The measured value will depend on the measurement frequency, so it's not helpful to expect tight tolerances or direct comparisons. Also the forward voltage on the LED will depend on the measurement current. Nice product but $70 sounds a bit steep. Thanks for the review though. These boys are coming up with some interesting stuff!
You are right with both statements. It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors mode (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses. This is why I mentioned that I would not consider it as a competitor to the LCR meter.
Finally the expression: Wer misst misst Mist has a new form. My first boss Hans Schaffner used to give me the latest magazines to find the latest test gear saying: If we don't know what we are doing we are measuring better than the competition. He was a true legend!
Also, worth mentioning there is a cheap $4 SMD probe (P1510) on chinaland. It obviously doesn't have a display and requires you to have any sort of multi meter to be attached to, but it's not that bad if you're into some rookie SMD repairs.
I'd like to see a group review of various brands and models of tweezers for component-handling, the type made in Switzerland e.g. Dumont, Erem, Ideal-Tek etc. Tip types, serration types, tip symmetry, tip alignment, durability and usefulness.
These Swiss tweezers are outside my budget! And I am also not sure if they are necessary. But, of course, I do not know. Maybe I should buy one (and not tell my wife) ;-)
I have a HP-990B cheap tweezer meter. No auto mode but only $22 on ebay. So convenient for checking hard-to-read leaded resistors as well as SMD, Continuity buzzer too.
I'm not sure I'd use that on my normal bench since I bought tweezer-style probes for my regular multimeters. But I could see something like that being amazing in a highly portable repair kit used outside of home (which is something I use a lot for work).
Or just order tweezers with leads and banana connectors at the end and plug them in your other meters. They cost only a few bucks. (“smd probe tweezers”)
@@SidneyCritic To be honest I didn't use mine yet. Just for you I just measured some 0805 resistors (1k to 1M) and had no contact problems. Also short circuit is with 0.4 Ohm quite nominal for that meter. Mine are quite stiff, bulkly and in a square like case, maybe there are different kinds on the market.
@@ThePetaaaaa You could be right, because I just checked a new 10uF 0805 and it's not too bad. I was checking caps on a PCB just after soldering, and maybe the flux was causing connection problems. Plus my VC99 DMM is slow. I do remember my needle point probes had no problems doing it.
I don't test jellybean parts that often, usually they come in a bag with a label. -.- And one thing you probably can't use these for is when hot air soldering.... ? Looks like they would melt. So, I find it an interesting gadget, but i guess I wouldn't really use them, at least for my hobby level assembly stuff. What could be nice on them would be BT, so you can use your phone screen for better readability ... I guess that would allow for a more compact design too. Maybe in their next revision :D Thanks for the Video Andreas, enjoy your holidays !!
You are right with the labeling on the bags. Unfortunately, they started to label them only on the bags and if I have a single one laying around, I have no idea anymore. Happens quite a lot these days...
It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors range (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses.
These are really cool product, for the convenience great. Please Andreas if you can remind us again in a future video or mailbag. To give everybody here an update once it becomes available for sale. Otherwise quite a few of us shall forget to keep checking back on that website every so often. Perhaps another one of your viewers will remind you or remark once they can order one. To remind you about it in the future.
This tool, along with the DS213 DSO and LA104 logic analyser, while not _precision_ tools, are more than good enough for 99% jobs I do with my proper bench tools, but they're incredibly convenient in comparison. I can literally pack a small electronics workbench in my pocket. I have no illusions of these mini tools ever being good enough to do the 1% of precision jobs I do, but they don't need to be that good to be useful.
They are much smaller than the traditional tweezers which I have, but even the larger ones are worth a lot in terms of convenience and time saving. I also scavenge multiple SMD components, especially capacitors and sorting them for storage with the tweezers becomes very easy and fast. These compact ones look very good and if the production quality is good I may have to get some. The absolute precision is not that important but if they are within 1 or 2% for my purposes that is fine.
I want something that is mechanically similar, but one that uses an open source LCR and is easy to modify. Specifically, I want to write a version that can be loaded with a Bill Of Materials for a project and have it identify parts by the labels in the silkscreen on the PCB. For example: C23 100nf Since it can sense the display orientation, a version could be built that senses the tip orientation. For polarized components, it could tell you if you are holding the part the right way. We once had a board with both red and green LEDs. They used similar dots, but one color had the dots on the cathodes, and the other LEDs had them on the anodes.
Is there a way to measure bigger things with it? Dunno how it'd be possible to measure a cylindrical cell battery with this (eg: AA, 18650, etc). It'd be cool if they made one of the probes detach w' a cable, or if the tweezing action could *hyper-extend* well beyond the angle you'd expect possible.
I do not think so because I am no specialist in precision measurements (and also not too much interested in it). Maybe EEVBLOG or some other more specialized channels will do that. For me it is just a handy tool. As the small oscilloscope...
