Uni-Byte 0174 - Three Awesome MODS for the T7 component TESTER! (transistor tester)

[@uni-byte]

People have been asking where I attached the wires for the banana jacks. It's not critical as long as you get all 3 - 1, 2 and 3. In my case I attached my wires to pins 11, 12 and 14 of the ZIF socket.

[@islandseeker1260]

Excellent mods! The one thing I'm going to do different is try and find banana plug jacks that match the colours of the 1-2-3 boxes on the screen display, and position them in the same order.

[@uni-byte]

Let us know if you find them. I guess I could have used red for #1, and blue for #2 but I've never seen purple.

[@kevkabluebird1032]

I did some mods too ... banaplugs like you did and an actual switch to cut the connection to the battery. Because T7 seems to "eat" batteries even powered off.

[@uni-byte]

Good idea. Yeah, it keeps the MCU on in low power mode waiting for a button push.

[@20kilovolt]

@@uni-byte maybe add a selector switch for the zener diode function.

[@sarahb.8186]

I done that too and now battery Last extremly longer. thx vor the banana Idea, will do it too

[@uni-byte]

@@sarahb.8186 Let us know ho wit goes.

[@uni-byte]

@@20kilovolt Good suggestion!

[@pault6533]

Here's two more for you. (#1) Add a slider power switch, so you can reset the unit when it freezes up. This happens when the unit can't identify a more complex component. (#2) Add a 2P connector in parallel with the activation switch, so you can use a foot pedal to start the test when you don't have a free hand to push the button. I put a huge cell in there which would not fit without removing the on-board 2P header I was adding the switch anyway so I just soldered my wires directly to the PCB. A highly versatile unit with modest accuracy. Always worth using but not 100% dependable.

[@uni-byte]

Great ideas!

[@edgeeffect]

My best upgrade for my component tester was to throw away the battery altogether and wire it into the old PC power supply that I use to run various things on my test bench. Love the banana plugs... gotta do something to replace the worn-out ZIF socket on mine.

[@uni-byte]

A switch is not a bad idea for a 4th mod.

[@wdl1908]

Nice video I modified my T7 tester in the same way because the battery that was installed is really not enough for some hours use, and the banana plugs are a nice extension for adding more possibility to make connections.

[@uni-byte]

Thanks! Great minds think alike.

[@captiveimage]

I've got an older version of this tester, which doesn't have the same amount of clearance in it for 4mm Banana plugs, but I've got a good selection of 2mm Banana plugs, which works fine. Made a complete hash of the first round of holes drilled, but second time lucky it works perfectly. The scary bit was getting the old battery out. It's so thin it's like trying to remove a few layers of tinfoil. 350mAh replaced with a 2000mAh battery. Much more betterer! Thanks for the idea 🙂

[@uni-byte]

Good going!

[@t1d100]

Excellent mods and video = Big Thanks! I would very much like a follow up video which discusses all of the great additional mod suggestions provided by your excellent viewers. Some of them were made in abbreviated speak, or covered topics outside of my knowledge base... So, I did not understand those. Thanks! Here's my contribution... To make separations between components (such as the legs of the banana plugs, beyond the collars of the new banana connectors, when inserted,) to prevent short circuits, etc... Shields made be fashioned out of common, white, frosted, milk carton plastic. This plastic is durable, easily fashioned and readily available. HTH.

[@uni-byte]

Thank you! I might just do that video.

[@michaellundsrensen2292]

Nice upgrades. Good idea. If you overdue a screw in plastic the you simpel heat it up and put it in the hole and it works again!

[@uni-byte]

Good tip on the screws. I have to try that.

[@jerril42]

Nice upgrades, I think the banana plugs are an ideal upgrade. Thanks.

[@uni-byte]

I think so too!

[@pileofstuff]

Useful set of mods. Nicely done. I was wondering about added capacitance and inductance from the long leads. Glad you addressed that.

[@uni-byte]

Glad it was helpful!

[@grhinson]

How about adding a calibration capacitor mode switch? Or do they still need one?

[@uni-byte]

This particular unit does not ask for a capacitor as a part of the calibration. Others I have do, but not this one.

