Review/Teardown of a Hantek 1833C LCR Meter

In this video I did a review and teardown of the Hantek 1833C handheld LCR meter. Product link: ban.ggood.vip/12DAR Teardown pictures: www.kerrywong.com/2022/10/02/t...
00:00 Introduction
03:05 Powering up, Menus, Series and Parallel Modes
06:41 Resistance Mode
09:01 Comparison Mode
10:32 Capacitance Mode, Guarding
13:52 Inductance Mode, Min/Max/Average
16:45 System Menu/Firmware Version
17:13 Standby/Operating Current
18:14 SCPI Command/PC Software
18:55 Teardown and Conclusion
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[@user-ch3un1ud6n]

I just have to say WOW! The best video of the 1833c features I have found. I just received my 1833c and you have saved me so much time figuring out how to use it. Thank you so much for the fine explanations. Thumbs up, and subscribed. Tom S. Ocala, Fla.

[@electroncraz91]

LCR's are a must have for power supply inductors and efficiency

[@rustycooper3528]

Great video, thank you. You confirmed that their software does not work. I was going nuts trying to get it to connect. :)

[@ChipGuy]

With the handheld LCR meters I miss the input or a function to add bias voltage while doing capacitance measurement. It is important for switching power supplies using ceramic capacitors so you know how much capacity is left while the DC voltage is applied to the capacitor.

[@artursmihelsons415]

Thanks for review! That place on PCB isn't for SD.. To me, by footprint, it more looks like place for Bluetooth or WiFi module.. SD card marking on rubber seal is because they using same enclosure parts in all series of tools.. 😉 On Hantek 2Cxx 2Dxx series scopes is SD card footprint on PCB, but it's not implemented in software. I'm tested it out, when hacking my scope from 2C to 2D..

[@mik310s]

Thats a nice meter for the price, it has a lot more features than most meters in that price range.

[@SeanBZA]

Yes, reuse the parts like case, keypad and LCD display as much as possible, so that you get economies of scale. Will guess that SD card footprint is there for the factory to do firmware updates, either they solder on the SD card holder, and do the firmware that way, leaving the card in, or it is there for a future version with a data logging capability, likely to be another version with different firmware, or the meter simply checks for the presence of the card on power on and enables the menu item in the UI already. As you already have USB data transfer easy to have the card appear on the USB bus as a card, the processor is powerful enough to emulate a USB multi function device. Wonder if they designed keyboard for 2 separate charge controllers, so they are not stuck with having only one, but can change if they run out or price increases, with all the extra pads and layout there unused. Would wonder if the processor is protected, or if you can read out the firmware from it, it might be new enough model that the protection bits were not set, and if populating the SD card slot, and putting in a card, will show up at all either on display or on USB.

[@rokiedecentra9656]

These sell for a reasonable price compared to the Uni-t ones which have been going up in price

[@andymouse]

Seems like a very capable meter that's priced not to ridiculously, great review Kerry...cheers.

[@KerryWongBlog]

Thanks Andy!

[@gteague]

many thanks for this review! got the 1832c in today (i really don't know enough about this sort of testing to know whether i'll regret not getting the 100khz model. first thing i discovered is that it rejects any charging method that has any charging protocol such as pd and qc. i only found one charger which would work with it and it was the anker 65w 736 using the qc usb-a output--the usb-c outputs didn't work. i tried a half-dozen other fast chargers such as the 716 nano and the same number of cables (including theirs) without any success. it flat refuses to charge at anything other than 5v and evidently any overlaying protocols on the line confuse it. i didn't try any generic chargers, but i suspect any of the plain ones would work, but at under 2A i suspect. /guy [later note: slow charging doesn't describe this. i just realized these are loose 18650 cells in there and i can simply keep a spare pair charged and i have a 3A charger which should charge them in less than one hour as they're 2600mah otherwise charging internally will take 2.6 (?) hours.] [later note: i just realized my expectations were off because i think since the cells are in parallel they have a combined 5.2A capacity so charging at 1A would take 5.2 hours. the supplied charger is 2A and if it would charge at 2A it would finish in 2.6 hours]

[@FixDaily]

20:57 i would say this a foot print for a wireless communication (probably bluetooh).