I am little bit struggling with that tweezer. I like to repair staff and the fact that i am able de-solder some components and measure it with that identiy function is something i would really love. Or even measure them in place. For that purpose it is to less for me. If I want to measure any voltages, I know i would kill it due to that -5Volt lower limit rating. In most situation i don't know the polarity and check it with a multimeter. if needed i just turn arround the probes. I think i practice a rating of minimum -31V to 31V would be nice, so nearly everthing between 0-24V is covered (except some dcdc switch nodes which sometimes double up). For situation over 32V .... i would choose some decent rated multimeter which are more rated for higher CAT Levels. Hope they are going to fix that in a updated version. Thanks for your video giving inside into it, Andreas
If these tweezers measured ESR I’d buy in a heartbeat. Another question is wether they can measure in-circuit. If they don’t ... there are numerous alternatives from UNI-T, Holdpeak and others for one third of the price...
I am not sure about ESR, also because resistance in capacitors are very high and its range is not good at high R. As all multimeters you can use it in circuits,if you know what you are doing.
Andreas, you sound a bit exasperated and exhausted in this video. Take care, take rest and stay happy. Love your work. Your work has always inspired me to continue tinkering and making small silly stuff.
Recently, I attempted to make a two way morse code device with two piezo buzzer an two 8266 over WiFi and communicating using UDP. Streaming timing data reliably was ... challenging.
@Shamasis: This is not a scripted video. So many things are different... No problems here... Concerning your project: I am no network guru, but I know Morse and I know that it has to have very precise timing. So I would always create the timing on the device and just transmit characters...
Andreas Spiess thanks for replying. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. Regarding the project: I took your advise and decided to downgrade the project a bit: two esp8266 and two buzzers - just transmit the sound. (More fun that way too.) Surprisingly, that’s hard too if I’m not planning to add a buffer. So, in simple form, when a switch is pressed in one 8266, I’m sending a high UDP packet to another 8266 that starts a buzzer. When the switch is off, it sends a low packet to turn off the buzzer ... now you can imagine all the things that are going wrong!!! I think I need to research more around the communication protocol - simple high/low single packets won’t work I think. A sort of shared timing needs to be negotiated in software first.
Oscar Gr yeah (the OS latencies were predictable and constant) the network latencies are driving me mad. I have a mesh WiFi router setup at home (though I think even with a standard router I would have faced similar issues.) The latencies vary wildly depending on what route the packet took. From my limited understanding, I think, I shouldn’t be doing it the way I am doing it at all. Network latencies would be inherently unstable (unless I go P2P route.) I need to work with some sort of communication structure that embeds timing data in it and add a buffer in the stream. Kind of like video streams, but simpler. 🤭
It looks like a great product and I'm a big fan of Miniware. But... I'm not sure if I'll use it often. I'll probably get it anyway, I do love their products.
I have a cheap pair of tweezers that plug into my multimeter for small components and for measuring across tracks on circuit boards. They are nothing like that but handy nonetheless.
You still need a proper LCR meter for that (I don't think these tweezers are designed to replace a bench tool), ESR and EPR aren't on the list on their website, but as these things run on microcontrollers and FPGAs, if it's possible to add the feature with a firmware update I don't see why they wouldn't.
AFAIK you need 3 wires for transistors. To test if it still works you can check it with the "diode" function. I do not think it will destroy standard parts because the currents are very low.
I was so excited to get mine, but after testing them i find they are not very accurate and they have some glitches. i expect a tolerance and a slight difference in every reading due to connection, but i can test smd inductors and the same part reads substantially different every time, mostly within tolerance, but not always. They are a fantastic go no go, good bad checker. One annoying thing is the inability to do either polarity on diodes, for checking LEDs you need to get the polarity correct to light them. My other expensive tweezers will. It was only slightly disappointing. They are well designed, i just think they need some firmware updates. Also the crazy charging adapter cable will break in time. It’s crazy that you have to pull the head off and use that cable to charge. I would think a micro usb on the tweezers body? You cant use them while they charge. Not that you really need to, but i just find it an odd design. I can’t see an 1/8” 4 conductor TRS plug and jack being very reliable? We will see? I like them a lot though. They just don’t seem very accurate at this stage, but they are new. I did update the firmware first thing. They are hobbyist grade, which is no problem. One issue i notice is the value in auto mode is much different then in manual. Why would the value be so different in auto? Maybe a firmware future update? If they fix a few little things? They will be awesome.The mechanical engineering and feel of them is fantastic. All in all they are very handy. If they perfect the software? They will be fantastic and a must have. They are already fantastic for the price. My Canadian made pro smd LCR tweezers were $335. Yes more accurate, but i like the feel of these new ones much netter. If they get the accuracy even close to the expensive ones? They will have an untouchable test equipment product.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I think I said that it is no precision instrument. The issue with different results in automatic mode was also mentioned by EEVblog. I assume it can be changed in software... I like that the LED does not light up in both directions. Like that I know its direction...
Andreas Spiess . Thats true about the led testing. My other tweezers light them either way and show the polarity on the display, but yeah it could be used as a feature..I haven’t watched eevlog. I’ll check it out. It is a great handy test bench device. I’m sure it will only get better with updates. Thank you..
Interesting, however i hope this device will still stay allive when connected to negative voltages up to about at least minus 15 volt. Otherwise i expect i can damage it by accident to easy. Minus 5 is a low limit.
