. This is standardopera- straightforward,with no needfor comparator.When the ESR reading
tional-amplifierpractice.The way correctioncircuitry.CapacitorC3 in is lessthan0.5Q, the outputfrom
in which operational amplifiers the feedto the detectorstage(IC2b) the detectorgoeshigherthanthe
work rvas covered in some detail in is includedto removeany DC com- forwardvoltagedrop acrossD8.
my articles in the March/April ponentandalsoto reducesensitivity The outputat pin I of IC3 therefore

158
l a n u a r v2 0 0 5 T E L E V I S I O N
 FromR12/C4

rcl,tc2
pin 8

rc1,lcz
pin 4

goeshigh, activatingthebuzzer.
The ESR level at which the buzzer

j.
operatesis setby the overallgain.
This point can easilybe changedby

?irrH;s
alteringthe valueof R I 2. If its
valueis increased, the overallgain
risesand the buzzerwill operateat
a higherESR level. Icz+llR4 ?
@narJ1 [
The valueof I 00Q for R I 8 is
chosento limit the currentfrom an
.o^_. ?I
externall2V sourceto a recharse- ,{
Ftc
I
ablebatteryto the trickle level.lhe
t
Fuzzer
lt
t,\
overallconsumptionis so lorv that, t
.ll
if you areone of thosewho remem- I ,47
ber to switchoff battery-powered *
equipment whenit's not in use.an
ordinarybatteryis OK and will last
for quite a long time.
Althoughthe basicmetercircuit
is happyrvith a supplybetween6- It I t a at Top - Fig. 6: The
ta split-rail generator
30V the buzzerandLED won't be. al I
tl and buzzer com-
The valueof 2.7kQ for R I 9, which at I
parator circuits.
rl
is in serieswith the porver-onindi- I

catorLED, givesgood brightness fl Centre - Fig. 7:

over a supplyrangeof 6-9V with a]l Suggested layout
It I on stripboard.
only a few mA drawn.
I
ilt
I Left - Layout of
Procticol points tt I
r: .o ..!
the prototype
tt l
As the meteroperatesat 100kHz, h ,t!
{ meter on strip-
any inductancein a circuitbeing
at &
rr
:a
,:1 board
tl I
checkedwill producea high- ift.r'i Bottom - Fig.8:
impedancereading.If an EW coil
lf
$
producesa reading,it hasshorted
tt
at
rt a a
|| fafittif ota
oa
oafa
Wlt*,'.
oaao
The ESB meter
scale, shown full
turns.Anotheruseof the meteris aa a ..aaaaa aaaa aaaa aoaao size (58mm).
wherethe lineoutpurtransistor
appearsto be short-circuit.A quick etc.) can be tested. I've not taken
checkwith the meterrvill isolateit the trouble to design a new meter
- if theshortis elservhere. in most scale for this application, as I have
casesthe impedanceof the line out- no practical experienceof such
put transformerwill be in the way checks. It seemsto me that if such
and will resultin a highreading.If a capacitor gives any reading at all
there'sa lolv reading,the transistor other than short-circuit it will be
is mostoften the culorit. OK. This type of capacitor does not
ESR meterusershavecomeup changevalue.
with new applications. The non- I would like to think that the
polarised.h igh-voltagecapacitors present article just about sums
usedin the line outputstage(tuning everything up with respectto the

T E L E V I S I O lNa n u a r v2 0 0 5 r59
 Partslist
Item Valueftype CPC order code

R 1 ,2 3ko 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 100eJ
rt5 1O
R6 2.7A
R 7 ,9 , 11 , 1 6 ,1 7 1oka *The value of R12 sets the turn-on point for the buzzer,see
R8,10 100ko text. R18sets the charge current,see text. R19 is chosen
R12 *68kQ for good brightnesswith the LEDspecified.
R13 3.9kO
R14,15 56kO
R18 * 100eJ
R19 *2.7kQ

A l l 0 . 5 W .1 % m e t a l f i l m
VR1 10kQcermet oreset R E 0818 1 **Forcorrectoscillator
c1,2 4 7 0 p Fl o w - l o s sh i g h - s t a b i l i t y * * cA02068 operationC1andC2must be
c3,4 0 . 1p F c e r a m i cm u l t i l a y e r cAo2098 of the type specified.
c5, 6, 7 221tF,16Y cA01613
D1,2, 3, 4, 8, I 1N 4 1 4 8 s c 1N 4 1 4 8
D 5 ,6 1N4004 sc1N4004
D7 1N4002 sc1N4002
lc1,2, 3 TLOS2CN SCTLSO2
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-2201tz
Buzzer 5V DC 1S00654
Case ABS box ENs5030. See text
T e s tl e a d s 2mm plugto probes tN00772. See text
Veroboard PC00046
Spot face cutter for Veroboard PC00066
PP3battery clip lead BT02187
H i g h - c u r r e npt r o t e c t i o nc h o k e PW00037. See text

quick in-circuit location of faulty achieve a slimmer appearance,I are much lorver.
electrolytic capacitors.If anyone bought another case, type EN55029 lf this method of protection is
contemplatesthe design of a PCB (too slinr), and combined the used rvith a digital meter, the dis-
for the project, it is important that halves.This might sound extrava- play rvill settleat a fixed reading.
separateoperational-amplifier chips gant, but you still end up with two This will show that all is well with
are used fbr the oscillator and the casesand they cost only about f2. the meter and will also eliminate
first amplifier stage- to avoid superfluousreadings.In the caseof
interf'erencebetween the oscillator Proteclion methods a moving-coil display,it'"vill dou-
and the sensitive first amplifier ln a letterin theAugustissue
this ble-up as a power-on indicator.
stage.Fig. 7 shor.vsa stripboard year Jim Littler su-tgested wiring T h e u s eo f a c i r c u i t p r o t e c t o ri n
layout for the meter's circuitry. Fig. an inductor acrossthe test lead ter- series rvith the test leads has been
8 shorvsthe meter scale. minals to protectthe rnetershould suggested.The problem is that it
Don't be temptedto use plugs
and sockets fbr the test leads - you
it be connected to a charged capaci-
tor. I can see no problernrvith this,
r'vouldtend to blorv too easily and
requirefrequentreplacement.
I
rvould in time get problemsin the anclfollorved up rvith a letter in the To reiterate.diode protection
low-ohr-nsrange.Soldereclconnec- Septemberissue.If a value some- (D5, D6) shouldalrvaysbe included,
tions should be usedthroughout.I rvhatlorver than the l50pH recom- Any comnrentsabout high-cur-
use 2mm test leadsr.viththe plugs nrendeclthere is used,producinga rent choke protection.rvhich seems
cut off. Make sure that you file the leaclingof say 30Q. this reading to be a unique idea. and on ESR
probes to give sharp points. The rvill be presenteach time the meter measurementin gcneralrvould be
coating that's on them has a signifi- is srvitchedon and you will know lvelcome.
cant resistance. that it is rvorking correctly.It You can reach me by email at
The casespecifiedin the parts not affect the use of the meter."vill
We alanesr(@ hotmail.com
list is a bit on the deep side.To are only interestedin valuesthat I think that covers everything.I

160 J a n u a r2y 0 0 5T E L E V I S I O N