Outstanding project Manuel, beautifully executed. Your bench looks very neat and usable. My hat off to you 🙂

Manuel you keep raising the bar in the radio restoration blogs. Excellent workmanship design and execution of your leakage tester. The din-rail mounts of your bench test equipment looks great and certainly increases your productivity.

Great work Manuel! I always assumed that you were doing all this in a man cave or shed or what have you, and was envious of the functionality of it all, and how well your space looks on camera. And the guitars-especially those. Then I learned, you are doing all this within the space limitations of apartment living-that makes it all even more impressive! Thank you for all your endless hours of production and instruction (and probably frustration, like us all)-if I was wearing a hat I would take it off to you.

I love how simple this design is and it just works. I have built Paul Carlson's low voltage leakage tester, and I do enjoy using that as it does seem very good at picking up leakage, but your design just follows the KISS principle so well. Simple enough to just work, not too simple and not too complicated.

Test gear and metrology stuff is my bread and butter "professionally". But i tinker with it in my free time as well. Only thing better than test gear.....iss well designed DIY test gear. And your projects are always very professional and with a lot of polish.

Just a follow up. I built your Leakage Tester and it works great. I decided to use both ends of the transformer to get up to 433 volts output voltage. Using an old phone mains adapter as a dc to dc converter (240 to 8 volts), connected to the center tap and minus side of the transformer to power the voltage display. I also ended up using an LED to see the capacitor power dissipate in the discharge switch position. Thanks for sharing your great project. I was following it for quite awhile 🙂

That's a beautiful bit of work, Manuel. I really do like your under-shelf designs.

Brilliant! Yet *another* very useful tool - and again with a practical design and perfect for the bench - thanks Manuel.

The capacitor tester works really well. I use to have a capacitor identifier for those unmarked and faded ones. I really like how you've set up your rack and how its off the working area, unlike mine due to space.

Very nice cap tester and an impressive set of homemade modules there.

Maybe your next under shelf rack project could be your signal tracer which you currently have in a little PC speaker I believe? Loving this project as I have no bench space in my loft and putting things on a rack under the shelf seems a great idea.

Great project, your bench is looking really profesional now 👍 "What should I build next?" guess that is a sign that you got most of what you need 😆 When I power up old tube radio's for the first time i often find myself wanting to monitor several voltages at the same time. B+, B++, Heater, AGC, Grid off output tube and so on. Maybe a multi-display voltmeter-module made of those cheap LCD meters that you could hook up to the radio under test would be something? Then you could monitor all voltages at once.

Fantastic build! I also fully approve your choice in magazines. 👍 Maybe some inspiration: What I miss in my setup is a resistor/capacitor substitution box. Often the alignment instructions of these radios ask you to put a specific resistor and/or capacitor in series with the signal you're applying or in parallel of a specific component... And that always has me digging through my stock to find the correct value and I end up with a bunch of jumper cables as a spaghetti all over my workbench.

Great job Manuel, but we have come to expect nothing less! I made the Mr Carlson's lab capacitor tester several years ago and it's okay but your design is better in my opinion as it tests a much wider/ higher range of voltages. I shall be ordering the PCB's in due course. Thank for another informative and useful series😊

Sir another excellent project. Very detailed and concise. Thank's for sharing.

Manuel, I think you need a light with the effect like “Kitt, the Knight Rider”, LOL! Thank you for the great video and project!

Love your mounting scheme; very clever!