I wonder how electronic interfearance effects it, I have a couple server power supplies, and it drives my multimeter crazy when close to it, i think they killed my hobby charger, because it was sitting on top of the power supply, it would over charge batteries, and calibration would go stray, it would display a lithium cell was 5.45v, when it was 3.9v, I shut off power, then it used the battery to melt it's self, I'm just currious if this meter could CE effected by emi?
@James: I am no specialist in EMI, so I cannot test it. But I would assume that they had a priority on size and maybe did not include a lot of protection against EMI.
Is it Sunday morning already? What happened to the rest of the weekend 😂 A neat wee device that would be handy for quickly checking components. When you unplugged the display I for a second thought it had a wireless display when you removed it from the body of the tweezers. I like the way the orientation flips the display depending on how you hold it.
What frequency does it measure the capacitance and inductance at? I've seen on the display of your bigger LCR meter that it measures with 1kHz. We have the RND Lab tweezers at work, and they allow you to set different frequencies (100Hz, 1kHz or 10kHz). I really like these tweezers, even tho they are a bit bulkyer and more expensive than the DT71, but they have a much higher range of measurements too, like 10MOhm, 5000uF and 1000mH.
It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors mode (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses. The LCR meter has several frequencies to choose for the measurements, too. I think this would be too complex for the DT71 with only one button...
fleamarket.. old medical equipment, i got a whole bunch really nice high quality nickel plated instruments for a couple bucks ;) tweezers forceps clamps scalpels etc...
I just simply need normal tweezers for soldering and other tiny things and hoped that his one would be an analog one from the old world ... This one might be state of the art and interesting but not that usefull for me as a non smd guy - currently. maybe time for a video about a set usefull basics you need on your bench ... after holiday of cause
I covered from time-to time some of my tools. So I will for sure du an update once in a while. Concerning SMDs: I feared them till I tried. Now I am a fan ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess A bit off on the readings but I know I would have a lot of uses for them when "the big boys" can't even get in to touch a possible faulty component in some spots.
¿ Is this device is for test “in-circuit” like the Mastech MS8911 Smart SMD Tester (LCR Meter) ? www.elektor.com/mastech-ms8911-smart-smd-tester-lcr-meter here in yt are some review videos, you can change the testing frecuency and voltage. Thanks!
You can use it in circuit, of course. But only if you know what you do. Measurements can be completely different because of other connected parts. I did not find a way to change the testing frequency.
they keep making products, but i'm still waiting the release of the code of their power supply, after all the proudly say that the power supply is open source when it's not and after watching how they make new products makes me think that they lied about the open source claim ):
@@AndreasSpiess yes, in the 5th image of the product the put open source for the power supply (www.miniware.com.cn/product/mdp-xp-digital-power-supply-set/) but in their forums the source code is not published and is also already been asked and the answer is "keep waiting", its been more than a year since they launch the product(www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=4074&extra=page%3D1) i hope that you can get an answer thanks in advance :)
Accuracy is out of specs ( 9.11nf / 9.81nf - is 7% off, 11.5uH / 12.7uH - 9.5% error! ) Very far from declared 2.5% accuracy. To me this looks like a toy, not a real instrument.
@Ivan: You are right. These measurements are influenced by the measuring frequency (which I do not know). For me it is good enough because, as Pranav wrote, I will mainly use it to distinguish between parts which are no more marked. Or to check if something is wrong.
nahh not impressed, but this video certainly was also not up to scratch.. maybe use an extra camera when you have a small item with small display and do some editing in post and get some light on your desk as that one spotlight is choking details and a shitload of shadows. 1:30 and why not test the unit, instead of taking Chinese spec sheet for 100% truthfully... shocking how many times they are not accurate and items are able to go way higher, though perhaps with lower accuracy and sometimes it cant even match stated spechsheet.. and also the reason why it is important to test these things, particularly if you doing this Chinese promotion and advertising and wanna sell this product to your viewers. let's be real a freaking spec sheet?? anybody can read that themself online, but actually testing it and if these specs are loyal, is where you could be relevant now they gifted you one. (actual pro and cons) but whatever, maybe I'm asking to much, just seems obvious, as sitting and reading spec sheet, c'mon..!! why not validate it.
and not impress with miniware in general, they got that famous Chinese backbone-bending attitude where they will lie, if it suits their interests. we got some of their products here in Denmark, also one of their scopes. DS212 and recall how they promoted up and down about this ecosystem this unit would be synonym with and they planned to keep adding features and promoted wide and abroad about how easy it would be to upgrade new things.. we got it here in 2020, and then saw all this materiel about upgrades and all that jazz, and the software it arrived with was like from first release around 2017, so I was confident that I at least needed to do like the important paper in the box said and upgrade it to newest release.. but after checking online on their site... nahh no dice first and the oldest batch was the only release fw. and this open-source many of their shill channels promoted this product with' so user-based upgrades could be in play like fx on github, was in fact not actually "open source" as many shill-channels promoted on this model, and was wrong info from Miniware and was some older models. product and finish, nice but moral and delivery of promises and intentions, you will sense why china ranks as one of the most corrupt countries. www.transparency.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/MapindexNZ-1024x973.jpg Miniware can be grateful they are in China and it cost an arm and a leg to ship to that region here from Scandinavia, otherwise, they would get this product back.
