ESR meter upgrades

[eccerr0r]

On hand, mega8's and a mega328...
Working on layout now with my pitiful single sided board limit...

[stj]

ah, i thought you already had one.
if your going to make one, why not get a colour display from china for a couple of $?

[eccerr0r]

Actually I plan to use only parts I have in my parts collection. I have a pile of HD44780 16x2 displays too, and thus don't think I actually need to buy anything, as far as I know right now.

[Adrian_]

Guys, out of the current types of El Cheapo ESR cap meters available on fleabay which one would you recommend? I need it to be able to measure at least up to 5000 uF and having some sort of charge protection would be a big bonus (not sure if any of those 5-10$ units have any protection).

[stj]

the AY-AT type colour kit is probably the best.
it's got the most features, and being a kit you can fit a better voltage reference and faster crystal without desoldering the old ones.

i'll just add that if you dont own an atmel programmer then spend 2$ on a USBasp as well - so you can keep the fiirmware up to date.

[eccerr0r]

I just hope that the schematic I used has connections that match that of the ones supported in the code...

[stj]

is the schematic the official one from the pdf?
if it is then be carefull - the pin numbers arent clearly marked if they are for the 28pin dip package or the 32pin smd one.

[eccerr0r]

There are a bunch of schematic GIFs floating around, and yeah I am using the 28-pin version. Not sure which one is the "official" one anymore either... though it is on mikrocontroller.net ...

[stj]

https://github.com/svn2github/transi...sh/ttester.pdf

[eccerr0r]

Ah looks like figure 2.1 is what I'm using, close enough with the 16x2 LCD.
Just need to figure out how I want to attach the LCD, and which LCD from the pile I want to use (have both 2x7 and 1x14 pin orientation types of LCDs...)

[stj]

i hate those displays and binned a lot recently.
choose the one with a backlight and the best contrast.

[hal9008]

Thanks stj for posting the "AY-AT", I install today and the font is bold and very small. different from your old version (SVN700).

[turbochris]

OK here it is with my li-po mod and ISP header mod. The lipo is 1500mah and has protection circuitry built in. The second picture is how i wired the charger and boost converter in to the tester, I found this diagram online at this site- https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1797074 My charger/boost converter was one piece so I cut a trace and separated the 2 the same way as this person did about 1/2 way down in this thread- https://www.jyetech.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1153

I also changed the resistor on the boost converter part to 100k and it output 6.5 volts.

Now it's time to try out the firmware that stj cooked up for me! Is there a guide anywhere that shows how to use the makefile and compile custom code?

[stj]

throw the makefile into a text editor - it's full of notes

what's the output voltage of the boost convertor?
just asking because your passing it through a 5v regulator that probably needs atleast 6v to function.

[turbochris]

it was originally a 9 volt converter, i changed a resistor and made it 6.5 volts

[eccerr0r]

I also really wonder about those HD44780 displays run write-only... I ended up writing some AVR code that does proper read/write loop and the update speed is quite snappy, was using this on my PSU project and it's fast enough to be about illegible while holding down a button for auto-repeat (press down=move by 1 (debounced in software), hold down 0.5 second = auto repeat by 1, fast.) I initially did it write-only to save a GPIO pin, simply couldn't get it to update fast...

As it was a PSU, it also had a voltmeter and ammeter. Both were updating in excess of 20fps, which is probably faster than one really can keep an eye on anyway and still be able to read it...

[stj]

i had the hitachi dev manual once,
you only use read to check the ready flag after a write.
most people just use a delay equal to worst-case between writes and ignore the ready signal.

[turbochris]

I opened the makefile with a text editor. Actually I opened all the files with a text editor. When i was a child i was always taking things apart to see what was inside. I cann see how i can chane all kinds of configurations in the makefile, getting the makefile to generate the TransistorTester.eep and TransistorTester.hex files is where i'm lost. do i use something like winavr?

[stj]

yes,
but you need to overwrite gcc with an older version - unless they fixed that now.

[eccerr0r]

What version of gcc and other toolchain is recommended?