I worked at a company that designed and made screw on RF attenuators several years ago. I just worked out on the floor assembling the connectors. Very basic stuff, insert capacitor into connector, lock-tight on the threads, screw it together and torque it. Test on a signal tracer and ship it. I started asking questions because just working there created a ton of questions in my mind, but no one on the floor ever asked those same questions and the engineers were to busy to be bothered. The signal tracer test was set up so a racoon could complete it (plug in press button). I wanted to know more so I started researching and teaching myself electronics. I quickly didn't care about the signal tracer anymore and started doing lots of other things. I found your channel and many similar ones and others of course. I cannot stick to a single facet of a hobby. I learned CAD and CAM at home (got a job doing this and left the other company), designed and built my own 3D printer, purchased a CNC Engraver, then took the stock firmware and modified it, at source code level, for my own uses. I was wanting a leakage tester and an ESR meter; then you started a project on creating one, ha! I followed another channel that was creating an ESR meter so I combined the two. I design and 3D printed the case (so no drilling holes heh), and I modified both of the designs a bit. For the leakage tester I added a second potentiometer inline for fine control (at low voltages and mine always starts at zero V) and simple step up transformer (since I am in the US) for higher voltages; got this off ebay for cheap, it was an "international step up transformer for travelers" or whatever. The rest I followed relatively closely, there were component choices that were slightly different but overall very similar. The ESR meter was a lot of fun also, creating a sine wave to feed low voltage (250 mv) 200ish Hz into a cap, amplifying the output with a op-amp, rectify that to DC to be read by a micro controller. I ended up heavily modifying this project because I wasn't happy with how the guy did most of the project. The sine wave was a bit funky and the code for the microcontroller was really hacked together. I ended up learning several new things just to complete this project (not a complaint at all, I truly enjoy learning). Just make sure to learn enough to know when you need to learn more. =) Regardless it was a great project all together and my ESR meter + Leakage tester is an all in one device. Plus I got to use my CNC engraver to create my own "PCBs" (there is no abbreviation for Routed Circuit Board). Yes PCB Way is cool but (in my mind) not nearly as cool as creating my own. Mixing so many facets of what I enjoy into a single project is what has made this 1 project one of my most satisfying things. Though creating my own 3D printer from scratch was also a ton of fun. Your clear and concise method of explaining things made the leakage tester super simple to adapt and modify, I didn't have to go learn anything new after you explained it all. Now I am on a second old tube radio and all I have to complete is the alignment and final clean of my first radio. Thanks (once again) for all that you do here. I have far to many other things to do so my radio repair schedule is quite a bit slower than yours heh...

Designed and built with courage and skill. You’re a very clever chap! 😁 Unfortunately I am not that skilled but I have invested in a 3 volt to 700 volt capacitor leakage tester that can reform capacitors. I enjoyed this project. Thank you Manuel! 😁👍 A suggestion for the rack, which I feel would still leave you lots of rack space, is to design and build a magic eye tube tester. It’s mostly about vintage valve radio restoration right! I would have suggested a signal tracer and an ESR tester but I know you covered these as separate equipment. Adding some further complexity to the rack suggestion is a tester for high Q inductive components, could be considered for the rack expansion. 😁 I had to check the Q inductance of some coil antennas and transformer windings lately. Those transformer tests are something you are completing regularly with vintage valve radio restoration and it’s likely it will continue on.

I use similar adhesive paper labels only I do lamination in regular thermal laminator after print. Next I cut by outline and use as normal adhesive labels. Protective lamination sheets are great

Like it a lot. Great use of space under the shelf.

Every thing looks great. My suggestion for a project is either a ring tester or a signal tracker RF and AF. I have found the signal tracker is extremely useful! Enjoy

You asked for some ideas of what to build. How about a circuit tester? When I used to work in a TV shop, we called them knee benders. They are very simple. just a 6V transformer, a couple of resistors, two connectors for your X, Y to the scope and two banana jacks. It is great for checking transistors and diodes real quick. It is kind of like a miniature curve tracer. Thank you for these videos.

Nice addition to your workbench

Nice setup! You should add Leo’s bag of Tricks: The ultimate continuity tester. It’s really handy, simple, quick and always ready to use.

Yes, the hardest part often is the enclosure. I've been building pre-amps and integrated pre/power amps for the acoustic stringed instruments I build in my retirement and even with a shop full of woodworking tools those odd shaped geometric shapes and rectangular openings in wood or metal is challenging and essentially require extreme patience and the willingness to start over if needed. I must say your enclosure's front panel came out excellent. On a side issue aluminum project boxes pre made tend to be pricey here in the Catskill mountains of NY and I wish I had a metal shop nearby so often I'll use a thin hardwood that otherwise would be a guitars sides at around 90 thousands in thickness. Is the wood easier to work with? Yes and no, It requires more work building the box plus other negative issues & the same issues with cutting the odd shapes in the panels except perhaps a bit faster with respect to filing rectangular openings. On the other hand, a natural wood finish can have a real nice appeal depending on how it's done. Cheers and thanks for sharing your experimentation....

