>"** For that to be the case, YOU have to know in ADVANCE what the acceptable   
   ESR readings are for each electro you need to test. "   
      
   Not so much. The ones that are bad were stressed more, the others in the unit   
   of the same make and age may not have been and not as much of the electrolyte   
   has been boiled out. In circuits of the latter type, ESR is not that critical.   
   Nut with the high    
   pass filter it makes the value less important.    
      
   So acceptable ESR readings are not going to be found on a chart. What's more.   
   my device does not actually read ESR in a lab type fashion, it is meant more   
   as a go/nogo tool to speed up troubleshooting, even for those who can't really   
   troubleshoot.    
      
   Even in the user manual for this thing I would include to look at the positive   
   (or whatever) lead and look to see if it is green and to look for any of them   
   bulging. My goal is to keep as much of this stuff out of the dumpster (skip)   
   as possible.    
      
   >"I regularly work on valve / tube amplifiers and am therefore familiar with   
   ESR readings for high voltage electros in the range of 22 to 220 uF. No need   
   to look up any lists and my spares stock is available to compare readings with   
   new parts. "   
      
   With your experience you don't have to look up shit. you can say right away,   
   "This is good", "This is marginal" and "This is bad". But I do realize that   
   many, especially novices have not had that inculcated into them.    
      
   For them all I can say is change the worst first.    
      
   >"For example, the 5 or 6 HV filter electros in most Fender tube amps can be   
   checked and evaluated with a Bob Parker meter in under 1 minute. The small   
   cathode bypass ones take about another minute and you are done. "   
      
   Yeah, double or even triple the secondary voltage and the condition of the   
   caps becomes quite important.    
      
   >"Of course, extremely old caps and any that show signs of having oozed   
   electrolyte get replaced -  no questions. "   
      
   Have you noticed that most of them took a hell of alot longer to go bad ?    
      
   Anyway, I think my doodad can be useful to novices as well as masters. Very   
   fast. In a power supply, clip one lead to ground and check all of them, a   
   minute ? That's like an 8086 compared to today's processors. A minute to chack   
   a cap ? That is an    
   eternity.    
      
   There is the Dick Smith, fine and good. But for servicing you don't need to   
   know between 1.7 and 1.8. Why ?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)