[@lordseph]

Fantastic video! How were you able to put holes for the banana plug terminals without crumbling the entire plastic casing?

[@uni-byte]

Thanks! Those banana jacks have enough of the threaded metal portion extending out the back so that they can be mounted that way in plastic. You don't have to use the insulating sleeve so you only need a hole big enough for the metal. You can get them on AliExpress. Try searching for "25Pcs 5 Color 4mm Banana Binding Post Test Connector" and you'll be able to see what I mean.

[@OldBenOne]

You can use a pin/needle to pop the leas out of those battery plugs, then re-insert in any plug in either polarity. Quick and easy, used to do it with cordless phone batteries regularly.

[@peatmoss4415]

I don't think it would work here. That fella needs to make it complicated and unnecessary, plus it is too difficult to work on those little connectors....

[@uni-byte]

I'll have to give it a try, thanks.

[@uni-byte]

@peatmoss4415 - Ohh, my very own troll. Cute.

[@saydmarschany8321]

Started the modifications, placed the banana sockets in place, added an on/off switch on the side. I see the wires you soldered are on the bottom row. Cannot see exactly if you soldered on 1-2-3, or 1-3-5. Please let me know so I can wrap up. Thank you.

[@uni-byte]

Hi Sayd. I attached my wires to pins 4, 5 and 7.

[@saydmarschany8321]

@@uni-byte Thank you

[@Trucam2020]

Excellent modification 😊

[@uni-byte]

Thanks for watching

[@jean-michelchevalier6649]

Great mod, could you tell me on which pins on the board you connect your 3 wires please, I would'nt like to make any mistake. Thank you.

[@uni-byte]

You can use any place where the terminals marked 1, 2 and 3 are. On my board (there are different revisions and patterns) I used pins 4, 5 and 6 of the ZIF socket.

[@RoyAntaw]

Some great upgrades suggestions. I'm a bit lazy but I'm definitely going to add some rubber feet to my tester.

[@uni-byte]

Go for it! LOL!

[@saydmarschany8321]

Would you please tell me what the number 783448 stands for? Found similar but with different 6 figure numbers, Amazon has that particular battery but would not ship to my location in NY.

[@uni-byte]

That's the size of the battery. Actually the size of the cell without the added protection circuit. 7.8mm x 34mm x 48mm. Add an extra 2mm for the protection circuit and finished size is 7.8mm x 34mm x 50mm

[@saydmarschany8321]

@@uni-byte Thank you

[@brettkaufman2299]

nicely done. will look at modifying mine more professionally like yours. Thanks

[@uni-byte]

Thank you!

[@saydmarschany8321]

Very nicely done, planning to do the same when I have time.

[@uni-byte]

Go for it!

[@luckywetland]

Thanks for the video. I just hoped you'd show how you actually modded the banana sockets? I mean which points you connected the 3 wires to?

[@uni-byte]

You can solder the onto any of the pins of the socket that are marked 1, 2 and 3. I soldered to pins 11, 12 and 14.

[@luckywetland]

@@uni-byte Thank you so much ☺

[@MrHBSoftware]

hi...sometime ago i put a battery from an old internet mobile router on my tester...works just fine and lasts wayyyyyyyy longer... i added wires and crcodiles instead of banana plugs...

[@uni-byte]

Nice! It feels good to do mods that make things better for how you use them.

[@MrHBSoftware]

@@uni-byte in the future i will use an old phone charger.instead of the battery..like nokia 3310...they are 3.7v chargers.... i prefer a charger over the battery. i havent done it yet because this battery lasts very long

[@FrankMartin-d4s]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@uni-byte]

You're welcome.

[@saydmarschany8321]

On your description page, you listed a 120mah battery instead of 1200mah which is not listed on the Amazon page you gave. Which is it please?

[@uni-byte]

Hi Sayd, sorry about that. It is a 1200mAh battery with protection circuitry - Size: 50 x 34 x 7.8mm . I have updated the link

[@saydmarschany8321]

Thanks you for responding, the link to Amazon does not work. Have a wonderful day.