Nice. Clean layout. Not really jammed up but still compact. Clear and crisp screening. The best part IMO are the appropriate sized pads and through hole sizes. That alone is like comparing a horse and buggy to a Tesla. Things like that make it or break it. Definitely made it. @14:07 You should be. Chuffed is right. Ok. That's it, subbed. I built a capacitor leakage tester a number of years ago, works pretty good. The board is 4 3/4" x 4 1/4" in a 6" x 8" x 4" enclosure. All the pots and such are chassis mount, it works....but I think it needs a more modern companion. 1st I'm gonna check out your other pertaining vids before I order, just to get an idea. Very nice job. You should be pleasantly chuffed, I would be too. BTW, does "chuffed" mean CHest pUFFED up (pride/proud)?

Can't remember if i've said it here before, but i print out the labels with the hole centre points and outline. laminate the print and stick it to the front panel, then drill using the centre points and file to the outlines etc. then mounting harware also helps hold the laminated sheet to the front pane. used this for a lot of test jigs.

Nicely done, a professional looking tester. If you already have a dremel and a stand you can make a poor-man's mill (for the rectangular / odd cutouts) by using an x-y slide vice (jam a piece of wood inside the enclosure to strengthen / stop it vibrating). I think you already use a step drill for the round holes, use the jammed-in, soft- wood idea to improve results. I'll ignore the hand-marked rear panel, ho, ho.

Chuff worthy, indeed! Because of the high voltage equipment, I suggest a lock on the shop door, lock out switches on the gear and warning signs, everywhere. No need to toast the grandchildren.

Fantastic!!! I have bench envy. How about a signal generator and an analog volt meter for alignments.

I suggest making a nice signal tracer, so you can troubleshoot amps and radios more easily. With a detector in a probe, so you can even troubleshoot whole superheterodynes. Maybe with a magic eye (EM11?) on the panel, for good looks :D

For add to your bench i made a miliohm Meter very usefull for test audio cables problem , short finder , contact quality , etc...

Very neat and tidy - I'm off to order a PCB

Hi! New subscriber here! Very neat project! Only a small tips that may be useful: to save some time with the square hole I would have avoided cutting the film in front of the LED display. The light from the digits would have passed through the paper without a problem, and you could have made a coarser hole it would not have been visible!

I have used the 500 volt digital meters on a few things not perfect accuracy but very close . The only thing I would suggest with them is when you have wired them in you cover the meter connections with something, I use hot melt or silicone caulking it cuts down on shorts or more importantly accidental human connection's 😁. The best silicone glue to use is acid free you can get it at most craft shops or painting suppliers. They good for a steady adjustable power supply but cannot use them to measure fast changes. As

Thanks so much for this project idea, Manual, so good to start into my electronics as a hobby now that I've just retired (was a biomedical tech for many years). rarely got to component level on the medical devices even with my electronics background ....., mostly board swaps!! (manufacturers want to keep it all a secret!!) Please could you tell me where to obtain the rotary switch with PC pins (through hole) to suit your PCB as I'm having difficulty sourcing the same one, thanks again Bill

Thanks for fantastic work that you share 🙂🙂🙂

A really useful and smart looking capacitor leakage tester. I'm impressed and would like to build your circuit for my own workshop. Have you built a non=contact signal injector for audio and/or RF? Might be a useful addition.

Dear Manuel, I agree the many commenters for your very valuable work. I watched all videos of the playlist and now I would like to build the tool. However, my needs are slight different from yours, because I have to test and possibly discard the big caps which are found in modern PSU. They often include an active PFC section, and you certainly know that so that they can work, DC voltage has to be higher than 340 V (up to 500V). Therefore a duplicating voltage section or a Chinese Dual Output Boost Converter in my case would be necessary. But I am afraid that a simple replacement of the 450V filter cap in your board, while keeping the same components would be not enough to provide the right voltage (and component stability and safety) to test and possibly reform my big caps, as you yourself have replied to another commenter (@ledogu). On the other hand, I am not electronics expert enough to modify myself the project and the schematics. Therefore, if you someday will extend the features of your very useful tools, please let me know about. Many regards.

