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Reviews For: Almost All Digital Electronics L/C Meter IIB

Category: Tools & Test Equipment for the amateur radio work bench

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Review Summary For : Almost All Digital Electronics L/C Meter IIB
Reviews: 46MSRP: 99.95
Description:
Standalone inductance/capacitance measurement device
with LCD display. Sold in kit form.
Product is not in production
More Info:
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00464.8
AK2B Rating: 2004-07-01
Good to have around Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I bought this device pre-built because I was more interested in its utility than as a kit building challenge. Besides, I was already building two other kits at the time.

As to accuracy, who knows? I can only go by the labeled capacitor or inductor values verses the readout of the IIB. As far as that goes, its pretty dead on, considering the marked tolerances on each component.

If you homebrew or build kits, this piece of test equipment is indispensable.

Tom, AK2B
K4TLS Rating: 2004-02-28
Cool meter, uncool documentation Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
If you're used to elecraft-quality kits, this one may cause you some consternation. You can figure out where everything goes after a little study, but it's a bit of a challenge. On the other hand, it's a pretty simple kit so it is definitely do-able. Taking a half-day and sprucing up the illustrations and the assembly instructions will go a long way to making this kit a solid 5. Silk-screening the parts on the board and including a resistor color chart would also be nice.

Having said that, once it's together it works beautifully and is worth the money, compared to other units.
K9FTB Rating: 2002-11-28
Useful Tool Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased my IIB preassembled based on the comments here on Eham. The meter arrived quickly and works great. I'm using it during assembly of my K2 transceiver and it has helped me greatly to identify and condfirm the exceptionally small imprint on many of today's components in the K2 kit.

As far as accuracy is concerned, it sounds good, but I have no way to verify the readings other than they seem to match closely to the components in the K2 kit (both inductors and capacitors).

As a result of the performance of the kit, I ordered AADE's DFD4 frequency counter kit. I'm wondering now if it would have been worth the $20 to have Neil build the kit instead of "engineering" my way through the instructions.

I agree that the documentation is more like a heap of working notes,rather than a formal attempt to create high quality builder / user documentation (e.g. Elecraft, Heathkit, etc). The website detail mataches the documentattion - not terribly organized - not well planned.

In any case, if you compare the cost of a commercial L/C meter (I did) to Neil's offering, this is a great bargain. The fit and finish is ok and the unit works well.

I'd buy it again - but I'd certainly have it built ($30) instead of "traveling through the valley of death" by building the kit.
W8RDH Rating: 2002-11-16
Great piece of equipment Time Owned: N.A.
I somehow feel the need to defend this unit. In spite of the fact that I agree with all previous comments, I think that this unit's performance at this price point earns a rating of 5. When I built mine, I had the benefit of having read comments from other builder/users, so I wasn't expecting too much with regards to documentation. I actually was pleasantly surprised. All of the information is there, but it's up to you to read the entire assembly document, think about the sequence of events required, and then stuff, solder, and assemble; there are no foolproof, step by step instructions, but there simply are not very many parts in this thing. Lack of any calibration is a plus as well; some kits are deceiving with regard to what equipment is absolutely required for rough alignment/calibration, and what you really should have in order to make the completed unit function at it's best. No problem here.

I would not recommend this kit for a first time builder, but at this level of complexity, I don't think it requires any more detail than it has. When I had questions regarding readings that I was getting measuring some components, a response from Neil at AADE was swift, detailed, and included a link for further study regarding my question. The only comment I would make regarding quality is that the slot on the side of the meter for the pushbuttons to extend through appeared to have been carved by someones 5 year old son. A little filing and it's square and pretty. Besides, the 5 year old is bound to get better with experience.....

KE4MOB Rating: 2002-10-03
Worked the first time!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I really liked building this kit. This was my first attempt at kitbuilding, and was very pleased. I only had a couple of "Oops" that I had to worry about (putting the first switch on upside down), but those were readily solved by a quick re-read of the instructions and a good look at the parts layout. A kit that goes together without a hitch isn't that challenging, is it?? The board was very easy to solder parts onto and the fit and feel of the assembled kit is very good. It took about 3 hours from the time I put on the first component to "smoke test". And like I said in the title, it worked the first time!! Only thing I could really complain about is the front panel...looks like the label was printed out on a laser printer and then laminated, then the laminated label was glued to the case using contact cement. Aside from that, a nice little piece of instrumentation to have around.
WA4FOM Rating: 2002-03-27
Wonderful piece of test gear; not for first-time kitbuilders Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I give this product a 5 for its usefullness in
the shack, but a 1 for kit documentation and
ease of assembly. To me, this averages out to
a 3.

This portable (9V battery-powered) device
provides direct readout of inductors from 1 nH
to 100 mH, and (non-polarized) capacitors from
0.01 pF to 1 mF. This makes the device invaluable
for verifiying such component values. The IIB
requires no external DMM; you clamp the component
on the test leads and it reads the value directly.
It performs as specified; for this, I give the
unit a 5.

Unfortunately, as a kit, the IIB leaves a lot to
be desired. I would NEVER recommend this kit as
a "first-time" project for anyone for the following
reasons:

- No component outlines on the board; you must determine
component location from the "parts layout" pictorial.

- The LCD display plug is not already mounted on the
display board as the manual indicates. Furthermore,
it is not obvious how to mount it, but you can figure
it out by looking at the schematic.

- The foil pattern for the board given in the manual is
not completely accurate. However, you can determine
exact component locations after supplementing the
"parts layout" pictorial with a review of the
schematic.

- The holes in the PC board are for the most part not
spaced properly for the smaller components; this means
you must "pre-form" many of them. Based on observations
of the board, it would not have been difficult to
design proper pad spacing.

A kit as relatively simple as this one should,
in my opinion, be much better documented,
especially with the $100 price tag. For this,
I give the kit itself a 1.

If you've been around the block a few times and
can flip between a parts pictorial and a schematic,
you will definitely be able to construct this
kit. If you're expecting a project as easy to
build as a Heathkit or an Elecraft K1/K2, you
will be bitterly disappointed.

Buy it after you've built a few kits. It's a
nice piece of equipment to have.