@@AndreasSpiess It is certainly not the viewer's interest you have at heart, how can you make a chinese-promotion video about this new product they want you to promote and help sell, without you even putting a sentence about cost or ability. It is okay if you don't know it, but then say so. or give a rough estimation, something as basic as that should be minimum, - cant you conclude that in own regi that there are some minimum info you need to get across. or is it all about shill-humping Chinese freebies and you simply don't use even a second to see it from the viewer's perspective and which info is crucial to at least touch in one way or the other...?? but yep maybe I'm asking too much.
If they can sell it cheap enough they will sell millions of them. More likely they will be over priced and most of us will have to wait and buy the knock off versions that will flood the market ten years after it's been released.
The measured value will depend on the measurement frequency, so it's not helpful to expect tight tolerances or direct comparisons. Also the forward voltage on the LED will depend on the measurement current.
Nice product but $70 sounds a bit steep. Thanks for the review though. These boys are coming up with some interesting stuff!
You are right with both statements.
It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors mode (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses.
This is why I mentioned that I would not consider it as a competitor to the LCR meter.
Miniware really does a lot of awesome stuff
True. The have nice gadgets in their offerings.
Anyone doing quick field repairs would probably have one of these in the bag at all times. Sweet!
True! Comfort is its biggest advantage, I think.
Expected to cost ~$70 USD, as noted on eevblog forum.... Thanks for the video. Plan to buy some.....
I saw this number, too. But I wanted to wait till I get the official pricing.
Finally the expression: Wer misst misst Mist has a new form. My first boss Hans Schaffner used to give me the latest magazines to find the latest test gear saying: If we don't know what we are doing we are measuring better than the competition. He was a true legend!
If this is the Hans Schaffner from Luterbach: I was a board Member of a spinoff of his company (Teseq)...
Another amazing advance in electronics.Thank you for sharing this!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Also, worth mentioning there is a cheap $4 SMD probe (P1510) on chinaland. It obviously doesn't have a display and requires you to have any sort of multi meter to be attached to, but it's not that bad if you're into some rookie SMD repairs.
Unfortunately the metal tips oxidize quickly. I have to clean them with contact spray everytime I use it.
A few other viewers also mentioned this possibility. It is for sure cheaper.
I'd like to see a group review of various brands and models of tweezers for component-handling, the type made in Switzerland e.g. Dumont, Erem, Ideal-Tek etc.
Tip types, serration types, tip symmetry, tip alignment, durability and usefulness.
These Swiss tweezers are outside my budget! And I am also not sure if they are necessary. But, of course, I do not know. Maybe I should buy one (and not tell my wife) ;-)
I have a HP-990B cheap tweezer meter. No auto mode but only $22 on ebay. So convenient for checking hard-to-read leaded resistors as well as SMD, Continuity buzzer too.
Thanks for your information. Seems to be a similar device...
I'm not sure I'd use that on my normal bench since I bought tweezer-style probes for my regular multimeters. But I could see something like that being amazing in a highly portable repair kit used outside of home (which is something I use a lot for work).
Tweezers for the multimeter are also a nice idea. For me it probably would be too limiting (or you have the tweezers in parallel to the normal leads)
@@AndreasSpiess Grabber clips then, like an oscilloscope probe?
On order from probe master. ;-). They were not able to ship during corona.
@@AndreasSpiess LOL Nice!
Or just order tweezers with leads and banana connectors at the end and plug them in your other meters. They cost only a few bucks. (“smd probe tweezers”)
Also a good idea if your multimeter can do LCR (or you do not need it).
I got the cheap ones and they aren't very good, ie, the tips don't make good contact so you have to wiggle them, which makes the part fly off.
@@SidneyCritic To be honest I didn't use mine yet. Just for you I just measured some 0805 resistors (1k to 1M) and had no contact problems. Also short circuit is with 0.4 Ohm quite nominal for that meter. Mine are quite stiff, bulkly and in a square like case, maybe there are different kinds on the market.
@@ThePetaaaaa You could be right, because I just checked a new 10uF 0805 and it's not too bad. I was checking caps on a PCB just after soldering, and maybe the flux was causing connection problems. Plus my VC99 DMM is slow. I do remember my needle point probes had no problems doing it.
This is one of the gadets with the "must have" factor. No matter how may instruments you have on your bench. :-)
True!
I don't test jellybean parts that often, usually they come in a bag with a label. -.-
And one thing you probably can't use these for is when hot air soldering.... ? Looks like they would melt.
So, I find it an interesting gadget, but i guess I wouldn't really use them, at least for my hobby level assembly stuff.
What could be nice on them would be BT, so you can use your phone screen for better readability ... I guess that would allow for a more compact design too.
Maybe in their next revision :D
Thanks for the Video Andreas, enjoy your holidays !!
You are right with the labeling on the bags. Unfortunately, they started to label them only on the bags and if I have a single one laying around, I have no idea anymore. Happens quite a lot these days...
