I'd buy one of the $8 to $15 ones. (I already have a couple.) I'd say they do very nearly as much, and apparently quicker and more accurately than this one. Speed and convenience are what I see as the value in a cheap component tester. If I'm only looking at 1 or 2 devices, a minimal test bench can accurately, (within a percent or so,) measure most anything. As for testing Zeners, any bench supply with both current and voltage adjustment can easily do that. For $30 for a component tester I'll wait for one that actually does more, quicker, and more accurately than my $10 one does. I'm not looking for a tester that may read things 20% (or more) off. For a cheap tester, 2% to 5% accuracy is fine and easily doable these days. But this one isn't even doing that. Plus, it appears slower than my cheap tester that cost 1/3 as much. I can tell you from experience that when you have a bag of 500 or 1000 surplus parts to sort out you want the tester to be as quick as possible. This one isn't at all quick. So think about it before you buy. You can buy a lot of parts for the $20 difference between testers. A $30 tester is getting up towards the price of a NanoVNA, which can do most of this, and MANY other things, and more accurately, although less conveniently. Just my own opinion of what I'd advise a noob in the hobby, but it has half a century of electronics experience behind it.
Lookup the documentation for the original "transistor tester" project. If you do a few modifications and calibrate it, it becomes quite useful for measuring small capacitors and inductors (with a reference cap).
Thank you for the review and look inside. I bought one of these recently mainly for the zener test mode and the rechargeable battery. I believe the chip next to the battery charge controller may be a USB comm chip - these have firmware update capability and I hope Fnirsi corrects that start-up problem first! ESR readings are really dependent on test frequency, so I would not be too worried about variation between testers. Regards, David
In theory, you only need to press test once: Put the part in first, then press test. For the FNIRSI display, not sure why they need to make the text so small. There is a lot of unused space on the screen. The numbers are hard to distiguish (5 from 6, 8 from 0, etc) I like the older tester display better. I always test my components twice when using these types of testers. Many times they get it wrong randomly, such as a diode instead of inductor, IGBT instead of transistor, etc. OK for general sorting/binning parts - but not OK for checking the quality of a component before use. Wow, that flex circuit inside the device looks heavily creased. I'm surprised it still works!
I own several generations of the original LCR-Testers and a good high end LCR meter as well and the Peak curve tracer. The newer LCR-testers come with DS1802 temperature decoding and other additional functions. But I got the FNIRSI because of the high quality enclosure. That‘s what I like. The display has a lot of room for improvement, I don’t understand why the chinese products always use this kind of hard to read fonts!
I wonder how much of the code in the “transistor tester” project from a fe years ago is the basis of the LCR-P1? Some of the screen displays look very similar. The boost converter to allow testing higher voltage junctions is a nice addition. I just wish FNIRI would spend a little moe time up front debugging products. So many of their items are so close…. Their Geiger counter which is about $40 +/- is still one of my favorites. I use the Geiger counter for qualitative measurements so it is great for the price.
Hi Kerry, you should update your firmware, your version is 1.0.2 and the latest is 1.0.6. 20240726 1.0.2: 1. Improve some abnormalities in thyristor testing 2. Improve some abnormalities in transistor measurement 3. Modify the time difference between measurement and display devices 20240802 1.0.3 1. Improve small resistance test abnormality 20240820 1.0.4 1. Increase the measurable range of single thyristor 20240902 1.0.5 1. Modify the display disorder of double diodes 2. Modify the display disorder of small resistance 20241021 1.0.6 1. Modify the problem of inaccurate test accuracy of 20K to 50K resistor
I agree, as I mentioned in the video, a lot of these companies are just trying to squeeze in extra functionalities for the sake of it to somehow make their products stand out.
In general yes. But this LCR-P1 has the ability to test batteries so it wouldn't harm the meter if the capacitors are not fully discharged (of course the voltage has to be within limit) but they will be identified as batteries rather than capacitors if there is significant residual voltage.
I have the LCR-TC2 and I swear it's faster ! and works with IR and Zeners. However this unit seems fine too, I like the detachable test fixture and it would be no problem at to make your own fixtures. This made me think It would be dead easy to make an adapter for any of them ! just use the standard ZIF measurements. hit KICAD then JLCPCB and bingo ! Roberts your relative. Cheers Kerry.
