A most interesting video. Curve tracers are very useful in learning about electronics for students. One tracer picture is worth many cups of coffee of an explanation. Thank you.
Reading clockwise, hope it helps：24V Power Input, Horizontal Line and Its Lenth Adj. , Signal Output CH1, Signal Output CH2, Vertical Line and Its Lenth Adj. ,Adj. for Voltage Measurement, Channel B Horizontal position Adj. , Internal Effective Resistance Selector, Single Channel/Dual Channel Selector Switch, Freq. Selection, Channel B Position Adj. , Channel B Input, COM Jack, Channel A Input, COM Jack, Plus/Minus Voltage Adj.
Great video Bill, thanks. Handy tip, install Google Translate on your smart phone. You can use the camera function to point at foreign language text (e.g. Chinese) and you see the image on the display with English text. Saves a lot of cutting and pasting. Apologies if you get 2 comments from me. I posted my comment earlier, but it disappeared.
Bought a curve tracer off ebay several years back. Only 12 bucks and it requires a 12v AC power supply. Works great with no issues. Looks to be about 27 dollars now.
is that the diy kit i see everywhere that comes with or without the transformer? i got burned on a kit similar to this gentleman's and it visibly arced across the bnc connectors before i plugged the bnc cables in so i opened it up to find a rube goldberg device. i got a refund but i almost plugged it into an expensive (for me) scope. i almost bought a tektronics one a few days ago from a local seller while on a hospital visit 600km away but 800 dollars isnt exactly impulse level purchase in the private market. i was looking to buy a new guitar as well and sell one i paid a fortune for but the market is flooded so i'll keep it as an art piece in my sitting room on the wall as it's not worth losing 1500 dollars to get a pittance for it when i can keep it and buy a new guitar anyway. i hate the fact it'll never be played because im not a hoarder and usually donate my old guitars but i paid too much for that one. i live in a rural area where people sell broken stuff for 80 percent of what they paid new 20 years ago and have long since gotten their money's worth haha. sorry for the ramble.
I just used a 24v ac transformer and a few resistors to make my curve tracer. It only works for 2 pin devices but you can also use a stepped waveform to make a 3rd pin like a mosfet or such. I imagine this board is mostly a stepped wave generator with some opamps but most of that is not needed. Curve tracers uses to be more useful years ago, but they are not as useful today. You can see the curve on most datasheets now.
One of the reason to take off the chip Id is because they are probably ripoffs from dubious chip foundries, good Idea to use Google translate, it can be quite close, the instructions are not always labeled up correctly in chinese either. Thanks for your experiance.
The chips used in these devices are generally b-stock or surplus from other products’ manufacturing runs (aka, even cheaper than usual). I seriously doubt the company producing these products expended the time and energy to conceal the chips themselves.
I have the big brother Hameg scope with a curve tracer. They are a pretty good little scope. There is a curve tracer that is a kit on ebay that works well. They are about $40 usd and they come with all you need to build it. You just need a box and a tranformer for the power supply. "BJT Transistor Curve Tracer Plus AC/DC Regulator Power Supply Unassembled Kit" I use the one I have for matching transistors and such for amp builds. I think they are well worth the $$ and hell,,, it's a fun little project.
that's exactly what i need one for. i have an old presonus 12v ac wall wart from an old daw that used firewire. i have a few ac wall warts i found a value village too and they are all ul certified. im surprised the one in the video had the ul stamp....
Your Hameg makes my Hameg 203-6 look fancy (i.e. 2 channels) 😀 On mine it says "Component Tester" rather than "CT" Which I guess is a more appropriate limited claim of functionality... Google Lens on Android mobile phones is also handy for immediate translation
I built myself one of these when I was learning, going through the process of learning my tools (based loosely on the navy book). The lasered ICs is especially shocking, given that it is a traditional DIY project.
A 2 channel curve tracer is VERY useful for fault-finding if you have a known good device, you can compare the curve tracer readings at different nodes of the circuit between the two. For example, if a stereo amplifier is faulty on one channel only, you can probe around until you get a different curve trace, which will give you an idea of where the fault is.
If it can't show a usual bipolar transistor IC vs VCE with various IB traces, it is not worth more than $5 (A small 50/60 Hz transformer, resistor and alligator clips)
More of a V I component tester than a true curve tracer , or does it have a stepped ramp generator to test three legged devices? I built one of these years ago but found I never used it. Grand video.
Its really a bit of a waste of time if you cant set any parameters to the specs of the device as it doesn't put the device in any sort of real life situation so you it confirms a good device but its not going to find a poor device. I have nothing and wouldn't bother unless I could get one of the old Tektronix units
@@campbellmorrison8540 These simple testers do have their uses, to do an A - B test on components on the PCB say in a stereo amp. With more time Bill could probably suss this device out & learn how to drive it. Any bit of test gear takes time to learn to drive, especially Tektronix CT's.
@@diabolicalartificer That is true, what I was saying is I use other ways to test devices so I personally have no need for one but I would like good unit however I totally agree it takes time to learn any instrument.
It’s got a blue terminal he doesn’t seem to have used, presumably that’s for 3-pin devices. He did the same in another video, the cap and zener are apparently his go to for this. I’d also liked to have seen a few transistors, and a demonstration of its stepped output (if it is indeed possible). The biggest drawback to these cheaper gadgets, apart from the limited options for calibrating their output levels, is their limited voltage and current capacity. Most of the devices I’ve seen that are a bit more expensive use multitap transformers and relays to provide more realistic working voltages. I think this video would be well-served with a follow-up if he can use Google Translate to get more information out of the manual (or someone can help him with that), and maybe provide some better examples for its capabilities that include a few BJTs and FETs, along with a rundown of its menu and settings. Just a thought. Of course, we could all go find any number of eBay listings on this thing, and probably come up with these answers, but it’s hard to know what you can trust from people selling them.
The main reason they remove chip ID'S or but false ones is they are many times using domestic only chips. The chips are manufactured legally but only for the domestic market or products. Taking the ID off gets around this as it is way too much bother to prove it is a unlicensed chip
Point your iPhone at the instructions in Chinese and it will translate everything you select into English. This uses a translation app and works very well. You get what you pay for the Atlas DCA75 is a brilliant unit that does testing, identification, curve tracing via a PC etc. Yes it is £144 inc VAT but it is usable, British made, and definitely not a toy.
Great video Bill, I can deal with Google Translate but dealing with this little unit ? might give it a miss, not enough hours left in my life, LOL Cheers Mate
I have the one like your's only it's the asa 210k packaged one. the bnc connectors arced when i plugged it in so i never hooked it to my scope. i've since reflowed all the connectors and taken measurements to make sure there are no shorts. i still cant bring myself to try it. to add, the ic's were sand papered (if that's a word) to remove the markings on mine. the dip ic is a tl074 i believe. as i could see a tl.
You had a perfect setup with the CT from the Hameg. Did you try to connect the adapter to the Hameg and then switch the Hameg to xy-mode? That should display the correct patterns. After that take a note of the Hameg settings and bring it over. to the Zoyi. I have the dual version of the adapter, had also experienced the difficulty you described but the above. This method brought me a bit closer, but I decided it was not worth the trouble, the Hameg is good enough for my use.
Seems like a waste of good beer to use an "IPA" to clean a PCB? 🤣 Could it be that you mean "isopropyl alcohol"? As a native English speaker, I find it easier to say "isopropyl"... But, I don't speak North Yorkshire, nought a word... Cheers, a 😁🇨🇦🐻❄️✍️ from 🇩🇪
