L/C
Meter IIB Test Adapter
After owning and using a LC/IIB meter for almost a year and loving it, I wanted to eliminate the use of the 2 test leads that were supplied with it. The leads are only about 8" in length but the meter is sensitive enough that the lead position effected the measurement values. After some thought I came up with this.
The board has banana plugs on the rear so it just plugs into the front of the meter.
The adapter has a spst switch so you can short circuit the input to perform the zero operation when measuring inductors or create an open to zero it for capacitance. The zeroing operation also zeros out any inductance and capacitance of the adapter. Use of a quality DIP socket insures durability if you measure a lot of components. If you use it continuously, I would recommend inserting another DIP socket into this one. Then a new socket upgrade would take just seconds. Remember, the meter will zero out any added capacitance or inductance.
Here's another view of the front. The screws came with the banana plugs.
Ok! Lets build one!
First we need the parts:
Plugs - I used these. You will need 2
If you don't like the style I used or can't find them, you can go to Abbatron's Web Site For you old timers like me, the manufacturer used to be HH Smith.
I used 1/2 of a Radio shack 276-148 plug board to hold it all. While you are picking that up, you might look at the switch as well.
You could buy your IC socket there also but I'd recommend using a socket that has the round machine pins because of the contact structure. They just grip the wires better. You can look at mine in the picture above.
Lets get soldering. The easiest way to get the banana plug spacing correct is to plug them into the meter and then locate them by looking through the holes in the plug board. Don't solder on them when they are plugged into the meter though!
Make a solder bus between all of the pins and you are ready to test!