Inductance/capacitance meter off on the measurements

[aidan]

I just bought one of these http://www.ebay.ca/itm/270840165867...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_2942wt_1282
and I measured a 680 microHenry inductor I had to see how off it is and it reported a measurement of around 600 microHenries, these seems like an alarming error. Any ideas why? I would like to hear some input before trying to get another one.

 

[jackorocko]

what is the tolerance of the inductor? 10% is 68

They do come in 20% tolerances as well

 

[aidan]

Im not sure of the tolerance but I never thought of that....
thanks for the suggestion! much appreciated!
I feel better about the meter already.

 

[aidan]

Uh oh... never mind, I measured three more and they were all at least 80 micro henries below what they should be... one was 560.... damn.

 

[jackorocko]

20% of 680 still leaves you at 544, so that is still within 20% tolerance. Would be better to know for a fact what the specs of the part is you are measuring before calling it crap.

but the ebay listing says they will make it right, prove to him it is junk and he will probably hook you up. Wish you better luck on the next one

 

[jackorocko]

Since it is made in china and they claim 1% tolerance, I wonder how many 1% tolerant components they use on the device itself?

 

[aidan]

yeah, they are 10%, just looked on my ebay purchase history.

 

[aidan]

also they are all measuring consistently under 600 microHenries

 

[aidan]

the same thing happens with capacitors btw
When i took the screen off to take a peek at the main board i noticed that an inductor on the board had very loose coils, perhaps this is the issue?
http://www.elecfreaks.com/store/inductancecapacitance-lc-meter-lc100x-p-284.html the inductor in this image looks waaaaay different then the one on mine

 

[(*steve*)]

Uh oh... never mind, I measured three more and they were all at least 80 micro henries below what they should be... one was 560.... damn.

It's also not beyond the realms of possibility that your measuring device is inaccurate, or that it measures the impedance at an inappropriate frequency, or that stray capacitance is wielding an effect.

Also Joseph would not like you to spell is surname with an initial lower-case letter.