        ReadMe for the Component Tester firmware (m-firmware)

    (c) 2012-2024 by Markus Reschke (madires@theca-tabellaria.de)

Last edit: 2024-03-29

Content

About
Safety Advice
License
- Additional Disclaimer
What's different?
Source Code
Supported Hardware
Building the Firmware
Busses & Interfaces
- I2C/SPI
- TTL Serial
- OneWire
Displays
- Fonts and Symbols
- HD44780
- ILI9163
- ILI9341/ILI9342
- ILI9481
- ILI9486
- ILI9488
- PCD8544
- PCF8814
- SH1106
- SSD1306
- ST7036
- ST7565R
- ST7735
- ST7920
- STE2007/HX1230
- VT100 Terminal
Test push button and other input options
- Test Key
- Rotary Encoder
- Increase/Decrease Buttons
- Touch Screen
User Interface
- Buzzer
Communication with PC
- Serial Output
- Automation
- VT100 Output
Power-On
Probing
Battery Monitoring
Power Off
Menu
- PWM Tool
- Square Wave Generator
- Zener Tool
- Logic Probe
- Continuity Check
- ESR Tool
- Capacitor Leakage Check
- R/C/L Monitors
- LC Meter
- Frequency Counter
  - Basic Counter
  - Extended Counter
- Ring Tester
- Event Counter
  - Trigger Output
- Rotary Encoder
- Contrast
- IR RC Detector/Decoder
- IR RC Transmitter
- Opto Coupler Tool
- Photodiode Check
- Diode/LED Quick-Check
- Servo Check
- OneWire Scan
- DS18B20/DS18S20 Temperature Sensors
- DHTxx Temperature & Humidity Sensors
- MAX6675/MAX31855 Thermocouple Converters
- BH1750 Ambient Light Sensor
- Flashlight
- Self Test
- Self Adjustment
- Save/Load
- Show Values
- Font/Symbols
- Power Off
- Exit
Resistors
Capacitors
Inductors
Discharging Components
ADC Oversampling
Displaying Results
- Additional Hints
  - BJTs
  - TRIACs
  - CLDs
Unsupported Components
Workarounds for some Testers
Known Issues
Support
Change Log
Remote Commands
Helpful Links
References

About

The Component Tester is based on the project of Markus Frejek [1&2] and the successor of Karl-Heinz Kübbeler [3&4]. It's an alternative firmware for Karl-Heinz' current Transistortester circuit and comes with several changes in the user interface and the methods used for probing and measuring. It also offers a few additional features. While Karl-Heinz provides an official release supporting also older ATmega MCUs, this firmware does require an ATmega with 32kB flash at least.

Hint: Run the self-adjustment for a new tester or if you've done any modifications, like a firmware update or changing probe leads.

Safety Advice

The Component Tester is no DMM! It's a simple tester for components capable of measuring several things. The probes aren't protected in any way and won't survive higher voltages than 5V. Don't use the tester for live circuits! Just use it for unsoldered electronic components! If you test a capacitor make sure it's discharged before connecting the probes. This isn't just the Safety Sally, your life may be at risk if you connect the probes to a live circuit or a power supply (or even mains).

License

The original author hasn't provided any information about the licence under which the firmware is distributed. He only stated that it's open source and any commercial user should contact him. Unfortunately we (Karl-Heinz and I) haven't found any way to contact him. To remedy this problem I've chosen an open source license at 2016-01-01, after giving the original author more than sufficient time to tell us his wishes regarding the license. Since the source code of this firmware version is a major rewrite with tons of new code and features, I think that this approach is justified.

Licensed under the EUPL v. 1.2

Additional Disclaimer

Product or company names are possibly trademarks of the respective owners.

What's different?

Karl-Heinz has done a really great documentation of the tester. I recommend to read it. Therefore I'll tell you just about the major differences to the k-firmware:

user interface
- No worries! ;)
- touch screen
- remote commands
- two sets of adjustment values
adaptive component discharge function
resistance measurement
- dedicated method for resistances <10 Ohms (instead of using ESR check)
capacitance measurement
- starts at 5pF
- additional method for caps from 4.7µF up to 47µF
- correction/compensation method
no SamplingADC() for very low capacitance or inductance
diodes
- detection logic
BJTs
- V_f is interpolated for a more suitable (virtual) I_b based on hFE
- detection of Germanium BJTs with high leakage current
- detection of Schottky-clamped BJTs
JFETs
- detection of JFETs with very low I_DSS
TRIACs
- detection of MT1 and MT2
IR RC detector and decoder
IR RC transmitter
opto coupler check
RC servo check
OneWire (plus sensors DS18B20 and DS18S20)
DHTxx Sensors
event counter
ring tester (LOPT/FBT tester)
logic probe
continuity check
MAX6675/MAX31855 thermocouple converters
BH1750 Ambient Light Sensor
flashlight / general purpose switched output
structured source code
simple frameworks for displays and data busses
some more I couldn't think of right now

There are more details in the sections below.