"Quite Decent"? No it is a piece of junk, looks nice but they obviously tried to copy the firmware from the original TC1, TC2 or TC3 testers you see all over AliExpress. I guess you try to be nice to FNIRSI since they send you stuff? I actually bought one myself and tested it on my channel and it was not able to test Schottky Diodes (less than 500 mv) SCRs, Diacs, Triacs and was very in accurate on capacitance and ESR etc. It is also slow and you always have to press the test button twice, annoying. In my comparison the TC1 component tester is half the price and was able to test Thyristors and was quite accurate on capacitance and ESR as well as being much faster and you only have to push the test button once. I hope you will do a better job testing these devices next time. The only thing it does that the other testers can't is test higher voltage Zeners > 30 volts and it is the only reason I have not thrown it in the Junk pile. I have little hope FNIRSI will fix this thing the latest firmware is 1.06 right now but does not fix any of the bugs and omissions.
He has done like 200 reviews in a row of Communist Chinese Mailbag Products. This is a Chinese shopping Channel. China is poised to wipe out consumer electronics world wide with their subsidized gear with little regard to where they stole it from. Kerry is their well rewarded star front man talking head..
The LCR-P1 is a great addition to any workbench. Not the best, but far from the worst. Ideal l for any hobbyists not having the money for high-end test equipment.
Kerry, Love your videos! You are ALWAYS honest, very pleasant and have a great speaking voice. Keep doing what you do best!👍🏻 Learn a LOT from watching you.
I'd buy one of the $8 to $15 ones. (I already have a couple.) I'd say they do very nearly as much, and apparently quicker and more accurately than this one. Speed and convenience are what I see as the value in a cheap component tester. If I'm only looking at 1 or 2 devices, a minimal test bench can accurately, (within a percent or so,) measure most anything. As for testing Zeners, any bench supply with both current and voltage adjustment can easily do that. For $30 for a component tester I'll wait for one that actually does more, quicker, and more accurately than my $10 one does. I'm not looking for a tester that may read things 20% (or more) off. For a cheap tester, 2% to 5% accuracy is fine and easily doable these days. But this one isn't even doing that. Plus, it appears slower than my cheap tester that cost 1/3 as much. I can tell you from experience that when you have a bag of 500 or 1000 surplus parts to sort out you want the tester to be as quick as possible. This one isn't at all quick. So think about it before you buy. You can buy a lot of parts for the $20 difference between testers. A $30 tester is getting up towards the price of a NanoVNA, which can do most of this, and MANY other things, and more accurately, although less conveniently. Just my own opinion of what I'd advise a noob in the hobby, but it has half a century of electronics experience behind it.
Lookup the documentation for the original "transistor tester" project. If you do a few modifications and calibrate it, it becomes quite useful for measuring small capacitors and inductors (with a reference cap).
Thank you for the review and look inside. I bought one of these recently mainly for the zener test mode and the rechargeable battery. I believe the chip next to the battery charge controller may be a USB comm chip - these have firmware update capability and I hope Fnirsi corrects that start-up problem first! ESR readings are really dependent on test frequency, so I would not be too worried about variation between testers. Regards, David
I grabbed one as price was so cheap! Waiting for it to arrive and add I to the bench.
In theory, you only need to press test once: Put the part in first, then press test. For the FNIRSI display, not sure why they need to make the text so small. There is a lot of unused space on the screen. The numbers are hard to distiguish (5 from 6, 8 from 0, etc) I like the older tester display better. I always test my components twice when using these types of testers. Many times they get it wrong randomly, such as a diode instead of inductor, IGBT instead of transistor, etc. OK for general sorting/binning parts - but not OK for checking the quality of a component before use. Wow, that flex circuit inside the device looks heavily creased. I'm surprised it still works!
I own several generations of the original LCR-Testers and a good high end LCR meter as well and the Peak curve tracer. The newer LCR-testers come with DS1802 temperature decoding and other additional functions.
But I got the FNIRSI because of the high quality enclosure. That‘s what I like. The display has a lot of room for improvement, I don’t understand why the chinese products always use this kind of hard to read fonts!
Just ordered one @ $35Cdn and free shipping, It doesn't look like a toy like my old one! Thanks.
