Anatek Blue ESR Meter - Full Kit For Self Assembly

Our Blue ESR Meter has been very popular since 2007. This is the latest Bob Parker design and successor to the famous Dick Smith MKII ESR and Low Ohms Meter. This handy and affordable meter kit measures capacitor equivalent series resistance (ESR) in the circuit. ESR is a very important quality and performance characteristic of capacitors greater than 1uF. This meter makes quality measurements which are often impossible to check with capacitance meters. See the why low ESR matters  for more information on ESR. It also can be used to assess health for LV alkaline/rechargeable batteries, find shorts on PCBs, inductive coil shorts and for assessing incoming quality assurance of components.

Supplied here in KIT form with all components, hardware, PCB & case, but the 9v battery is not included. Assembly will take 1-2 hours with average soldering skills.  The unit has on-board diagnostics that will detect many of the assembly errors.

Blue ESR Features:

• Supplied in kit form with full assembly and calibration Instructions & manual online
• Two foot test leads made with super flexible test lead wire with 4mm banana plugs and basic alligator clips
• Test lead resistance compensation, allows higher accuracy
• Wide resistance measurements from 0.01 Ohm to 99 Ohm
• Automatic power off when reading is unchanged for 3 minutes, maximizes battery life
• Microprocessor controlled low battery voltage warning, “b” blinks on the display
• Easy-to-read, high brightness 0.5 inch (13mm) piercing blue LED display
• Easy to read chart of good/bad capacitor ESRs on the front panel
• Meter can test capacitors in-circuit and standalone from 1uF to 10,000uF and from 10V-450V
• Test ESR on polarized and non-polarized capacitors with the value of >1uF
• Measures ESR for capacitors in-circuit, ideal for PCB level de-bug
• Detection of shorts on PCB's and shorted coils in transformers
• Can also be used to test the low resistance grounding of ANSI/ESD S20.20, ANSI/ESD S6.1, ESD TR20.20 and compliance verification for grounding systems
• Assess health for low voltage alkaline and rechargeable batteries
• Operational down to 5.5v battery voltage, maximizes battery life
• Kits made in Silicon Valley California, USA
• One year warranty for all parts from Anatek Instruments

The meter is supplied here in kit form ready for you to build. All you need is some basic soldering skills and you can have a working meter in 1-2hrs. The unit includes super flexible quality test leads with banana plugs and basic alligator clips. The unit also has easy-access battery compartment for a standard 9V battery. You can add the optional larger croc clips or needle probes (see our Blue ESR accessories). All components are on the solder masked pc board. As this unit uses a microcontroller and has on-board diagnostics to detect assembly errors. It uses the MkII firmware, Bob's latest. The unit can function down to 5.5v as well as a auto power off feature, maximizes your battery life. 

See here for our Comparison of some ESR meters out on the market today, our Discussion forum for advice on operation and de-bug and Bob Parkers Hints in the use of the ESR meter.

See our Pinterest page for pins on Capacitor testing and ESR tester reviews.

For more info see the Anatek BESR datasheet and Customer Review Video. View a great informational page created by a satisfied customer and some independent reviews of the Blue ESR/Low Ohms Meter from Capacitor Lab. Also some  great repair videos on Dave's TV Repair page. Our Malaysian distributor has also published an excellent tutorial on how to get the most from your ESR meter.

"I appreciate the great service, the kit went together extremely well. I am very impressed with the quality of the PC board and how well the meter works". Peter

"Thank you very much for the Blue ESR and Blue RT kits. They worked out very well and I can honestly highly recommend your kits. I am very impressed with the quality of your kits and the detail that you provided to make the assembly absolutely painless." George

"I'll tell you why I DO feel lucky, and that's having purchased from someone who still understands the meaning of customer service! That goes a long way in my book (well, if I had a book.)" Todd

"I bought a new Blue ESR meter kit from Anatek recently. The kit was received  very quickly, and assembly was easy. The kit is neatly packed, the circuit  board is high quality and clearly marked for correct component placement" - Wild Bill

"I use a "Blue ESR Meter" which works great for testing ESR in circuit, as well as battery health, such as AA alkaline and rechargeables. I found it's accuracy to be close to that of a Sencore analyzer with a 5 digit price tag, so for the price, I'm overjoyed. It comes in kit form"- ThatOneGuy

Saw Uncle Doug using this on YouTube and thought I should get this as I had an old Fender amp I was restoring. This is the tool to have for checking old electrolytic capacitors. James C.

Very useful to identify bad capacitors that otherwise would not be detected. If you repair or work with vintage electronics you need this. Mark M.

Works well. I ordered tweezers for making it easier to test on board components. Even without the tweezers, this esr meter is easy to use with an easy to read chart on the front. Mike Phillips

I purchased my esr meter about a year ago and have used it from time to time and have yet to replace the battery. My guess is that battery usage would be similar to that of a typical ohm meter. I am extremely happy with the purchase. It quickly determines the good or bad status of caps and would recommend its purchase. It will be worth the price the first time you diagnose a clean looking cap that is in fact internally damaged. Dan A Peterson.