Inductance and Capacitance Meter

[wolf]

I was wondering in what category this goes but it seems that "Electronics and Wiring" is probably the best.
Does anyone here use one of these?
I had one but it totally went dead recently (yes, I checked the fuses).
I bought it for about $60 bucks and it did have its problems - when measuring inductance, it was incredibly inaccurate above one Henry.

Still, it had the ranges I wanted - about 100 pf to 20 mfd and about 100 microHenries to about 20 Henries (allegedly LOL)

I've noticed that these LC meters are now being made with an ohmmeter but I'd be happy with just a strict LC meter.

Any suggestions? I'd want the ranges that I already listed and I'd want better accuracy.
I might even be willing to spend sixty-five dollars. ;D

[wolf]

I didn't mean to "bump" this thread but since it received zero replies, maybe it deserves another chance.
As I said the Sinometer I had was okay but it was pretty inaccurate for high inductance readings. Testing a series wired DiMarzio X2N, the meter said close to 20 Henries when the actual value is around ten. Yeah it was that bad.
So, basically, I did a lot of Google searching and there seems to be very few meters in the $60 to $200 price range. The few that are in that range have almost the same specs as the Sinometer - max 20 Henrys and so I suspect they are all churned out of the same factory in Southeast Asia. I sure as heck wouldn't want to spend $150 for something that's just a fancy Sinometer.

[newey]

Wolf-

No personal experience, so this isn't a recommendation. But I found this one from Tenma:

www.mcmelectronics.com/product/72-8490

$81 online, goes to 110H at +/- 3%.

A bit more than $65, true, but it seemed to have better specs than what you mentioned seeing, and not $150 either.

[wolf]

Thanks newey, that is a good find.
I found another meter here:
www.testequipmentdepot.com/amprobe/multimeters/37xra.htm
At $127 it is a bit more expensive but at least neither one looks like an advanced version of a Sinometer.
Yes, I ran across some meters close to $100 but when I read "3 ½" digits and range up to 20 Henrys, I had a feeling it probably originated from the Sinometer factory. ;D

[ashcatlt]

If you happened to have an inductor with a value somewhere within the accurate range of your meter, you could measure this (so you've got a known value to work with) and then wire it in parallel with any inductors which might be too large to measure accurately. A little simple math would get you the value of the unknown component. Of course, the accuracy of this calculation depends on the number of "decimal places" you can get out of your meter.

I'm sure you're aware, but thought I'd throw it out there in case it helps you or somebody else. ChrisK gave me this tip when I was trying to measure capacitors which were above the range of my meter (these need to be wired in series). Also works for resistors, but who uses resistors that big?

[numbfingers]

I was hoping from the title of the thread that you'd found a better meter. I have one of the cheap Chinese LCR meters and it gives similar results with pickups. I think it's fooled by the relatively high resistance of pickups. My guess is that it is reasonably accurate when measuring inductors that have resistance in the tens or hundreds of ohms.

Maybe this Extech from amazon.com would be worth a try: www.amazon.com/Extech-380193-Passive-Component-Meter/dp/B00023RTYU If their usual return policy applies, you could test it and send it back if it didn't do the job.

[wolf]

numbfingers
Thanks for the advice but I think I'll be ordering the Tenma 72-8490 that Newey suggested.
I'd say you are right that the inductance meters weren't designed for measuring extremely high resistance coils such as pickups.
I will admit that I was thinking of that $200 Extech meter but I'm hoping the Tenma will be accurate enough and that it wasn't made in the Sinometer™ factory.