Another great video. I bought the '75 after seeing this - and ended up buying the LCR and ESR testers as well. Really handy on the bench...

The DCA75 is a GREAT test instrument........and with the software it's a FANTASTIC test instrument. My money well spent.

Great Video! The DCA75 is definitely worth the extra money if you need more than a "GO", "NO GO" result! Thanks!

See, we can still make good stuff in England!! 😁

Nothing beats the sound of the curve tracer switches. Well done Alan,

I just bought one of these only to realize that I had bought one last year that I had forgotten that I bought. Now I have two. Somehow the first one that I bought was stacked away before I opened the package. That package also had several components and other items that I ended up having to order again, because I never could find them. Getting old sucks, but forgetting things is even worse.

I always appreciate your sharing of knowledge. Great video as always, thank you :)

Cool little device! Glad you showed it off to us. Keep up the good work and keep posting videos😊

Just for giggles, I busted out my LCR-T4 "inexpensive" tester and EEVBlog-issued BM235, on the milliamp range. With Vbat reported by the 'T4 at 7.74v (apparently I should change the battery 😅), I'm reading 7.07 mA of test current in both directions, and the LCR-T4 is reading my meter as a 2.45- to 2.49-ohm resistor across 3 runs. I just had the BM235 leads touching the surface mount component pads, so I'd say that's pretty good run-to-run variance for the LCR-T4, given I spent a whopping US$10 on it some 5 years ago. Now that you've shown me a fancier shiny, though... 🤪💸👍

What a cool device 👍🏼. Thanks for the informative introduction.

Nice to have you back. Looking forward to great new clips.

superb video. I own a DCA55 and very glad with it.

I bought 2 units, this is the best small component tester on the market.

Another fantastic video! Your teaching methods are so good. Seriously thanks for all you do!

This was very informative, thank you.

Very interesting video, Alan. Thank you!

I have zener diodes that are higher than 12V. That is why i built a DIY zener diode tester. Its basically a simple boost converter using a 555, coil and a MOSFET. The output current is limited and a small panel mount volt meter shows the voltage across the zener.

Another good video, Allen.

Another great video, thanks.

Thanks for in-depth review of the DCA57. I guess its time to retire my old trusty B&K 520B tester.

I never saw this before.... Would be handy for the shop! Thanks for sharing!

Cheers Alan, I've got the older version of their in circuit ESR meter & it's boss. Glad to see they've scored themselves another ambassador.

Thanks for the video, I've not bought the 75 yet but still use the older DCA55 and that's great. May have to upgrade to the 75 now 😊

Hello, Good Vid. I've seen these Peak Atlas testers before I like them. They have many different types as well. Thanks for showing what they can do.

Great review...cheers.

I've had one for a number of years and love it for quickly identifying components. All of the curve tracing in the software is pretty nifty, but not something I've personally used. It was interesting to see your comparison to a real curve tracer. The DCA75 is a pretty neato tool!

Thanks for the quick tutorial. I bought one this past winter and just got my shop cleaned up so I will give DCA75 a go now.

Being able to compare an unknown transistor to a known one is a winner! I have a bag of unmarked transistors I suspect are 2N3866s now I can check against a real one!

Very nice tool. Thanx for sharing.

Good to see you. Thanks for video......

Wow - I did not know those Peak Atlas analyzers could do curve tracing, else maybe I would have bought one. A few years ago from eBay I bought an old Jud Williams Model A Transistor Curve Tracer made by Sprague in the 1970's. I paid $150, but it was in perfect working condition, with probe and leads intact. It's sort of an adapter, like the Peak, but it goes in between the DUT and an oscilloscope instead of a DUT and a computer. But if I had know the Peak Atlas did curve tracing, I would have probably bought one of those instead. Although, my Sprague seems to handle much higher gate currents and sweeps much higher, up to 80 volts.

I have one. Works great. Good quality.

I like mine. It’s a newer one with the backlit lcd which is nice - black on white. The mini grabber leads break off a lot and I have to strip them back and resolder. Might switch them to Pomona branded ones. I like my analog curve tracer too. I had a strange fault with a pnp transistor the other day which the dca75 would sometimes test as good, and sometimes say no component detected, but the 575 showed what was really going on in real time

Very fair comparison vs. legacy unit which can go to much higher voltages.

Very neat, thanks

Awesome! Always wondered the difference and never expected so much features on the Peak. Would you make a teardown of it and compare it?

Great. I almost want to buy one even though i have no need. Thanks.

Very Interesting

Well done Alan. I've have a number of Atlas Products for over a decade. Atlas advertised in QEX for a number of years. They are based on the UK. The DCA Pro qualifies as a "Nifty Gizmo".

Thanks Alan! I may have to add one to the test bench. In conjunction with the cheap tester, you could do surface mount components as well.

Analyzing the curves produced by various faulty transistors would be helpful for me.

I’m happy you scored that puppy to your lab. I had no idea of the capabilities of the DCA pro to this time, so very useful review. I think this is a good excuse to setup some experiments with lm3045 or lm3086 and back to basics building blocks…

Thank you

Thanks for the nice thorough video. It seems like PEAK has another unit for zener testing only that goes to much higher voltages. Should combine them in an upgraded 75 :-) Also missing linux support :-(

Thanks 👍

1Great Comparison. Thx

Thanks, Alan. I love my DCA75 Pro and other Peak Atlas meters. It's also pretty cool that they're made in England. I might add that the DCA75 Pro will miss the occasional bad diode or transistor. It rarely happens, but I have seen it happen two times. I even documented it one time in one of my articles. It is better to test P/N junctions with a VOM that has the X10K with the extra 9V battery, or a battery of higher voltage. And decent VOM's are inexpensive. So, if you are having a tough-dog repair, before you pull your hair out test the diodes and then transistors with your VOM. You can thank me later...