An under shelf reverse RIAA would be handy for testing phono stages. I use one all the time for this purpose

Hi Manuel, Some points of notice… For the people who like to push up the limits (Like me haha) There are 2 type’s of those Chinese DCDC converters, you have 2 or 3 capacitor versions The 3 capacitor version has a positive & a negative rail, just like an opamp supply… I blew up 2x an LCD meter and almost a cap due that. I was lucky that i had a few lcd’s… To get the higher voltage you only connect the positive & the negative rail, so not to the common ground of the dcdc converter. After powering the tester i blew up the first LCD meter The second time i connected the common ground from the power supply to the lcd also, and it worked. When i increased the voltage on the converter board i didn’t went higher then 380v or so, and i heard some disturbing noises, and the DCDC converter went quite hot. This was due the common ground, so i accidentally removed the common ground and blew up the 2nd LCD haha So i had some cheap Chinese acdc converter boards to isolate the power supply for the LCD, after that i could connect the lcd to the common ground and it worked! When i boosted the voltage on the converter board to around 580v I heard those disturbing noises again, After inspection i saw that I almost blew up the 450v cap on the cap tester board, I forgot all about the max voltage lol, so better leave out if you’re want those higher voltages… Ore use 2 in series with a bleeder resistor

Excellent video. Thanks 🙏

Can i just point out that all caps will draw current when their terminal voltage changes as they will need to charge or discharge to match the new terminal voltage. Some will just do it faster than others due to their capacity and current charge state.

Parabéns pelo excelente trabalho, este é um aparelho que maioria dos técnicos se esqueceu...no entanto muitas das avarias estão relacionadas com os condensadores eletróliticos, principalmente nas fontes de alimentação. Abraço

A very neat and functional project Manuel. I’m building an audio oscillator and your method of printing the front panel looks very good. How is the stick on film holding up after 1year? I was planning to print onto the aluminium front panel, but yours looks much easier Robert

Love the rebuild of this tester!! Great work. Do you have a playlist of the modules you’ve made for the under shelf tools? That would be great. I do have a question… a few years back you built a version of the stepped attenuator and you had built a surface mount version and a through hole version, are the files available to build a through hole version available? I have a ton of 1/4w resistors and I’d like to build one, but I am very bad at circuit boards design. I was wondering you had a set of boards already designed. Thank you for all the great videos over the years, I have enjoyed them all immensely. 🙏🏻😊

Please put some edging on those plywood shelves. Then it would look very professional 🤩

I have been following this series with great interest and looking at other options as well. I was thinking of using op-amps for the analog meter control but after thinking about it, they would be a point of failure that your design doesn't have. There are some aesthetic mods I'd like to do like power switch up for "On" and graphics on the faceplate, but I am building this tester. Thank you, alot. you have inspired me. Edit: I have all the needed parts either on hand or on a list at DigiKey. The last thing (that I thought would be easy to find) that I need is the rotary switch. I believe that you call that a 1P5T 2 Deck Rotary Switch. You can't buy one. Everyone is out of stock and they ain't cheap. Thinking about a 2P5T 1 Deck...?

What might be nice is a GPSDO reference attached to a digital clock so the wife can remind you of how much time you spend in your cool new lab..

A nice tester! Very professional looking front panel as well. For example F+T capacitor datasheets usually give normal values of leak currents of electrolytic caps after 5 minutes at nominal voltage so those values can be used as a reference, I suppose. That cheap elyt didn't look so bad at all, I think.

In North America, switches are installed with on function going up (construction code). Exactly the opposite of what you guys in UK and Europe do. The reason I found out, was you won't turn on something accidentally, by dropping something on it. If you do drop something on the switch, it will turn the switch off.