[@TheDefpom]

@21:00 I’m pretty sure that footprint is a wireless module such as a ESP8266 or 32

[@danielegger6460]

I think the point for the different speed modes is that you can reduce the (rather annoying) jumping around of the measured values quite a bit. I would assume that this also increases the accuracy of the readings because the internal voltage source might not be able to precisely hit the exact same values every time, especially since this will also include the power draw of the unit which also increases the temperature and thus thermal noise.

[@KerryWongBlog]

I assumed the slow speed mode would also increase accuracy, but there was no mentioning of that in the manual.

[@JannikGade]

Thanks for the great review! I received mine yesterday. By chance I found out that the device still outputs a sine when turned off so I suspect that it only turns off the display when it's off 😅

[@hauuau]

The pattern on the mainboard looks more like something like a communications module for Bluetooth or WiFi rather than a SD card.

[@tHaH4x0r]

Indeed. The pin-out reminds me of the BK3432,HLK-B20 and similar modules, which have 6 pins on the far end, and 8 pins on the sides. The white silk screen that sticks out, which Kerry might have mistaken for an SD card, is usually the location of the antenna, which could be indicated such that during routing care can be taken with routing ground planes/traces underneath there.

[@ChipGuy]

Yes, totally agree. This looks a lot like Bluetooth modules from Microchip for example.

[@Yuehanlad]

Hi, Great review and video. Can this meter measure down to 10nH ?

[@caltech-wirewizard]

Excellent review Kerry! So much so, this was the deciding factor on my purchase decision. I have one question though.... What is considered High Z vs. Low Z? That's a relative term.

[@joseffist9366]

Hi , thank u . Can i use this LCR meter to test capacitor on board? without remove capacitor and test that ?

[@ozzfestone]

Hi, I have to pay for an LCR among those that I will list capable of precise reading of small inductances of the 1 microfarad type and they are: Hantek 1833C, CEM DT-9935, DER DE-5000 and the classic PEAK LCR45, which one do you recommend? . I thank you in advance.

[@Jnglfvr]

At 14:41 why did you short the leads when zeroing out the stray inductance? Would it have been inaccurate to leave them open circuited?

[@KerryWongBlog]

If you leave them open the inductance would be infinite.

[@Jnglfvr]

Thanks. If, however, you calibrated the meter when first powered up (both open and short circuited) do you still need to zero out again before any measurement? And what is the procedure for capacitance? Zero with open or short circuit?

[@leonerduk]

@@Jnglfvr The test leads themselves have an inductance to them, which would add to the apparent inductance of the component under test (because it's all connected in series). The procedure to zero it out removes that effect.

[@MarkPalmer1000]

The shorted/open lead calibration drifted a little with my 1833C, I noticed it was powering up reading 7-8 pF open lead capacitance. I did the open/shorted lead calibration and the meter zeroed again. However, the calibration corrections will not store into non-volatile memory and are lost every time I power the meter off, and it powers on to 7-8 pF again. The open lead calibration takes several minutes for the meter to complete, and having to do this at every power-up is stupid to say the least. My other handheld LCR, an Applent AT-826, stores the new corrections in its memory. No one knows of a fix for this with the Hantek, and the latest firmware doesn't solve the issue. For that bug, the parasitic power drain, and the LCD that isn't bright enough on the highest setting I don't recommend this LCR.

[@YuryMartynov]

the calibration is definitely required always after turn-off the device for precise measurement. This is normal for devices like this

[@QuangNguyen-my7gi]

I don't understand what signal level 0.3Vrms and 0.6Vrms mean in the measurements

[@caltech-wirewizard]

It is the AC Voltage amount that's applied to the component under test.