ESR Measurement Using Multimeter and Function Generator

Capacitor ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) measurement is very useful in diagnosing issues with power supplies. In linear power supplies, a high ESR filter capacitor may cause excessive ripple current on the voltage rails and can cause the capacitor to overheat…

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Keithley 197 Battery Option Build

I have been quite happy with my fixed-up Keithley 197 5 ½ digit bench meter purchased from eBay (you can find the teardown pictures here) earlier this year. Keithley 197 has a battery pack option (Model 1978), and this option…

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Keithley 197 Teardown and Repair

A few days ago, I bought a Keithley 197 sold as “unknown working condition” on the cheap. The seller said that some of the keys on the meter were unresponsive. I figured that I’d try fixing it if I could.…

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Backup and Flash Firmware using Arduino

A while ago, I did a tear-down of a Keithley 196 bench multimeter. Towards the end of that post I showed a picture of my breadboard setup for backing up the firmware EPROM (27128) in case I needed to re-flash…

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