Op-amp Tester design for single, dual and quad packages. Dual-polarity LED as indicator.

[@BrianSmith-ow9gy]

Built this and it's the first electronics project I've built that actually works. Amazed with myself and very grateful to you for the design.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@harveyellis6758]

Great idea! Looking forward to ordering PCBs after you confirm design is working well.

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Would be nice with a zip socket for easy placement of the chips.

[@bansci]

Hey, great idea! I bought an op amp tester on eBay and wondered what the operational principle was. You could get a solid (non blinking) "good" indicator with a simple LED by having a high frequency oscillation, then a DC blocking capacitor before the led. If the op amp doesn't oscillate, then it can't power the LED (which will rectify the AC voltage).

[@bansci]

Another comment, you can reuse the single circuit for the first op amp of every socket, and the second for the dual and quad. I know this is saving only a few passives, so is a little extreme but I couldn't resist. Great work again!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

True

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I wanted them to be autonomous, but your idea would also work and save a few components.

[@radio-ged4626]

This might be the first project I buy instead of building my own. Looks good, clever idea. Thanks for sharing.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

My pleasure

[@johnsonlam]

Thank you for your design, it's really useful since I got quiet a lot OPAmp also, may I suggest you put a square on each socket (silk screen) including the LED, so a glance will know which LED is with that specific socket without thinking.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@paulperano9236]

The joy of not being sponsored. Ordered this tester. I could either pay for a panel $$$, or they would kindly chop off the bottom for the $5 set of boards. So bugger the bottom half ! 😃

[@markr.1984]

I happened to have found an old breadboard just the other day, that I wired up with an op-amp using it as a comparator. Same as it was in 1988 when I wired it up for a project in school!! 35 years ago. I'll have to go and look at what op-amp it is. It's a dualie, I saw that much. I'll have to pull that out of my basement. Probably still works if I put 10 or 12 volts on it.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Probably will 👍

[@matambale]

Excellent thank you Manuel, extremely useful tool, looking forward to part 2. Have quite a few op amps of various types, many ancient, that I'd prefer to test before putting them to use, as it can be quite a hassle to find such a fault in a brand new, why-isn't-this-damn-thing-working circuit.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@greengrayradio1394]

Very interesting, I have been thinking about making such a tester! Now that yours will soon be ready, I want to order a PCB from them!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@t1d100]

Tip: I use a tile saw to depanalize my panels, because the boardhouses charge so much to add a V-Cut.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@DustinWatts]

Good idea! Regarding the boards, I would separate the two PCB's and use less mouse bites because this will give you pretty rough edges which are no fun to clean. Or maybe even better in this case is use a V-score two separate the two. I think that would look much nicer and is also easier to do than mouse bites. Leave me a message if you would like to know how I do it with PCBWay. Regardless... thanks for the video!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I know how to do them, but the cost of the boards increases. That doesn’t affect me but the viewers who try to order later get a nasty surprise, as happened with my active probe project 😊

[@DustinWatts]

@@electronicsoldandnew I see what you mean. And I didn't think about the price increase and how that affect your viewers or how they indeed will get a price they did not expect. All arguments that support the way you did it now! All I can say is... good thinking ;)

[@electronicsoldandnew]

@DustinWatts: I have absolutely no interest in getting commissions from pcbway, but have had a few angry comments accusing me of being mercenary 😊 so I try to keep it to the minimum cost.

[@DustinWatts]

@@electronicsoldandnew I totally get that! ;)

[@techobaz55]

Excellent little add on Manuel, will be making this for sure ! So sick of breadboarding to check an OpAmp, 15mins setup for a 2 sec result. Cheers Baz

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@jasonatkin6787]

The triboelectric effect caused by those non-ESD safe plastic bags rubbing against one another is enough to generate electrostatic fields that can zap semiconductors very quickly. It's not just a matter of discharging yourself during handling them. How they're stored is just as, if not more important than the actual physical handling. Apple did an excellent video on ESD back in the early '80s. It's called "the shocking truth". It's hokey and dated, but it's the best single documentary on fighting esd damage I've ever seen. Well worth watching. It'll change the way you handle boards and components forever.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Thanks. I’ll check it out. I’m also a bit hokey and dated 😊

[@matambale]

Wear that wrist strap! (reminding myself)

[@electronicsoldandnew]

@matambale : always forgetting

[@ralphj4012]

Very good. Far superior to my single 741 tester, which I made more years ago than I can remember. A suggestion is to put the test op amps into sockets and then plug those sockets into sockets on the PCB (avoids quickly knackering the sockets on the PCB, even if they are turned pin). Very difficult to tell from the video, you may want to check there is sufficient room for IC sockets on the PCB (no disrespect intended).

[@electronicsoldandnew]

They should fit. Will see when boards arrive.

[@chrischris2984]

Thanks, I made one of your testers, works great. Found a bad LM348 already,,,

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Glad it helped

[@ivolol]

If you designed the wave output with a schmitt trigger inverter, and if you have a fast enough oscilliscope, you could also test the slew rate of any opamp. Good for testing chinese ones that "work" but are a 1c part, not the one you ordered.

[@nigelbrockwell6237]

That is something I could find really useful.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍

[@eddys.3524]

Nice idea... love it. However you could have saved the components for 3 oscillators by using wire connections, unless you want to be able to test more opamps at the same time. BTW.. you don't want to use the usual IC sockets when you have to push in and pull out IC's with considerable force.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I could have saved some parts, but decided that this was the simplest method. The only parts I’d save would be the RC network.

[@DavidTipton101]

Very clever Manuel 👍🙂

[@electronicsoldandnew]

😊

[@darrenmurphy6251]

very useful- great idea , youve got me thinking i need something to identify fakes ,i repair electronics but not much good at design though so im not sure how to- noise floor or input offset /bias measurement maybe

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Test a few fakes and try to find where they differ exactly. Then it can be quite simple to detect them, if the difference is consistent.

[@bobcassidy4325]

do you have a component list

[@mackfisher4487]

Wood a IC style test socket be worth using for your tester?

[@electronicsoldandnew]

I’m certainly going to use a socket, but not sure which one yet.

[@xyredmax]

Hey Mr Chopstick. What did you use for U1? I'm sure it doesn't matter 😉

[@electronicsoldandnew]

A TL072

[@tomhague1162]

Great idea. I use a lot of OP amps and this will be a useful tool. By the way , how is your AM transmitter circuit coming? I think you were going to source different cores. Would be interested in the progress. Thanks for the extremely informative channel. I enjoy restoring older radios and the information you provide is extremely helpful. Keep up the good work.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Thanks. The transmitter isn’t really up to the standard that I want yet. I’m still on it.

[@Yorumcu63]

Good subject. Have PCB file link for download?

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Only after i receive the boards and test them.

[@dynamixii3228]

Great project!!!

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Thank you!

[@robtitheridge9708]

an excellent idea thanks

[@electronicsoldandnew]

Pleasure

[@saeedjahangiri6861]

Hi may I have your email ?

[@jdmccorful]

Good one! Thanks.

[@electronicsoldandnew]

👍