What an amazing product.
True. Very small.
What is the test frequency it uses? That would explain the slight differences when reading the caps and inductors
It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors range (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses.
Wow these are really nice design
Agreed!
These are really cool product, for the convenience great. Please Andreas if you can remind us again in a future video or mailbag. To give everybody here an update once it becomes available for sale. Otherwise quite a few of us shall forget to keep checking back on that website every so often. Perhaps another one of your viewers will remind you or remark once they can order one. To remind you about it in the future.
I never forget to buy coffee beans and toilet paper.
We will see how I can do that. Maybe onTwitter...
This tool, along with the DS213 DSO and LA104 logic analyser, while not _precision_ tools, are more than good enough for 99% jobs I do with my proper bench tools, but they're incredibly convenient in comparison. I can literally pack a small electronics workbench in my pocket. I have no illusions of these mini tools ever being good enough to do the 1% of precision jobs I do, but they don't need to be that good to be useful.
I agree. Thank you for sharing your experience!
I just connected some cheap multimeter probe tweezers to my cheap LCR -T4. Works great. These are more portable though, and it seems to settle faster.
I agree that the biggest advantage is comfort here. There are other choices which are probably cheaper (or more precise as my DE-5000)
They are much smaller than the traditional tweezers which I have, but even the larger ones are worth a lot in terms of convenience and time saving. I also scavenge multiple SMD components, especially capacitors and sorting them for storage with the tweezers becomes very easy and fast. These compact ones look very good and if the production quality is good I may have to get some. The absolute precision is not that important but if they are within 1 or 2% for my purposes that is fine.
I agree with you. It is a handy little tool and it is probably precise enough for most purposes.
I want something that is mechanically similar, but one that uses an open source LCR and is easy to modify.
Specifically, I want to write a version that can be loaded with a Bill Of Materials for a project and have it identify parts by the labels in the silkscreen on the PCB.
For example: C23 100nf
Since it can sense the display orientation, a version could be built that senses the tip orientation. For polarized components, it could tell you if you are holding the part the right way.
We once had a board with both red and green LEDs. They used similar dots, but one color had the dots on the cathodes, and the other LEDs had them on the anodes.
As Nike said: Just do it !
Looks like a great device.
I agree.
Awesome vid.. keep going the hard work, Sir. Love from India.
Thank you!
Is there a way to measure bigger things with it?
Dunno how it'd be possible to measure a cylindrical cell battery with this (eg: AA, 18650, etc).
It'd be cool if they made one of the probes detach w' a cable, or if the tweezing action could *hyper-extend* well beyond the angle you'd expect possible.
I assume it is intended for smaller things and will not replace my bench multimeter
Hopefully you can give us a review of a full production unit later.
I do not think so because I am no specialist in precision measurements (and also not too much interested in it). Maybe EEVBLOG or some other more specialized channels will do that. For me it is just a handy tool. As the small oscilloscope...
Great update.
Happy hollydays
Thanks for taking your time to this video :-)
Happy holidays, too!
Now if it was also able to solder SMD it would be an instant buy for me ;)
That doesn't sound _too_ hard to DIY
Use hot air instead of a solder-iron. That makes it A LOT easier.
@@edgar9651 most times the simple Solutions are the best Solutions
I feared SMDs till I tried them. Now I love them. But only with a Binocular ;-)
@@AndreasSpiess I bough a test SMD set with PCB and maybe 100 parts and I tried it with hot air and magnifying lens. No problems.
I am little bit struggling with that tweezer. I like to repair staff and the fact that i am able de-solder some components and measure it with that identiy function is something i would really love. Or even measure them in place. For that purpose it is to less for me. If I want to measure any voltages, I know i would kill it due to that -5Volt lower limit rating. In most situation i don't know the polarity and check it with a multimeter.
if needed i just turn arround the probes. I think i practice a rating of minimum -31V to 31V would be nice, so nearly everthing between 0-24V is covered (except some dcdc switch nodes which sometimes double up). For situation over 32V .... i would choose some decent rated multimeter which are more rated for higher CAT Levels.
Hope they are going to fix that in a updated version. Thanks for your video giving inside into it, Andreas
I did not hear of an updated version :-(
If these tweezers measured ESR I’d buy in a heartbeat. Another question is wether they can measure in-circuit. If they don’t ... there are numerous alternatives from UNI-T, Holdpeak and others for one third of the price...
I am not sure about ESR, also because resistance in capacitors are very high and its range is not good at high R.
As all multimeters you can use it in circuits,if you know what you are doing.
Andreas, you sound a bit exasperated and exhausted in this video. Take care, take rest and stay happy.
Love your work. Your work has always inspired me to continue tinkering and making small silly stuff.
Recently, I attempted to make a two way morse code device with two piezo buzzer an two 8266 over WiFi and communicating using UDP.
Streaming timing data reliably was ... challenging.
@@shamasis.bhattacharya Interesting.
You mean the instability caused by OS overhead (interrupts dealing with network connectivity?)?
@Shamasis: This is not a scripted video. So many things are different... No problems here...
Concerning your project: I am no network guru, but I know Morse and I know that it has to have very precise timing. So I would always create the timing on the device and just transmit characters...
