[sdiy] OT: Transistor Testers

[Steve Ridley]

> Just wondering if any of you use a transistor tester on your work bench.
> What tester do you use? How useful do you find it? I am looking at
> Sencore and Tenma types. I believe the Tenma hooks up to a scope.
> Current work bench includes DVM (has a diode checker), power supply,
> scope, sweep function generator and a software based spectrum analyzer.
> The projects that will be worked on are synth kits, raw boards and some
> prototype projects. Any comments welcomed. Thanks in advance.

Got an Peak Atlas Component Analyser for work recently.  It's a curved
plastic
box with an LCD display, two buttons and three coloured leads with clips.
It will
identify most  types of transistors, fets, mosfets, triacs - almost anything
with
three legs except unijunctions and transistors with a gain less than 4 - and
it will
take a couple of measurements appropriate to the device.

The best thing about it is that it will identify the device type and pinout.
Clip
your device on, press go and it'll tell you what it is and which pin is
which.
Saves looking up pinouts in data books.

It's not much good for checking components in circuit.  It's description of
faulty parts is dependant on the faulty part's behaviour - eg a bad
transistor
may be identified as an "unidentified or faulty component", a double diode,
a diode or "no component attached", depending on what's gone wrong.

There's more info here:

http://www.anatekcorp.com/testequipment/atlas.htm

It cost £60 (from Farnell), is good for DIY and slightly less useful for
repairs,
and want one for my birthday.


Steve Ridley