new chinese test equipment? risky purchase? (RCL meter)

http://www.tonghui.com.cn/eng/uploadfile/2007423135547899.pdf

I need a new ESR meter. would like a RCL meter also, this will do both, and is cheap. for audio work, I think the 10kHz max frequency is probably enough. anyone ever get their hands on this company's gear? is it decent quality?

mike p

What are they asking ?

And how elaborate is their complete range ? (an indication how serious they are about it)

Last but not least I wouldn't trust a Chinese meter that claims to be able to measure R :twisted: (sorry)

If I understand it correctly: note that you don't get a direct ESR-readout, it's by Q (or D). Same for my LCR-meter, while I would have preferred ESR. Simple calculation translates it of course, but let it be mentioned.

10kHz seems nice enough; if you would get 100kHz then you would want 1MHz etc....

BTW, the Agilent-like logo on the front of that meter is a lame move imho. You're either a serious brand or want to benefit from another ones image, but not both at the same time.


(see: )


Bye,

Peter

I think its a speaker grille. Just a coincidence that it looks like the Agilent logo. BTW - who, in their right minds would pick Agilent as a company name? The new Agilent "economy" LCR meter costs north of $14K.

[quote author="burdij"]I think its a speaker grille. Just a coincidence that it looks like the Agilent logo. .[/quote]
That's what I thought as well - at first. Then the resemblance struck me & I checked the 'original' logo. It won't be a coincidence I dare to state. They may get away with it in court by defending themselves that it's just a speaker-grille, but I simply won't believe it :wink:

BTW - who, in their right minds would pick Agilent as a company name?

Click to expand...

Indeed, s*lly name if you ask me. Todays names seem to be either something with 'solutions' in it (bleeerrgghh) or something vague for which you need a dictionary :?

that is the first thing I thought as well. they have a small fortune invested in agilent equipment at my work, I stare at that logo day long, well I dont STARE at it, but there is never one far away.

agilent isnt the greatest name ever, but neither is anritsu or Tonghui for that matter. they have a whole bunch of different models by the way. I think the one I linked to goes for under $300

I used to have a dick smith. worked very well.

I was going to get this one:
http://catalog.anatekcorp.com/viewProduct.cfm?item_id=690403

Yes that logo.... :wink: uh, not a great logo either, but at least a 'true' HP-link.
[quote author="mikep"]I was going to get this one:
http://catalog.anatekcorp.com/viewProduct.cfm?item_id=690403[/quote]
Nice, directly ESR.


FWIW, I got thos one from eBay a while ago. I'm satisfied.



Enjoy,

Peter

[quote author="clintrubber"]

Last but not least I wouldn't trust a Chinese meter that claims to be able to measure R :twisted: (sorry)
[/quote]

:wink:

The Agilent name was probably selected to gain the one letter "A" stock symbol when the division was spun out of HP.

Any resemblance to that logo is not likely random chance.

JR

Clintrubber wrote:

FWIW, I got thos one from eBay a while ago. I'm satisfied.

Click to expand...

I've seen what looks like the exact same meter branded two other ways (BK Precision and Tenma). I bought one of the Tenma ones.

I've been meaning to post about it because this is my first LCR meter. It measures at 120hz or 1kHz. The readings are way different (>25%)from each other at the two frequencies. Is this normal behaviour? (sorry for the hijack)

We use alot of Agilent equipment in the lab where I work. I spoke with one of our reps about the name during the change over. He indicated that because of legal reasons, big companies will "make up words" to avoid any possibilities of lawsuits.

I thought the original post was asking about the meter and not the logo. Well the chinese are smarter than you think, having a logo that resembles a big brand name caught your attention and got you all talking baout it until the cows came home. Great marketing ploy!

The chinese are now behind the manufacturing of so many big brands, some are even fully manufcatured in china and then final assembly done in the US by a big US brand, then claiming the product to be American!

The product will probably do what they claim it can do, but probably no more, so assuming you see what you want in this product it will probably work fine for you.

Michael

That tonghui is $350 usd, i don't know if I'd be willing to take the gamble

Sort of related to this thread.. I ended up buying some other chinese equipment this week. a hot-air rework station:

http://sra-solder.com/aoyue_852a.htm

it works great, I just put together some all-SMD boards with it. unreal value. just stupidly cheap for what it is. check it out.

mike

> It measures at 120hz or 1kHz. The readings are way different (>25%)from each other at the two frequencies. Is this normal behaviour?

Iron-core coils DO have different values at different frequency. Below 300Hz the flux goes through the iron, above 300Hz it starts to skip over the surface. The inductance drops. The impedance still rises with frequency, just not on a steady straight line like an ideal inductance.

120Hz and 1KHz are reasonable test tones. One tells how it may reject ripple, or hints at how it may handle bass. The other is a clue for mid-high EQ inductors.

It should be giving near-equal values 120Hz or 1KHz on capacitors. A sick cap might give funny readings, but that would be the cap not the meter.

Iron-core coils DO have different values at different frequency. Below 300Hz the flux goes through the iron, above 300Hz it starts to skip over the surface. The inductance drops. The impedance still rises with frequency, just not on a steady straight line like an ideal inductance.

120Hz and 1KHz are reasonable test tones. One tells how it may reject ripple, or hints at how it may handle bass. The other is a clue for mid-high EQ inductors.

It should be giving near-equal values 120Hz or 1KHz on capacitors. A sick cap might give funny readings, but that would be the cap not the meter.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.:sam: I'm getting very different readings on capacitors as well, pretty much every one I try. The 120hz reading reads about what I expect to see, but the 1kHz reading is consistently much lower. It's still warrantied - I think I'll give the company a call.

edited for ham-fisted typing.