[@uni-byte]

@@saydmarschany8321 Strange, it works for me. What part of the world are you in? The link is to amazon.com in the US.

[@saydmarschany8321]

I live in New York. The link sends me to Amazon but not to the part in question. Now you gave me enough info, will research, no worries. I do a lot of mods myself, like to get my hands dirty. 🥴Thanks again.

[@saydmarschany8321]

Purchased a 603450 3.7v 1200mah from Amazon. Hope that will fit nicely. Thanks for all your help.

[@englishrupe01]

Excellent ideas....thanks for the video.

[@uni-byte]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@andymouse]

Great idea and great execution ! not a mechanical kind of guy but I might do this one !.....cheers.

[@uni-byte]

Let us know how it goes.

[@RichardKight555]

What pins did you solder to?

[@uni-byte]

It's in the pinned comment. " It's not critical as long as you get all 3 - 1, 2 and 3. In my case I attached my wires to pins 11, 12 and 14 of the ZIF socket."

[@RichardKight555]

@@uni-byte Thank you

[@mikepanchaud1]

Add an off switch, and you won't need to upgrade the battery. Mine has quite a high "off" current.

[@uni-byte]

Seems a lot of folks have the same idea. Maybe a little slide switch?

[@snakezdewiggle6084]

Cool improvements 👍

[@uni-byte]

Thanks!

[@mikebond6328]

Excellent! I was thinking about 3d printing a spacer so I can fit an 18650. I definitely want to add banana plugs now.

[@uni-byte]

Go for it! Let us know how the 18650 mod goes.

[@orion310591RS]

1. Well I think you could also integrate buck converter, with a switch to use internal battery or external power supply. Adjust it to convert from 5V USB to whatever is needed 3.7 or whatever, then you can use powerbank, or laptop, or pc, or phone charger to power this device permanently. 2. You used banana plugs only for contacts 1 2 3. Not for K and A. Maybe you can use that too. 3. What I did is just soldered those 0:49 to the pcb and drilled a hole in plastic. Solid connection, no problems, wires go where device goes, cant lose them. 4. You could use capacitive button, so it actually start on button touch, not on button press, or photo diode/resistor whatever when its dark to trigger testing... Etc etc... imagination is limitation. PS. Regarding freezing, try to hold button to shut down. And also, schematics are available, so once you take a look at them, you get more ideas for sure.

[@uni-byte]

Great ideas, worth considering. Thanks! BTW, it works (sort of) while on charge. If there is no component in it it sees a fictitious capacitor, but otherwise seems to be okay.

[@orion310591RS]

@@uni-byte I think that those big leads will mess up part diagnostics, but I cant prove that. You will eventually see if it works or not.

[@uni-byte]

@@orion310591RS They certainly will with small capacitors and inductors. Shorter leads are required for them to get accurate results. But in some cases I have had recently, like checking transistors in the chassis, those long leads come in handy. I have shorter ones in the works.

[@joop2295]

Great idea! Sometimes people have the same ideas; I added banana sockets to my T7 a couple of months ago.... I also like the rubber feet, I think I must have them somewhere...

[@uni-byte]

Great minds think alike.

[@chemicalcorrosion]

Very good upgrades!

[@uni-byte]

Thanks!

[@SteveM45]

Hi, How do I get into calibration mode and how does it work? In the video it was too fast.

[@uni-byte]

Sorry about that. I usually speed up the video during tests. To get into calibration mode just short pins 1, 2 and 3 together. Then after a few seconds it will ask you to take to short off. On some testers, at the end of the test it will ask you for a capacitor of a specific value. This one (my T7) does not ask for that.

[@SteveM45]

@@uni-byte thank you

[@uni-byte]

@@SteveM45 👍

[@williamlawrance4138]

Short all three leads together and press the button. Separate the leads when the display tells you to.

[@SteveM45]

@@williamlawrance4138 thx

[@krzysztofb9279]

what do i solder the bannana plugs to. do you have a diagram or an image i can reference?

[@uni-byte]

I soldered the wires onto pins 4, 5 and 6 on the bottom of the ZIF socket.

