LC Meter Hombrew

(Based on Phil Rice VK3BHR design)

Digital LC meter is a very useful test equipment for most hamswhether they
hombrew or service their equipments. Many times we have to wind coils to suit our
needs of HF tuned circuits, Filters etc. The Inductance vvalue in uH becomes heed
of the hour. We know that people used to make an oscillator with a known
capacitor and after reading the frequency, One used to reverse calculate the
unknown L value..
Now Digital type meters just read out after a calibration, the Values of L or C. The
PCB has in-built L _ C selection switch ( a simple push to lock dpdt swtch. This
could have been wired outside but the extended leads influence the measured
value.
Procedure for measuring:
Inductance: Let the L-C select switch be uppper (not pressed). Make a shoet loop
at the test pins. Press RESET for a moment. The meter goes into caibration and
getbeck the value, very close to ZERO (9.00uH). Now remove the short, place the
Incutance for measurent across the pins. The value can be read off.
Capacitance: Press the L_C select switch. pThen press the REST for a momeent.
Calibration now takes place and the reading would show 0.00pF. Immediately
connect the Capacitor to be tested in the test location. The value is read out.
Specification details are shown at the end of the writeup.
Construction.
Being a single sided pcb for ease of homebrew and economy, you might find some
short comings. A special procedure has been adopted to manage a 16 pin berg
connector for mounting and soldering on solder side. Place the 16 pin Male berg
with loner leads entering from component side. Press it across the table such that
the short side pins just go inupto the supporting plastic. Then, with a clean
soldering iron, solder the pins close to pcb on solder side. Please take care that
much lead is not desposied on the pinsthat prevents LCD display plugging. The
LCD display would obviously have a female berg stick.
Secondly the Tantalum 10uF capacitoprs are mounted on solder side using SMD
ones as they were available in plenty. Otherwise one could drill two holes at the
pads of each capacitor and place tantalum leaded capacitors from top. All other
assembly is normal and known to most of us. Few photos have been taken to
support the description.
The schematic, component overlay and PCB (green masked and with legend)
artwork as seen from top are appended. The meter used Micrchip PIC16F628A for
the management, and adopts 16*1 LCD display. The additional siwtches for
adjusting are not used here. Once could juast manage with one resistor from
ground on the related pin(s). These procedures are not used daily.
The PIC needs to be loaded with HEX file. It can be downloaded free from Phil
Rice‘s (Thanks Rice) site indicated below. The egenral description and working
specifications are at the second link.
https://sites.google.com/site/vk3bhr/home/index2-html/lc2a-hex

More details can also be had from

https://sites.google.com/site/vk3bhr/home/index2-html
The male berg management
List of Parts
Resistors (all ¼ watt)
1. R1, R4, R11 4K7
2. R2, R3, R9 100K 1% Given with PCB
3. R5 10K
4. R6 1K
5. R7, R8 56R
6. R10 47K
Capacitors
1. C1 Disc cap 0.1uF
2. C2, C3 Tantalu electrolytic smd 10uF (106) Given with PCB
3. C4 Electrolytic cap 22uF
 4. C5 Electrolytic cap 100uF
5. C6, C7 Disc capa 22p
6. C8, C9 BOX cap 1000pF 2% tolerance. (Blue or Yellow) Given with PCB
Diodes
1. D1, D2 1N4007
Crystal
1. Q1 4MHz
Ics
1. IC 1 PIC16F628A Optional with program for 16*1 LCD loaded. Supplied
Optional
2. IC 2 7805 OR 78l05 (mount with pins reverse)
3. Transistor 2N3904 ( if BC547 is used mount with pins reversed)
Dispay
1. 16 x 1 lce dotmatrix display - Can be bought from Cirkit electro components
, Mumbai. (If you want to use 16 x 2 , the hex file changes. See the link 2
indicated in description)

Miscellaneous
1. S1 DPDT pushto on Push to OFF PCB mount switch.
2. S2 rest toggle push button PCB mount.
3. K1 DPDT relay 12V working ( like DS2E)
4. J1 DC jack for 12V input.
5. TST1 and TST2 Two way scress type connector for test leads.
6. 16 pin straight male berg for pcb
7. 16 pin female berg for LCD
8. Solderwire and a small thin insulated wire for few jumpers.