Dual Display Capacitor Tester my next project

@larry_n7luf Well. 1206 Pad always takes 0805 I know because I’ve done it many times before but I’m not entirely sure if the other way around still holds true since I never had to try that situation. Now regarding the o402 parts remember what I wrote in one on the early comment tat I completely redesign the PCB to take 1206 or 0805 parts because they are the ones that I always prefer to work with. And yes I’ve built it and it works excellent. I also built the lockout too and it work as MCL said it would.

@ovi4 Looking at the PCB transfer the pad does look like 1206 part now and in the parts list did say 0805 and I believe now it was not right.

Looking up the part number given say it is a 1206.

Also found another mistake on one of his drawing where it showed IC4 and was really IC1.

I am glad to see others make typos like me…LOL

@larry_n7luf I would surely disregard any things like that. they are minor. After all we are all humans. The important thing is the assurance that the circuit truly works as it claims and it surely does. As a side note, I’ve used the SOIC version of the IC (so not the original size) as already had some recovered from an older PSU

I agree, being a beta tester in the passed I seem to find those small things and I do have a couple of old PSU I need to work on.

I gave MCL the wrong video number for the lockout, so I am waiting again for those files to order needed parts.

Good news Paul said “Yes, Lacquer thinner is safe for surface mount tantalums.” and glad to hear this also.

Can someone tell me what the third LED in this build?

I know two of the LED’s are from the lock out board.

Is it maybe a light from a BMS (battery manage system)?

Maybe a secret of something to come.

This picture is from his video.

The third is the cap discharge LED (that is part of the capacitor tester circuit). The DUT must be always discharged before any attempt to make measurements…. 😉 and no there are no secret LEDs there. Rest assured. 😎 

@ovi4 Watching the two video’s on Patreon he said that a newer board with it all on one board.

I guess I will have to remove the 18650 to charge them, but a BMS would great to add.

@larry_n7luf 1. What you mean “a newer board with all on one” ? You mean a new board that has the lockout + the PSU booster on one PCB or what ? I’d say having them separate on 2 individual boards is more manageable when it comes to troubleshooting.

2. Well…using a BMS is not really needed here since the BMS’s purpose is to balance the batteries out during charging so they end up with pretty much the same amount of voltage at the end of any charging cycle and since you’re actually “NOT” charging the batteries while inside the device, once you put them on charge using an industrial/commercial grade device they are already equipped with a sort of a BMS charging system in there so any battery you charge is gonna charge at the very same voltage set value. Some smart(er) chargers will allow you to set the charge voltage at the desired level providing is withing the specs/chemistry of that battery or it chooses that level for you automatically so…you don’t get overly stressed at this aspect. I do the same. I have a very nice (4 charging slots) charger that tells me on an LCD screen the current and max. voltage charge levels, the ESR of the battery, and the mA/AH that went into the battery till the end for each battery individually.

@ovi4 I do have a few high end 18650 battery charger that does all kinds of stuff.

I had started a battery banks and did a lot of recovery of 18650.

Right now I am wondering to have the boost and lock out PCB on the same side or one on each side.

Also where to put the 3s battery holder. Yes I do over think things, but I have made mistakes by not thinking.
It is like cutting a wire twice and it is still to short.

I am very visual and like seeing how it is done.  I am not great in taking notes and have to watch his videos many time and making screen shots and making them bigger to see better. He does have a lot of tricks and tips in his videos.  I guess I could look and search the transcripts.

To me… battery holder is best attached to the rear lid providing that you have/make enough clearance by thoroughly adjusting the Hight of the PCB (standoffs) accordingly and in turn readjusting the lead length for the LED bar indicator so: One bit of advice here is: (if you are going to fit the battery holders on the rear lid you may want to do it (even temporarily) so you can precisely calculate the clearance needed well before is too late and you found that you already soldered all LEDs in place and now you no longer have the necessary clearance for the batteries. Having to unsolder the LEDs once soldered is an absolute “PIG” delicate gob and, you’ll almost surely end-up lifting some pads and perhaps ruining the whole PCB even some LEDs and you’ll be forced to start from square one and…well…don’t ask me how do I Know that… 😊 

Regarding the 2 mini-boards it doesn’t really matter that much. Pick and choose whatever you want really. But I Think MCL choose to put them one on each side just because of the symmetrical looks / appearance of the screwheads you see on the sides. No other reason (I don’t think)

@ovi4 The distance of the main PCB from the face of the box has me thinking about soldering the center pin of the row of LED’s.

I have 2mm x 5mm standoff or 2mm x 10mm standoff not sure what I want to use.

Also could put the battery pack and the boost/lockout on the back lid too, but I would have to make a connect for the power and the LED’s to the face of the box.

I have time waiting to get the 0402 parts to think.

Also I need to make the SIFT tester also, as I have a lot of caps to check.

@ovi4 Do you know if anyone make a board for the 18650 for the SIFT power needed for 9 volts and a lock out board?

@larry_n7luf No, I don’t know anyone but it can 100% be achieved by modifying some values on the existing Booster and Lockout schematics and using just 2 cells instead of 3. Again, Yes, 100% achievable.

If I wanted to do it I certainly would have done it by now but u see….in my part of the world equipment with vacuum tubes aren’t as popular and as widely spread as in N. America and this kind of equipment is mostly where you’ll find most of the caps that need the foil side identification. And…as a matter of fact I don’t own any equipment that has vacuum tubes as of yet.

As a side note: I’m more of a solid state kind of person. Do I own tubes and sockets and all sorts Vacuum tubes related ? Yes, I do have some bits and bobs around and do some Tube related repairs from time to time and certainly would like to get a little more into it but….

In my case even though I’ve built the foil side cap tester already I kind of… rarely need to use it (at least for now) therefore a 9V battery will last me an entire year considering one test takes 30 sec-to-2 minutes max.

So building such a 9V PSU+ the lockout for it isn’t really on my “to do list” of things. I am personally more than happy with just the battery… 👍 

@ovi4 As I have collected about 500 plus 18650 batteries by salvaging them.

So you can see I have been looking for ways to use them.

This all started as a battery pack on my Ryobi drill went dead and wanted to repair…. 🙄  

@larry_n7luf I own lots of those batteries too and mostly recovered from old laptops or other appliances that use the same but I normally use them to replace/repair worn out battery packs that are used in small size electric bicycles or scooters. When it comes to overhauling a battery back I normally use at least 20-30 batteries at once. So I kind of cycle thru them quite often.

Also I get requests to fix bigger size and more powerful Solar garden security lights that also use the same kinds of batteries too and when they go I usually replace the lot. And they are usually 6, 8, or 10 in a small configuration battery pack