Have I got this right? The process for reforming caps with this is, start on low volts, work up through the leakage display sensitivity ranges until the leakage drops, then repeat at a slightly higher voltage (starting from the lowest sensitivity leakage reading and going up to the most sensitive again).. Until you’re up to the working voltage, or your supplies maximum, and the leakage has stopped going down?

I don't know how many Tube radios you repair but perhaps a little AM transmitter would be a nice addition to the rack. You can leave the radio playing music of choice without the adverts and talking and hear if you get any signal drift after a few hours of use

Hello! Congratulations on the simple and precise design and execution, it was incredible! I decided to build this project, I already ordered the PCB, microamps and voltimeter. I have a question regarding the current sensitivity switch, which model, positions and type, did you install it? And what model is the change voltage switch? Very grateful!

Mr. Caldeira, while I see in the links provided for the board at PCBway and the DC to DC converter, do you have a BOM for the components that you used along with a print out for the front panel... I'd be interested in that detail as it does not seem part of the data on the google drive. Thanks, Ben

I have a question, Sir. There's a resistor with red body and missing third band. Does body color counts as 3rd band color? Colors are Brown-Brown-(missing band)-Gold, or Brown-Black-(missing band)-Gold.

Very nice project 👍 But I've noticed that your power switches operating direction is wrong, reversed, upside down. I am used with power on is UP⬆️ I thought only France have wrong operating direction and now I have to update my data 🙃

Excellent project. I see that it is powered by 12v DC but how much does it consume? What current does it consume? Thank you so much

Very nice circuit and application, congrats! I'm excited to run one like this. What is the maximum voltage can I apply to the AC and DC input? I know it will be limited to the voltage of the capacitor and diodes, but will the circuit support it? Regards

A half size project could be a selectable resistor? Full size maybe a constant current/constant resistance adjustable load?

I was looking at the outline of your project and I had a question. The DC/DC converter you use generates the high voltage for your circuit, but the output GND of the DC/DC is common to the GND of the rest of the circuit? If so, is it safe? Or maybe the DC/DC itself isolates the input from the output? Thank you so much.

Looking to build this and just wondering what the value of the trim pots connected to R8-R9-R10. Are they 1kohm-100ohm -20ohm respectively Many thanks for your efforts

Din-rail Proposal power control box: Low-voltage miniature toggle switches with LED on indicator that control an Under bench mounted box containing relays and electrical sockets. The proposal would allow you to have switch on/off remotely located devices like your entertainment radio, your air compressor mountain away from your bench and have the compressor hose pullout from the rear of the bench and wall thus out of the way until you need. The compressor noise could be dampened too. Oh-yes my favorite a sign over your wife's office door, I'm sorry your lab door saying do not enter genius at work.

Hi again, I am still waiting for parts, but have been breadboarding and having a lot of fun. I was studying the circuit and had a thought. We have the DC DC converter sending 390vdc down line to a variable resister and Mosfet circuit. We have 390 volts on the left side, variable on the other. What if I unsoldered the trim pot on the DC DC convert and put VR pot there? Rather than setting at a max voltage and controlling that voltage with another pot, the volts coming from the convert would be same at the end of the circuit. Is this a good idea or is there problems that I am not seeing? Thank you

Thanks!

why not have the voltmeter connected to the test outputs so you can see the voltage charge of the cap after switching to off?.

what a nice set up ,looks great

Excellent project, “simple” and extremely efficient. I have a question, the 6-terminal switch, 2 positions to increase the voltage range, what type would it be? Is it like the MTS 202 ON/ON - NA+NF ? Best Regards and congratulations

Manuel, I am curious to know why you have your toggle switches "off", when they are pointing up. In North America, devices that use similar switches, would have that as the "on" position. Is this how it is done in Portugal or is this just your own preference?

Dear Manuel, Would you have a full component list for this excellent device, for example what 5 pole switch you used, the 3 variable resistors (types) and so on. I'm kinda new to all this but would love to build it. Thank you O.

Whoa... the schematic has R7 as a 12K/10W R but in your implementation, you left it completely out and jumpered straight to VOLTS. So... can we simply leave that out? A resistor with that high of a wattage seems important. Am I missing something?

If your a HAM, how about an Antenna Preamp, and/or a noise eliminator.