[@krzysztofb9279]

@@uni-bytei figured thank you much

[@iowahank1]

Some nice mods but I don't have a need to use mine all that much. Although I do have a 1000mah battery laying around that should fit quite nicely so I may do that one.

[@mrelectromaniac6886]

Good explained

[@uni-byte]

Thanks!

[@ted_van_loon]

you should also have added a higher volt mod. either using a stepup transformer or using a special power plug for a higher voltage adapter. because these devices can get very inaccurate due to the low voltage they use, making it less acurate at some parts and even pretty much impossible to get good readings with some other parts. for example: 1. Mosfets RDSon is almost always very wrong with the lipo version since most mosfets need atleast 5v or more to properly turn on. 2. transistors can also get very wrong ratings in some cases. 3. and diodes with a higher reverse voltage drop can't be measured(could measure a few more with a higher voltage mod.). 4. can make it less noise sensitive if the method for higher voltage is stable and without to much ripple or noise. ofcource do first check how much voltage your device can handle as input, and often don't try to max it out. but you also very often see such devices powered by 9V batteries, and some with DC jack inputs. and I bet many people would be insterested in some easy and proven info about what kind of voltages it can actually handle. I would recommend adding someting like a switch to switch between high and low voltage mode, this is mostly since running it at lower voltage should be more safe for components which perhaps migth not handle the higher voltage and also slightly lower power usage and drawing directly from the lipo gives a stable voltage for sure.

[@uni-byte]

Something to consider for sure. Also, the switch could have a "Off" position to increase battery life. These draw some current all the time. Not much, but some.

[@ted_van_loon]

@@uni-byte yes that is a very smart idea indeed. and when adding a switch anyway, there is little reason to not add it.

[@josephwarren849]

Nice upgrade

[@uni-byte]

Thanks!

[@jakubczajka4275]

Well done! BTW, for some time YT tries to show me garbage like: "New free ELectric Energy 10000W Generator Using 2 Speaker & Colling DC Motor. new free energy video". Well done Google/YT A.I.

[@uni-byte]

I get those too. It boggles my mind they even have an audience.

[@johansvideor]

I have the same model and did the battery upgrade and added two banana sockets long time ago. Good idea with the rubber feet, have to do this also.

[@uni-byte]

Great minds think alike.

[@jrossman4703]

Fantastic

[@uni-byte]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Multi-Skill-Bill]

Putting banana plugs in is a fantastic idea! I may steal this one :D. 👍👍👍👍👍 EDIT: Just say Kapton Tape LOL 😂

[@uni-byte]

Thanks! No problem..

[@brianwild4640]

The wire and pins will come out of the battery connector with a neddle

[@uni-byte]

Going to give that a try. Thanks.

[@jogat4ria847]

In my humble opinion, it would be much more practical to make an external adapter to convert banana plugs to 3-pin plugs. Without having to make any external changes to the equipment. In fact, it would be a converter from one type of fitting to another. This type of converter (banana2pin) It would work for this equipment and for any other equipment that uses this type of docking pin

[@uni-byte]

I had thought of that I also thought of using a 1/8" TRS plug and socket. The reason I went this way was that the leads could be standard and used for other things too.

[@jogat4ria847]

@@uni-byte Exactly. My suggestion was for the specific case, but nothing prevents you from using other types of output pins, making the converter more universal. Good idea! 👏👍

[@uni-byte]

@@jogat4ria847 Got it!

[@ArrakisOCE]

Is the T7 better than than the LCR TC-2?

[@uni-byte]

I personally don't have a TC-2 so cannot give an answer on that. Maybe someone else can chine in.

[@LimbaZero]

one thing maybe crowbar circuit for protecting 5V line. Accidentally put charged cap for testing. esd prot sot23-6 component and cpu died (vcc to gnd short in cpu and 2 diodes short on esd prot). tvs diode was fine. if it would have been just esd prot then it would have been easy fix. or just do dedicated cap test leads with 2x 1N4007

[@uni-byte]

I like the cap lead idea. The best thing would be a design change where they have a relay to short the inputs momentarily before testing begins. This additional hardware could also be used for the self test feature.

