Wireless Set No. 52 Canadian - Project

[David Dunlop]

Good Evening Mike, and thanks for the interesting link.

I actually purchased a new LCR Meter similar to the one shown in that video a few years ago, primarily for the ease of testing capacitors that are still in circuit. The conventional method wherein one needs to disconnect one end of a cap to test it can be a real PITA if the cap is difficult to access to start with and then you find it is working just fine and have to reinstall it. Been there, done that and hate the T-Shirt.

The two pieces of ‘older kit’ he had were interesting for their in situ testing capability of capacitors. Way back in 1946, the Solar Manufacturing Company produced their Model CF Capacitor Exam-eter. Each meter came with its own calibrated manual and a set of test leads, one of which was a matched lead similar in approach to the one in the video somebody had bodged. My leads were missing, but there was enough data in the manual, along with some very astute notes made by the Radio Engineer who originally owned my meter, that I was able to replicate a new pair of leads.

This meter can do a staggering number of tests on capacitors, as well as resistance testing, AC and DC Voltage checks and a few others. I have done some resistance testing with it out of curiosity and it gives results very close to what I get with my vintage RCA and Simpson VTVMs.

I have somewhat limited mains supply at my work bench and two things came to the forefront in purchasing the new LCR Meter. It is battery driven, so no plug in requirements and, it will eventually give me a means of comparison for capacitor test results from the vintage Solar meter.

If there is a dark side to all this, I must remember to always be careful with wayward voltages when using a modern digital test meter on vintage valve driven electronics.


David