Andreas Spiess thanks for replying. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.
Regarding the project: I took your advise and decided to downgrade the project a bit: two esp8266 and two buzzers - just transmit the sound. (More fun that way too.)
Surprisingly, that’s hard too if I’m not planning to add a buffer. So, in simple form, when a switch is pressed in one 8266, I’m sending a high UDP packet to another 8266 that starts a buzzer. When the switch is off, it sends a low packet to turn off the buzzer ... now you can imagine all the things that are going wrong!!!
I think I need to research more around the communication protocol - simple high/low single packets won’t work I think. A sort of shared timing needs to be negotiated in software first.
Oscar Gr yeah (the OS latencies were predictable and constant) the network latencies are driving me mad. I have a mesh WiFi router setup at home (though I think even with a standard router I would have faced similar issues.) The latencies vary wildly depending on what route the packet took.
From my limited understanding, I think, I shouldn’t be doing it the way I am doing it at all. Network latencies would be inherently unstable (unless I go P2P route.)
I need to work with some sort of communication structure that embeds timing data in it and add a buffer in the stream. Kind of like video streams, but simpler. 🤭
Wow! That is such a handy instrument! I think I need one :-)
So you have to wait for a few days...
I want the miniware everything...just so much money for all the toys.
It seems they have quite a few fans amongst my viewers...
It looks like a great product and I'm a big fan of Miniware. But... I'm not sure if I'll use it often. I'll probably get it anyway, I do love their products.
They really produce nice products with good looks, too.
I have a cheap pair of tweezers that plug into my multimeter for small components and for measuring across tracks on circuit boards. They are nothing like that but handy nonetheless.
Usually lcr meter mesure ESR of capacitor and i wonder if also this product is able
I do not know it and did not find information about it in my documents.
You still need a proper LCR meter for that (I don't think these tweezers are designed to replace a bench tool), ESR and EPR aren't on the list on their website, but as these things run on microcontrollers and FPGAs, if it's possible to add the feature with a firmware update I don't see why they wouldn't.
Happy Swiss National Day. I'll play a tune on my alphorn.
Thank you. Here it will be quiet because all official festivities are cancelled.
I heard, alphorn is very difficult ;-)
Only one image ever springs into my mind when I hear the word Alpenhorn - this one, from my boyhood th-cam.com/video/HcfykK8Iw7w/w-d-xo.html
:-))
. Great video and perfect hand tool, I really want one.
I heard they will be listed in August.
Another miniware tool to put on my buy list
:-)
Does it not have continuity testing? That would be a big plus for it.
It would make perfect to take it to the field.
I did not hear a buzzer... But it should show 0 ohms.
Well Chit ! Those are COOL ! The fact it can ID components is a Good Thing on it's own.
That is what I also use my transistor tester most of the time. These small parts sometimes come without marking...
It needs some software refinements but on the paper is the next multiparts tester killer gadget.
I am sure they will be able to iron it out. Or we will get a open source version as with the DS213...
Is the high forward voltage tests dangerous for components? Does it allow to look at transistor curves?
AFAIK you need 3 wires for transistors. To test if it still works you can check it with the "diode" function. I do not think it will destroy standard parts because the currents are very low.
I was so excited to get mine, but after testing them i find they are not very accurate and they have some glitches. i expect a tolerance and a slight difference in every reading due to connection, but i can test smd inductors and the same part reads substantially different every time, mostly within tolerance, but not always. They are a fantastic go no go, good bad checker. One annoying thing is the inability to do either polarity on diodes, for checking LEDs you need to get the polarity correct to light them. My other expensive tweezers will. It was only slightly disappointing. They are well designed, i just think they need some firmware updates. Also the crazy charging adapter cable will break in time. It’s crazy that you have to pull the head off and use that cable to charge. I would think a micro usb on the tweezers body? You cant use them while they charge. Not that you really need to, but i just find it an odd design. I can’t see an 1/8” 4 conductor TRS plug and jack being very reliable? We will see? I like them a lot though. They just don’t seem very accurate at this stage, but they are new. I did update the firmware first thing. They are hobbyist grade, which is no problem. One issue i notice is the value in auto mode is much different then in manual. Why would the value be so different in auto? Maybe a firmware future update? If they fix a few little things? They will be awesome.The mechanical engineering and feel of them is fantastic. All in all they are very handy. If they perfect the software? They will be fantastic and a must have. They are already fantastic for the price. My Canadian made pro smd LCR tweezers were $335. Yes more accurate, but i like the feel of these new ones much netter. If they get the accuracy even close to the expensive ones? They will have an untouchable test equipment product.
Thank you for sharing your experience. I think I said that it is no precision instrument. The issue with different results in automatic mode was also mentioned by EEVblog. I assume it can be changed in software...
I like that the LED does not light up in both directions. Like that I know its direction...
Andreas Spiess . Thats true about the led testing. My other tweezers light them either way and show the polarity on the display, but yeah it could be used as a feature..I haven’t watched eevlog. I’ll check it out. It is a great handy test bench device. I’m sure it will only get better with updates. Thank you..