Many years ago I bought the previous version, the one without USB connection. Shortly after, of course, this one came out 🤦‍♂ Great video as usual. PS: I thought we lost you to POTA :)

Might be worth noting that the "not expensive version" is an open source project by some clever hobbyists. It was then manufactured by other people (in China I assume, but without any objections from the original designers). That's why it is so cheap and why you can find many different versions of it. It's a good idea to check if it has the latest firmware before buying, or just make it yourself if the forum with the source code is still around. FWIW I also believe it predates the expensive closed source device (the DCA).

But can it test tubes ? 😄 Quite a step forward for these testers, may get one. Thanks for the great video. P.S. Dont throw away your BIG analyzer because it can probably test tubes.....

Peak make good equipment, I have many of their units.

That's an impressive little gizmo. Too bad that the software only works under windoze, which I don't run here. I do have one of those cheap little testers, mounted in a box with some connectors so I can use my hook-type test leads, and a B&K curve tracer that doesn't see a whole lot of use (the source of my test leads :-)...

Nice review, thanks. Perhaps a bit unfair to compare a $10 device to a $200 device. Surely if you're making a living in electronics the DCA Pro is the way to go. If you're a hobbyist, the cheap Chinese $10 tester is a great help to quickly test if a component is faulty.

I wonder how Curve tracer and DCA75 check the reverse diode (tunneling diode), or Gunn Diode, or impatt diodes?

I got some hg-2879c transistors id like checked

The DCA Pro will show the transistors parameters and plots but the next video lesson is how do you use these measurements and plots to "apply them" to biasing the transistor? Most small signal gain transistors T0-92 should be tested under +24vdc to get the parameters and plots. I'm not sure why curve tracers or the DCA Pro doesn't tell what the FET or Transistors dissipation wattage and bias current should be when plotting out the graphs.

Check out the updated K or L versions of cheap tester. Reverse beta, zeners, opto couplers (4 pin, some 6 pin), and zeners. There is also a serial port. Just beware of buying them, the atmel/microchip shortage has them using bad software ports on any micro they can find. They are eaay to make and you can use lots of differmt displays; 16x2 text to color 1.8".

Great! Can it do dual-gate MOSFETs? Lookin' for the elusive close match for the old 40673!

great little device... its only drawback is its inability to test higher voltages.

I have almost the whole suite of Peak analyzers and use them all the time...maybe you should team up with Peak to design a modern full-bodied curve tracer with specs near the old Tek? ;-) 73 - Dino KLØS

For matching devices there are already circuits proposed in youtube. But what I like is to send the output of two transistors to a logarithmic amplifier, and then to substrate them using op amp, and then send the result to an anti log amplifier. This way we get the ratio of the output two transistors. we want this ratio to be as close to 1 as possible. We also add max and min detect circuit to this and we get maximum variation between these transistors under different biasing point, as a figure of merit for matching. Also, we can test the speed of these transistors by measuring square wave raising edge and falling edge and comparing the two transistors. Also we can frequency sweep these two transistors under the same bias and circuit to check for 3dB bandwidth and unity gain frequency. This way you check the devices variations in terms of doping, lithographical, and packaging changes that cause changes in gain (gm) and parasitic capacitor (Cpi and Cu). Of course, you can do this digitally by sending each point through USB to computer and let computer to manipulate the data. Or using Analog method (i.e. Analog computer) similar to method mentioned above. In this case Analog computer will be much faster. In general a combination of Digital and Analog method usually is preferred. *** we have lost the speed of Analog methods, to flexibility of digital methods. ***

On the Vce-Ic plot of a bjt, why the trace lenghts are getting shorter with higher base currents?

Hey there Alan, I am trying to do a project where I have an RF and an LO signal of, say, 10MHz and 10.001MHz. I need a circuit (possibly a mixer maybe) that can discern the difference between the two. Any help in this regard?

In relation to Early voltage, does the lenght of the line indicate resistence? For example, long line, less resistence, short line more resistence for that current?

Did I miss the part where you test a mosfet using all 3 terminals?

Was your curve tracer recapped? Mine works but I am nervous about destroying it trying to recap.

73` 88` 👍🙏

Nice. The hardware is essentially the same, possibly with slightly better accuracy and calibration, but the extra functionality are technically possibly with some firmware upgrades. Software is pretty decent, but without some open source code or specification of USB protocol, it is a pass for me.

I speculate that the Peak device was created by a fanatic, or a more likely a grey beard with 40+ years experience 😂 The fact it recognised germanium transistors was remarkable.

Seems like you’re biased (pun intended) towards the Atlas device. It would be great if it had a bigger screen like the cheap testers. And colored. Then it could show the picture with colored pins so you don’t need the silly text Red-B Green-E Blue-C stuff.

The cheap tester gave the capacitance of the Zener diode. The Atlas didn't, it seems.

DCA PRO can not measure power mosfet or transistor

A shame there is no Linux support.

I won't be buying this tester £/$200 is absolutely insane. Im happy with my cheap chinese tester.

Nifty device, but INSANELY HIGH priced, like all their products!