[@LimbaZero]

@@uni-byte I think that relay protection was on original documentation for one protection type. So relays are on when it start to test process.

[@johncoops6897]

You will certainly get measurement errors with those very long internal cables and the additional long banana leads. Unlikely you will be able tp calibrate at all, and if you do then calibration for the ZIF socket will be WAY off.

[@uni-byte]

Thanks for your comments. As to going between ZIF socket and cables, yes you need to recalibrate but you have to do that using the supplied cables too with any small caps and coils. As for those long cables shown in the video, I don't really use them except to reach components that are a good way off. As you can see in the video they calibrate fine for most things except small capacitances and then only if the cables are disturbed during the measurements. For diodes, transistors, resistors large capacitors etc. they are fine. However I have made shorter (10") cables for use with this most of the time. My guess is you bailed early on the video and decided to proceed with your imagination rather than facts. Flying without facts is not generally the way I do things, but that method does seem to be popular amongst some folk, like flat earthers and such.

[@johncoops6897]

@@uni-byte - I have many of these testers, and have extensive knowledge about their operation, modification and limitations. As I said, even fairly short leads directly plugged into the ZIF socket will cause calibration errors and erroneous measurements, as well as sometimes causing detection errors of some types of components.

[@uni-byte]

@@johncoops6897 Wonderful! So how does that explain the accurate (enough) results I got using these long leads? And as I said, but it seems worth repeating, plugging in leads (even the ones that come with it) requires re-calibration. Anyway, I don't think either of us will benefit from an argument, so I'll give you the last word.

[@TheRealBobHickman]

Great idea. I just did a battery swap so I have 2500mAh instead of 350mAh. Should last a lot longer

[@uni-byte]

That's a big battery!

[@pauldery7875]

Nice, I love it.

[@uni-byte]

I'm glad you like it.

[@20kilovolt]

I had the same idea but thought about a headphone jack plug to save space.

[@uni-byte]

Yeah, I had that thought to but chose the banana sockets in order to use cables I could use elsewhere too.

[@jameshamilton6643]

Thanks

[@uni-byte]

Thank you!

[@jaxk4912]

I'm inspired. Think mine needs same upgrades. Lol.

[@uni-byte]

Go for it!

[@johnwest7993]

Cheap cables and connectors will turn the measurements of even expensive test gear into garbage.

[@uni-byte]

My thoughts exactly.

[@bob_mosavo]

Rather than carpet tape, you might use silicone caulk or hot glue.

[@bengineer_the]

Indeed a wonderful set of upgrades, but I also worry about the super strength of carpet tape. Hope it doesn't rip the battery on removal.

[@bob_mosavo]

@@bengineer_the You might get a razorblade scraper to remove the battery if you do. It may help not ripping the battery apart, but the battery is not that expensive if you damage it 😉

[@uni-byte]

Not a bad idea.

[@uni-byte]

@bengineer_the Yeah, the carpet tape is pretty strong but releases pretty well with a bit of IPA and some warmth. I don't expect to need to change it out though.

[@johnlong2687]

Ali is scummy as heck! I paid with PayPal, but then they billed more than the PayPal confirmation screen showed.

[@uni-byte]

Make sure your currency is set right. I had that happen but it was because I had the currency set to $US instead of $CDN.

[@johnlong2687]

@@uni-byte I'm in the USA.

[@uni-byte]

@@johnlong2687 Don't know what happened then. Sometimes I see an ad for like $3 then I click on it and it's actually a lot more, or they have a $3 item there that is not the item you were interested in. Having said that I usually don't buy of Ali unless they have one of their "buy 3 and save" promotions. You can get quite good bargains on those as well as upgraded an free shipping.

[@peatmoss4415]

You make it sound like you changed the accuracy of the meter when it worked exactly the same way before and after the mods which were not necessary at all. Okay, got it.

[@uni-byte]

LOL. Thanks for the comment.

[@CesarAnton]

awesome idea! Thank you!

[@uni-byte]

You're welcome.