Saturday 28 September 2019

Getting to know the XJW01 LCR Bridge

I was looking for an accurate LCR Bridge recently which could also measure ESR values of capacitors.

I also wanted a low-voltage LCR so that I could test components whilst they were still on the PCB without exceeding any diode/transistor junction voltages and thus get false readings.

The XJW01 LCR bridge seems to be quite good and inexpensive. It is sold on many sites including eBay, Amazon and Ali Express.



I bought a ready-made version on eBay.co.uk with the Kelvin clips and tweezers for £70. I could have got it cheaper from Ali Express but it is always pot-luck what you get, expensive to return should you need to and it takes 20-30 days to arrive.

The device itself claims to have a 0.3% to 0.5% accuracy and comes with 0.1% calibration resistors plus accessories and can measure at three internal frequencies.

Features
Measurement method
Freq
Range
Minimum resolution
Capacitor C
Cs/Cp
100Hz
2000.0pF ~ 200.00mF
0.1pF
1KHz
2000.0pF ~ 20.000mF
0.1pF
7.8KHz
200.00pF ~ 2.0000mF
0.01pF
Inductance L
Ls/Lp
100Hz
2000.0mH ~ 2000.0H
0.1μH
1KHz
2000.0mH ~ 200.00H
0.1μH
7.8KHz
200.00mH ~ 20.000H
0.01μH
Resistance R
Rs/Rp
100Hz
2000.0mΩ ~ 20.000MΩ
0.1mΩ
1KHz
2000.0mΩ ~ 20.000MΩ
0.1mΩ
7.8KHz
2000.0mΩ ~ 2.0000MΩ
0.1mΩ



This came with a UK adaptor too!
The only problem with this LCR Bridge is that there are no instructions in English anywhere!

There are some YouTube videos around, but no one seems to have figured out exactly how to use it or calibrate it.

However, after spending a few days with it, I think I have discovered most of it's secrets!

It is no wonder some people have given up on it because if you press the wrong button, you can destroy the preset calibration (and there is no warning or visual\audible feedback)!

I hope to do a YouTube video on it soon and I am also writing a small eBook manual on how to interpret the LCD display readings, how to use it and how to re-calibrate it.

I have also temporarily re-labelled the front panel to make it more comprehendible!



I am now at the stage where I can calibrate it correctly, and so the next step is to test it for accuracy and repeatability. Also I want to see how it performs in-circuit on PCBs, etc. too. Watch this space...

You can now download my PDF manual from here for a modest fee.

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