Interesting, however i hope this device will still stay allive when connected to negative voltages up to about at least minus 15 volt. Otherwise i expect i can damage it by accident to easy. Minus 5 is a low limit.
True. I will ask them if it is protected.
I was expecting these to be hot tweezers in the form factor of the TS80/TS100.
You get those from other manufacturers (I use both my main TS80 and my mobile TS100 instead)
Watching my lab, I think I am a miniware fanboy.
So the next gadget to add...
I wonder how electronic interfearance effects it, I have a couple server power supplies, and it drives my multimeter crazy when close to it, i think they killed my hobby charger, because it was sitting on top of the power supply, it would over charge batteries, and calibration would go stray, it would display a lithium cell was 5.45v, when it was 3.9v, I shut off power, then it used the battery to melt it's self, I'm just currious if this meter could CE effected by emi?
I love how you are intimidated by intrusion...
LoL.
@James: I am no specialist in EMI, so I cannot test it. But I would assume that they had a priority on size and maybe did not include a lot of protection against EMI.
Oooh I like these. Will order when available and price is acceptable, could you see if you can get an affiliate link with them?
As soon as they are available I will post a link.
Is it Sunday morning already?
What happened to the rest of the weekend 😂
A neat wee device that would be handy for quickly checking components. When you unplugged the display I for a second thought it had a wireless display when you removed it from the body of the tweezers.
I like the way the orientation flips the display depending on how you hold it.
Maybe he took the weekend off, since it's our National Day on August 1st tomorrow? 😅
You should get your Sunday videos as planned... Even today is National day .
You can buy Probes Tweezers for your DMM for less than $5 or a DE-5000 for $110
You are right. (my DE-5000 was more expensive :-( )
@@AndreasSpiess yes, I updated the price.
Wow... cool tweezer.
:-)
I have a set of Smart Tweezers which I love but I paid over $300 for them a number of years ago. Sounds like a good deal to me.
At least they lasted for years. So it was a good deal, too...
What frequency does it measure the capacitance and inductance at? I've seen on the display of your bigger LCR meter that it measures with 1kHz. We have the RND Lab tweezers at work, and they allow you to set different frequencies (100Hz, 1kHz or 10kHz). I really like these tweezers, even tho they are a bit bulkyer and more expensive than the DT71, but they have a much higher range of measurements too, like 10MOhm, 5000uF and 1000mH.
It uses 500 and 900kHz if in capacitors mode (alternating if no capacitor is connected). If a cap is connected, I see two triangles: 1100Hz and 90Hz. I do not know which one it uses.
The LCR meter has several frequencies to choose for the measurements, too. I think this would be too complex for the DT71 with only one button...
were your cat snoring at 3:22 ?
Usually behind the monitor
Do you also have the link of the Oscilloscope?
s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_dU3VfRb I put it also in the description
I wish I could afford normal tweezers 😅😅
They are truly not necessary, I agree.
fleamarket.. old medical equipment, i got a whole bunch really nice high quality nickel plated instruments for a couple bucks ;) tweezers forceps clamps scalpels etc...
all sorts of tweezers on ebay for practically free from good ol' reliable China
What do you think about the 1 WATT LoRa radios?
They are not allowed in Europe and in many other countries.
Love your channel! Suggestion, a video on Edge Impulse, wth openMV cam, arduino of Machine Learning. Software is free for devs.
I have machine vision on my list since a long time. But I am not sure if it is interesting for most of my viewers.
Nice!
Thanks!
I've got the early dso quad
???
@@AndreasSpiess Miniware products. I have there early Dso Quad Nano 4 channel oscilloscope
Aha. Thanks!
It stabs pretty good too...
True. If you do not pay attention...
Hello yes I'll take 20 thank you.
Edit: I wonder how these compare to others such as the MS8910?
It seems to have more functions like inductors, display automatic left/righthand...
Awesome
:-)
Hi Andreas, nice Videos. I think you can measure frequency, not generate.
I did not try to measure. But I checked with the oscilloscope and it produced sines and square waves
I just simply need normal tweezers for soldering and other tiny things and hoped that his one would be an analog one from the old world ...
This one might be state of the art and interesting but not that usefull for me as a non smd guy - currently.
maybe time for a video about a set usefull basics you need on your bench ... after holiday of cause
I covered from time-to time some of my tools. So I will for sure du an update once in a while.
Concerning SMDs: I feared them till I tried. Now I am a fan ;-)
WOW, I like them.
Me too...
@@AndreasSpiess A bit off on the readings but I know I would have a lot of uses for them when "the big boys" can't even get in to touch a possible faulty component in some spots.
¿ Is this device is for test “in-circuit” like the Mastech MS8911 Smart SMD Tester (LCR Meter) ? www.elektor.com/mastech-ms8911-smart-smd-tester-lcr-meter here in yt are some review videos, you can change the testing frecuency and voltage. Thanks!
You can use it in circuit, of course. But only if you know what you do. Measurements can be completely different because of other connected parts.
I did not find a way to change the testing frequency.
Are Swiss Rolls a real food that is actually made and eaten in Switzerland...?