Hi, great video series, I am enjoying them very much and learning a lot as well. I am planning building one. The supply I may be using is similar to your 390v supply, I am looking at DC DC to 780v model. I need to test up to 450 volt caps. I will only go up to 450v. (spec sheet: .2amp max ) If I am sending up to 450 volt through the circuit, wilI I have to make any changes? The alternate may be to incorporate your original plan, I would drop Q3, and use a 15K at R6. (R=450/.03)? Thank you.

Hi, looks like a great unit. I've put together the parts on ali and it comes in at roughly 80 euros. Can I ask you about diode 5, the 12 volt zener diode. How many watts is this diode and can I use a 5 watt zener in it's place? And do the 2 watt resistors need to be metal oxide or can they be metal film?

Brilliant design and videos. Would you happen to know how max current draw should be @ 12V for sizing the device power source? I'm also curious if you may have a link to the LED 0-500VDC meter. That is proving hard for me to locate on the usual sites like Ali. Thanks!

on the schematic you have a hv ac input,where will that come from,the mains?.

I'm trying to find the correct rotary switch to fit the circuit board. But the only ones I could find on amazon do not have the same pin configuration. Will you share the part number and source for this item?

Great looking graphic design. One question, do you really need the "power" LED, the LED voltmeter lights up when you turn it on.

Hello Manuel nice project 👍, I want build this myself but what ammount of power has your potentiometer is 0.25W ok? Greetings from Germany.

I see you changed from a IRFP27N60K which is easily available from reputable sources to an obsolete IRPF460. Was there a reason for this? Can I use the 27N60 part (I purchased two to build the old leakage tester)?

Hello, great video. Question...im searching this LCD 4bit display as you have, but can't find it on the net. Problem is in shape of display segments. Yours have real display shape, but rest on the net segments are just square shape and not looks good. maybe im picky, but that's me:)...so if you can point me where to purchase...will be glad. Thank you.

Where is the BOM for this project? Or am I missing it most of it I can figure out, but I'm not sure what's the correct rotary encoder to get.

Apparently, that 0-500V LED board is only available in Russia?!

I built a simular device that i was going to use to reform cap but most of the time it gets used as a leakage tester As to anothe device how about a signal tracer?for RF and audio.

Ok thank you, I'd like to buy a PCB, but on the website they come only in ten pieces?

Hi, I'm thinking on building this project. Could you paste a link for the voltmeter ? Thank you, and thanks for the video

I always find that is cheaper to replace capacitors with new ones. And not spend time checking them. Time is money so far me ..I don't test capacitors.

beautiful job

Can you please share template for cutting holes and face plate pdf format? Would be great if you can upload it to Google Disck.

How about a resistor and capacitor substitution box?

Hello.You need OP amp PSU +/- 15V regulated,i think....

The "Schematic & Gerbers" link to Google drive indicates they are private, so why bother to show the link?

I'm a beginner do you have a cost to build it and ship it to me ?

Looking at the circuit mains input to supply B+ in not isolated, very bad design

So where do I purchase the complete kit????? . JohnBoyUtah KJ7TBR 🇺🇸😎🎙📡

Transistor leakage tester

Suggestion: Audio analyzer suite, with an integrated analoge discovery 2. (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qcuXf5BeksnOaac.html) Idea taken from BlueGlow /stuffsmade idea/free software The idea is to make repair / finalisation documentation as pdf or even printed on paper. This automated setup, is quite the test bench tool cost taken into consideration.

The calculation for a good quality electrolyte is 0.01CV after two minutes. Your new green deal there (470µF 35V) should beat 0.000470 x 35 x 0.01 = 165µA after 2 minutes. It was already under 100µA within 1 minute, so it should be OK. I would not be to scared of them. I have heard you say in a few videos that you hated the 0.7 V you loose with a silicium diode, but I would not keep it out if I were you. Just use a Schottky diode with no more than .3 V loss for such low currents that your device uses, and they cost you not more than 10 - 20 cents. The only drawback I can see here is that Schottky diodes are not available in higher Voltages, but still, 40V 1A is common for under 20 cents.