Source Code

The first m-firmware was based on Karl-Heinz' source code. A lot of cleaning up was done, like more remarks, renamed variables, re-structured functions, large functions splitted up into several smaller ones and what have you. After that the m-firmware moved on to become an independent version. For example, simple frameworks for displays and interface busses were added. I hope the code is easy to read and maintain.

You can download the lastest firmware from following sites:

https://github.com/madires/Transistortester-Warehouse
https://github.com/kubi48/TransistorTester-source/tree/master/Markus (https://github.com/Mikrocontroller-net/transistortester/tree/master/Software/Markus)

Supported Hardware

The firmware runs on all testers which are compatible with the standard circuit shown in Karl-Heinz' documentation and which use one of the following MCUs:

ATmega 328
ATmega 324/644/1284
ATmega 640/1280/2560

You can customize pin assigments if required. The display may be a character or graphic type (monochrome or color). Please see section 'Displays' for supported controllers.

Following hardware options are supported:

user interface

rotary encoder
additional push buttons (in/decrease)
touch screen
serial interface (TTL, RS232, USB-serial adpater)
buzzer

enhancements

external 2.5V voltage reference
fixed adjustment cap
protection relay for discharging caps

additional checks and measurements

Zener check / measurement of external voltage <50V
basic frequency counter
extended frequency counter with prescaler and crystal oscillators for low and high frequencies
fixed IR RC receiver
LC meter
ring tester (LOPT/FBT tester)
logic probe
MAX6675/MAX31855 thermocouple converters
flashlight / general purpose switched output

Building the Firmware

First edit the Makefile to specify your MCU model, frequency, oscilator type and programmer settings. All other settings are moved to a global config.h and a MCU specific config-<MCU>.h. The file 'Clones' lists settings for various tester versions/clones. If you have a tester not listed, please email the settings to the author to help other users.

In config.h please choose hardware and software options, the language for the UI, and change any default values if required. All settings and values are explained in the file, so I won't discuss them here in depth.

Hardware options:

additional keys
- rotary encoder
- increase/decrease push buttons
- touch screen
2.5V voltage reference
relay based cap discharger
Zener voltage measurement
frequency counter (basic and extendend version)
event counter
LC Meter
ring tester (LOPT/FBT tester)
IR detector/decoder for remote controls (fixed IR receiver module)
fixed cap for self-adjustment of voltage offsets
SPI bus (bit-bang and hardware)
I2C bus (bit-bang and hardware)
TTL Serial (bit-bang and hardware)
OneWire bus (bit-bang)

The external 2.5V voltage reference should be only enabled if it's at least 10 times more precise than the voltage regulator. Otherwise it would make the results worse. If you're using an MCP1702 with a typical tolerance of 0.4% as voltage regulator you really don't need a 2.5V voltage reference.

And of course the software options:

PWM generator (2 variants)
inductance measurement
ESR measurement and in-circuit ESR measurement
check for rotary encoders
squarewave signal generator (requires additional keys)
IR detector/decoder for remote controls (IR receiver module connected to probes)
IR RC transmitter (IR LED with driver transistor)
check for opto couplers
servo check (requires additional keys, display with >2 lines)
detection of UJTs
capacitor leakage check
DS18B20/DS18S20 temperature sensors
color coding for probes (requires color graphics display)
output of components found also via TTL serial, e.g. to a PC
remote commands for automation via TTL serial
output of reverse hFE for BJTs
DHT11/22 temperature and humidity sensor
...

Please choose the options carefully to match your needs and the MCU's ressources, i.e. RAM, EEPROM and flash memory. If the firmware exceeds the MCU's flash size, try to disable some options you don't need.

Available UI languages:

Brazilian Portuguese
- provided by wandows@EEVblog
Czech
- prov

ComponentTester

Install / Use

README