I am no Gourmet, but I do not know of a specialty called "Swiss Rolls" :-(
Andreas Spiess very popular in the UK, but you may know them as “bisquitrollen”, dipped in chocolate.
Heil dir Helvetia... and thanks for info about this gadget
You are welcome!
sitting in the first row!
Yes!
3:50 From 1 pF *#%* pheeeewwf 😂
:-))
they keep making products, but i'm still waiting the release of the code of their power supply, after all the proudly say that the power supply is open source when it's not and after watching how they make new products makes me think that they lied about the open source claim ):
Do you have details? Maybe I can ask.
@@AndreasSpiess yes, in the 5th image of the product the put open source for the power supply (www.miniware.com.cn/product/mdp-xp-digital-power-supply-set/) but in their forums the source code is not published and is also already been asked and the answer is "keep waiting", its been more than a year since they launch the product(www.minidso.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=4074&extra=page%3D1) i hope that you can get an answer thanks in advance :)
^_^ very useful, but lots of Chinese hardware engineer can use mulitmeter probe like chopsticks.
True. I always have to use a fork in Chinese restaurants. So it is probably my< fault ;-)
From 1 pico farad, oufhhh...
🤣 Yup that's small
True!
Accuracy is out of specs ( 9.11nf / 9.81nf - is 7% off, 11.5uH / 12.7uH - 9.5% error! ) Very far from declared 2.5% accuracy. To me this looks like a toy, not a real instrument.
As makers, we generally use components of standard discrete values. I think it should work out fine even though the accuracy is off.
@Ivan: You are right. These measurements are influenced by the measuring frequency (which I do not know). For me it is good enough because, as Pranav wrote, I will mainly use it to distinguish between parts which are no more marked. Or to check if something is wrong.
My Shaky Hands exclude me from working with SMD devices to the most parts. Some I can deal with.
This becomes a problem here, too, I am sure. Fortunately, Chinese manufacturers started to assemble boards for us...
nahh not impressed, but this video certainly was also not up to scratch.. maybe use an extra camera when you have a small item with small display and do some editing in post and get some light on your desk as that one spotlight is choking details and a shitload of shadows. 1:30
and why not test the unit, instead of taking Chinese spec sheet for 100% truthfully... shocking how many times they are not accurate and items are able to go way higher, though perhaps with lower accuracy and sometimes it cant even match stated spechsheet.. and also the reason why it is important to test these things, particularly if you doing this Chinese promotion and advertising and wanna sell this product to your viewers.
let's be real a freaking spec sheet?? anybody can read that themself online, but actually testing it and if these specs are loyal, is where you could be relevant now they gifted you one. (actual pro and cons)
but whatever, maybe I'm asking to much, just seems obvious, as sitting and reading spec sheet, c'mon..!! why not validate it.
and not impress with miniware in general, they got that famous Chinese backbone-bending attitude where they will lie, if it suits their interests.
we got some of their products here in Denmark, also one of their scopes. DS212 and recall how they promoted up and down about this ecosystem this unit would be synonym with and they planned to keep adding features and promoted wide and abroad about how easy it would be to upgrade new things..
we got it here in 2020, and then saw all this materiel about upgrades and all that jazz, and the software it arrived with was like from first release around 2017, so I was confident that I at least needed to do like the important paper in the box said and upgrade it to newest release.. but after checking online on their site... nahh no dice first and the oldest batch was the only release fw. and this open-source many of their shill channels promoted this product with' so user-based upgrades could be in play like fx on github, was in fact not actually "open source" as many shill-channels promoted on this model, and was wrong info from Miniware and was some older models.
product and finish, nice but moral and delivery of promises and intentions, you will sense why china ranks as one of the most corrupt countries. www.transparency.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/MapindexNZ-1024x973.jpg
Miniware can be grateful they are in China and it cost an arm and a leg to ship to that region here from Scandinavia, otherwise, they would get this product back.
I understand that you had different expectations. Maybe another channel will provide the details you need.
@@AndreasSpiess It is certainly not the viewer's interest you have at heart, how can you make a chinese-promotion video about this new product they want you to promote and help sell, without you even putting a sentence about cost or ability.
It is okay if you don't know it, but then say so. or give a rough estimation, something as basic as that should be minimum, - cant you conclude that in own regi that there are some minimum info you need to get across.
or is it all about shill-humping Chinese freebies and you simply don't use even a second to see it from the viewer's perspective and which info is crucial to at least touch in one way or the other...??
but yep maybe I'm asking too much.
he use a blitzwolf 5v charger at the top left corner
edit: i had too
Yes. I use if for my TS80
This just isn’t good enough, the company never sent me one...
I also do not get a lot of such things. Maybe also because I only show things which interest me, too...
If they can sell it cheap enough they will sell millions of them. More likely they will be over priced and most of us will have to wait and buy the knock off versions that will flood the market ten years after it's been released.
We will see. I read somewhere a price tag of 70 dollars. Which will not price it in the mainstream, I think.
+
No cost, no prolonged usage experience, no warranty info, no certification = useless 7 min 39 sec.
Probably a contractually required video.😎
Sorry for that. I just liked the product and wanted to share it with you...