For you tech guys: Cool new gadget I bought.....

[jrfrond]

Atlas Component Analyzer

I've bought supposedly "helpful" gadgets every so often. Many of them I've sent back, like the ShortFinder Brush and CapAnalyzer, because they just didn't help and/or work as I thought they would.

It's always handy to have a good semiconductor analyzer, but our old B & K 520B just collects dust because it is so outdated. We usually rely on our Flukes and a few other specialty meters.

I've been eyeballing this one in the MCM catalog for awhile, so I finally sprung for it. It works VERY well and quickly, albeit strictly out-of-circuit. What's really handy is that it tells you what your components is, then does a complete analysis on it. It's especially good for matching transistors for diff input stages and power amps.

Anyone else have one? HIGHLY recommended!

[Enzo]

Looks cool John. I look forward to the follow up. In a few months will you still be using it? Does look very cool.


I hadn't seen that one. There was a tester I was eyeing off and on probably 20 some years ago now for digital ICs. It had like a 16 pin chip clip on the cable, and you clipped it over some 14 or 16 pin logic IC, and it would ID the chip. Not only CMOS vs TTL, but it would name the thing 7404, 7475, 4013, whatever. Similar idea.

When I saw the thread title, I was thinking you had one of those little X-Y boxes for your scope. This gadget is cooler though.

[Alex R]

How is it with zeners?

[Steve Conner]

We had one at my previous workplace. It was remarkably good, I never saw it get a component wrong. However I didn't use it much. As I worked in design, I already knew what all the components were, and none of our products needed transistors matched or selected.

I can see it being very useful for repair when you want to know the pinout of that weird Japanese transistor, and whether it even is a transistor, etc. The only drawback being, presumably it is blown if you're replacing it, and I don't think even the Atlas is smart enough to tell you what kind of transistor it was before it melted.

I assume the test voltage will be limited because the thing runs off a couple of batteries. It probably won't be able to tell zeners above a certain voltage from ordinary diodes.

[Enzo]

See if it is smart enough to figure out a selenium rectifier. Tee hee...

[jrfrond]

I checked some Zener's out of parts stock. It doesn't do Zener's, which is a bit of a disappointment. It DOES do LED's, which of course, you usually KNOW when you have one! It does tell you the voltage drop, which can be handy.

Works GREAT on FET's! It knows JFET's from MOSFET's, and will also tell you what mode the MOSFET is. It also does all thyristor devices.

It does have an excellent leakage test, which is handy for hashing-out borderline transistors. But because of the current and hFE functions, it will be most handy for matching power transistors for proper current sharing and spec'ing. I already went through my entire stock of MJ15024's and found hFE all over the friggin' map, from 21 to 57! I graded them with colored Sharpies and placed them back in stock.

As far as a pass/fail tester, it will not substitute what I already do, but might be used as a double-check. I'm quite comfortable with good ol' fashioned troubleshooting y'know.

[Enzo]

LED voltages is good. I used to not care, since they were just indicators anyway... But I learned the hard way that in circuits like the Fender switching circuits, it matters a great deal. Voltage levels is how that sorts out which function is which. The LEDs on the panel, the FS pedal, and even unseen inside, are setting voltages.

[km6xz]

It looks like it could pay for itself in sorting house marked semiconductors that always sell for a lot less.
I am most interested in in-circuit, how a device behaves in a circuit so I doubt I would pick one up, but looks cool.
Enzo...I have a little box I bought 15 years ago from Modular Circuit Technologies...whoever they are or were, that will identify and test CMOS, TTL, DTL, RTL and older memory. It really works, but out of circuit because it has a ZIF socket on the face of the unit.
For semiconductors and tubes, I have two curve tracers, a Tektronix 570 and a bit newer Fairchild 6200B which can sweep anodes and collectors up to 1000 volts. It works great on tubes, triodes with just adding heater and tetrodes/pentodes when a screen supply is added. I just packed it up a couple days ago and mailed it(55lbs) to myself from California. It should be here Wednesday. I was in California for 2 weeks, got back last night, loaded down with over baggage fees for the 120 lbs of gear I brought back including a Fluke 8921 True RMS lab type AC/db meter and my HP3478A 6 digit DMM, and a new LCD display for my beloved Fluke 8050 that has been my favorite meter since I bought it when they first came out. Found a new display for $22 on eBay. I filled up my camera bag with tubes I got when visiting Ruby (Magic Parts) Wednesday. I packed my HP3580A audio spectrum analyzer for carry on but was stopped by it being too heavy. They made me check in, for which it was not packed for the throwing around the handlers routinely do. I tried to repack it with jeans and sweaters but it took some hard knocks. It works fine but one knob was cracked so I guess I was lucky.
In June I go back for 2 weeks again and already have my spare Sound Technology 1700B and 1510B analyzer packed. The 1510 is a precision tape system analyzer that just happens to plot transfer functions just great for tube amps by sweeping drive level and plotting against distortion and compression, microphonics, intermittent noise captures etc. To see what a tube amp really does when driven into non-linear states is interesting, sort of a MOL measurement like is done on tape to create the operating level. Moving the cursor over the plot on the screen reads out drive level, compression in db and 2nd and 3rd harmonic at that point of the graph line. Its 488 bus allows storing data on my computer. After an amp is done, the plot can be used for future reference for telling if something or what has changed. Testing different tubes in a circuit is pretty revealing of the overload characteristics.