I wonder how much of the code in the “transistor tester” project from a fe years ago is the basis of the LCR-P1? Some of the screen displays look very similar. The boost converter to allow testing higher voltage junctions is a nice addition. I just wish FNIRI would spend a little moe time up front debugging products. So many of their items are so close…. Their Geiger counter which is about $40 +/- is still one of my favorites. I use the Geiger counter for qualitative measurements so it is great for the price.
Hi Kerry, you should update your firmware, your version is 1.0.2 and the latest is 1.0.6.
20240726
1.0.2:
1. Improve some abnormalities in thyristor testing
2. Improve some abnormalities in transistor measurement
3. Modify the time difference between measurement and display devices
20240802
1.0.3
1. Improve small resistance test abnormality
20240820
1.0.4
1. Increase the measurable range of single thyristor
20240902
1.0.5
1. Modify the display disorder of double diodes
2. Modify the display disorder of small resistance
20241021
1.0.6
1. Modify the problem of inaccurate test accuracy of 20K to 50K resistor
Thanks for the info. Will give it a try.
I agree on the IR part, it's a gimmick unless it can tell you what protocol it uses, etc ...
IR isn't nearly as simple as most people assume it is
Whats the point of it reading IR codes if you can't save them to program a learning remote with.
I agree, as I mentioned in the video, a lot of these companies are just trying to squeeze in extra functionalities for the sake of it to somehow make their products stand out.
Is it necessary to discharge big capacitor before measuring?
In general yes. But this LCR-P1 has the ability to test batteries so it wouldn't harm the meter if the capacitors are not fully discharged (of course the voltage has to be within limit) but they will be identified as batteries rather than capacitors if there is significant residual voltage.
.
Mine has an error confirmed by FNIRSI.
It misidentifies the pin number with the EBC.
.
I have the LCR-TC2 and I swear it's faster ! and works with IR and Zeners. However this unit seems fine too, I like the detachable test fixture and it would be no problem at to make your own fixtures. This made me think It would be dead easy to make an adapter for any of them ! just use the standard ZIF measurements. hit KICAD then JLCPCB and bingo ! Roberts your relative. Cheers Kerry.
You might have the original tc2. The newer tc2 variants are not very good
G,day From Sydney Australia. Good review, new components should be from the data sheet soldered into the PCB: Check first.
🌏🇦🇺
"Quite Decent"? No it is a piece of junk, looks nice but they obviously tried to copy the firmware from the original TC1, TC2 or TC3 testers you see all over AliExpress. I guess you try to be nice to FNIRSI since they send you stuff? I actually bought one myself and tested it on my channel and it was not able to test Schottky Diodes (less than 500 mv) SCRs, Diacs, Triacs and was very in accurate on capacitance and ESR etc. It is also slow and you always have to press the test button twice, annoying. In my comparison the TC1 component tester is half the price and was able to test Thyristors and was quite accurate on capacitance and ESR as well as being much faster and you only have to push the test button once. I hope you will do a better job testing these devices next time. The only thing it does that the other testers can't is test higher voltage Zeners > 30 volts and it is the only reason I have not thrown it in the Junk pile. I have little hope FNIRSI will fix this thing the latest firmware is 1.06 right now but does not fix any of the bugs and omissions.
He has done like 200 reviews in a row of Communist Chinese Mailbag Products.
This is a Chinese shopping Channel.
China is poised to wipe out consumer electronics world wide with their subsidized gear with little regard to where they stole it from.
Kerry is their well rewarded star front man talking head..
The LCR-P1 is a great addition to any workbench. Not the best, but far from the worst. Ideal l for any hobbyists not having the money for high-end test equipment.
Like a tiny tricorder 🤏
Is there any purpose to reading IR codes? Looks like gimmick.
Latest firmware update solves some issues.
Thanks for the information!
Kerry,
Love your videos!
You are ALWAYS honest, very pleasant and have a great speaking voice.
Keep doing what you do best!👍🏻
Learn a LOT from watching you.
Terlalu kecil alatnya...jadi agak repot untuk seorang teknisi tua..notice for fnisi..🙏👍
Leave the screen protector on.
TC3 is ok but it also has its "Wannabe Fluke" every now and then. 😂
5 Volt Zener (5.1 or 5.2) and you measure 4.4 ?? its not near it is'nt a miracle!
First 😅