DSESRSavr
patent pending

US$24.50     

If you connect your Dick Smith ESR meter to a charged capacitor or forget to turn off the power to the unit you are troubleshooting you could damage your meter. The Dick Smith ESR meter is more robust than other designs (thank you Bob Parker) and will often survive charges up to 50 volts, but more than that is likely to cause damage. Sometimes the damage is slight, and other times the damage is more severe. Replacement microcontrollers are available, but in the meantime, your most useful meter is out of service.

Even if the repair is simple and you have the parts handy you lose valuable time.

Now avoid damage with AnaTek's DSESRSavr. Add this patented circuit and your Dick Smith ESR meter works as well as it always did but is protected from charges or live lines up to 400 VDC. Your Dick Smith ESR meter will even work on live circuits but we do not recommend it. The Dick Smith ESR meter is protected by DSESRSavr but you are not!

Installation is simple, just connect the Dick Smith meter to the DSESRSavr and you are all set! Just 4 solder joints and your Dick Smith ESR meter is protected!

Installation is simple:

  1. Remove the four screws from the front of the DS ESR meter and remove the back cover.
  2. Disconnect the battery connector.
  3. Remove the four screws holding down the printed circuit board.
  4. On the PC board unsolder the connections of the wires that run to the front panel banana plugs and remove the solder from the holes.
  5. Unsolder the wires from the banana plugs and discard them.
  6. Connect the yellow wires that are attached to the DSESRSavr to the banana plugs on the front panel. It does not matter which wire goes to which plug. See pictures above.
  7. Solder the orange wires to the holes left from step 4. It does not matter which wire goes to which plug.
  8. Re-attach the pc board by reinstalling the four screws removed in step 3.
  9. Remove the backing from the double-sided tape on the large capacitor on the DSESRSavr.
  10. Press the DSESRSavr onto the pc board so that the tape is positioned between the rows of pins for the LEDs. See picture above.
  11. Reconnect the battery connector.
  12. Reinstall the back cover using the screws removed in step 1.

 

"I have enjoyed the use of my Dick Smith ESR meter, and with the addition of the new protection device, it will serve me better than ever (good protection from "human error"!).  Once you find out how useful this meter is, if it "blows up", you will kick yourself for NOT spending the small sum it costs to protect it!  I have attached a picture of an alternate mounting scheme for mounting the protector circuit kit, as I already put a piece of "fish" paper on the back of the meter PCB to protect it from the battery.  I used a nylon nut and screw and used the existing hole in the kit PCB. (pic. is self explanatory).  My meter nulls out nicely with straight Radio Shack leads (the original leads had no points on them to speak of, and they kept coming loose from the handles)."      Mark Twitchell, AnaTek customer