Smart Tweezers ST5 User Manual

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TABLE OF CO

NTENTS

Notice

1

Warrant

y

1

Safety Precautions

2

Getting Starte

d

3

Overvie

w 3

Controls 6

P

ower O

n 7

M

enu Structures And Functions

9

Measurement Feature

s

20

Measuring Resistanc

e

20

Measuring Capacitance

20

Measuring Inductanc

e

21

Mainte

nanc

e

22

Labe

lling & Verification Requirement

s

23

Appen

dix A. Specifications

24

Appendix B. Default Settings

25

Appen

dix C. Accuracy Speci

ficatio

n

26

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NOTICE:To The besT of our knowledge This documenT is believed To be accuraTe.The manufacTurer reserves The righT T

o

change The informaTion and does noT a

ssume any responsibiliTy for omissions and/or errors found in This documenT.

WARRANTY: manufacTurer warranTs This pro

ducT To be free from defecTs in maTerials and workma

nship

for a period of

one

(1) year from The shipmenT daTe. manufacTurer warranTs The following iTems fo

r

nineTy

(90) days from The daTe

of shipmenT: rechargeable baTTeries, disks

and documenTaTion. during The
warranTy period, The manufacTurer will, aT iTs discreTion, eiTher repair or replace any producT ThaT proves
To be defecTive. To exercise This warranTy, wriTe or call your local disTribuTor. you will be given prompT
assisTance and reTurn insTrucTions. please send The producT wiTh shipping prepaid To The indicaTed servic

e

faciliTy. repairs will be made and The pro

ducT will be reTurned To you. repaired

or replaced pro

ducTs ar

e

warranTed for The balance of The original warranTy period,

or nineTy (90) days from The daTe of The repair.

This warranTy does noT cover The repair of any producT whose serial number has

been alTered, defaced o

r
removed. This warranTy does noT cover finishes (scraTches on surface or screen), normal wear and Tear, nor
does iT cover damage resulTing from misuse, dirT, liquids, proximiTy or exposure of heaT, accidenT, abuse, neglec

T,

misapplicaTion, operaTion ouTside of The environmenTal specificaT

ions, Tampering, unreasonable use, servic

e
performed or aTTempTed by unauThorized service cenTers,failure To provide reasonable and necessary mainTenance.

This warranTy does noT apply To defecTs resulTing from pro

ducT modificaTion wiThouT manufacTurer’s

express wriTTen consenT, or misuse

of any producT

or parT. This warranTy also

does noT apply

To sofTware, non-rechargeable baTTeries, damage from baTTery leakage,

and improper polariT

y
of The baTTeries

or problems arising from normal wear

or failure To

follow insTrucTions. Thi

s
warranTy

does noT cover lcd damage, physical damage To The Jog dial buTTon, slide swiTch a

nd

reseT swiTch; elecTrical

damage of The producT due To high volTage or improper baTTery Type.

The design and implemenTaTion of any circuiT based on This producT is The sole responsibiliTy of The cusTomer

.

manufacTurer does noT warranT any damage ThaT occurs as a resulT of The user’s circuiT or any defecTs Tha

T
resulT from user-supplied producTs. This warranTy does noT apply To repairs or replacemenTs necessiTaTe

d

by any cause

beyond The conTrol of facTory including, buT noT limiTed To, operaTion conTrary To furnished

insTrucTions, shipping accidenTs, modificaTion or repair by The user, neglecT, accidenTs or oTher acTs of god.

The foregoing is in lieu of all oTher expressed warranTies and The manufacTurer does noT a

ssume or auThoriz

e
any parTy To assume for iT any obligaTion or liabiliTy. The duraTion of any warranTies ThaT may be implied by law
(including The warranTies of merchanTabiliTy and fiTness) is limiTed To The Term of This warranTy. in no evenT
shall The manufacTurer be liable for special, incidenTal or consequenTial damages arising from ownership or
use of This producT, or for any delay in The performance of iTs obligaTions under This warranTy due To cause

s
beyond iTs conTrol. This warranTy is limiTed in duraTion To one (1) year from The daTe of original purchase.

This warranTy is in lieu

of all oTher warranTies, expressed or implied, including any implied warranTy of

merchanTabiliTy or fiTness

for a parTicular use. The remedies provided herein are buyer’s sole and exclusi

ve

remedies. neiTher manufacTurer, nor any of iTs employees shall be liable for any di

recT, indirecT, special, incidenTal

or consequenTial damages arising ouT of The use of iTs devices and sofTware even if manufacTurer has bee

n

advised in advance of The possibiliTy of such damages. such excluded damages shall include, buT are noT limiTed To

:

cosTs of removal and insTallaTion, losses susTained as The resulT of inJury To any person, or damage To properTy.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

The

following safety precautions should be observed prior to usin

g

this product and any a

ssociated accessories. Although devices and

accessories would normally be used with non-hazardous voltages

,

t

here are situations w

here hazardous

conditions may be present.

This product is intended for use by qualified perso

nnel wh

o

recognize shock

hazards and are fam

iliar with the safety precautions

required to avoid pos

sible injury. Read and follow all installation

,

op

eration, and maint

enance instructions carefully before g the

product. Refer to the m

anual for complete product specifications.

If the product is used in a manner not specified, the
protection

provided by the product may be impaired.

Inspect the Smart Tweezers case before using.
Do not use the device if it appears to be damaged.

• Do not use the device if

it operates abnormally.

• Do

not attempt to measure any components in

-

circuit when your circuit is alive or active.

To avoid poss

ible

damage to Smart Tweezers or to the

equipment under test, follow these guidelines:

• Disconnect circuit power supply and discharge all high-voltag

e

capacitors before testing resista

nce, i

nductance, or capacitance.

• Do not apply external

voltages of more than 1.6 V.

• Use proper terminals

and functions for your measurements.

• Only supplied charger (DC 5V) should be used to c

harge the battery.

SAFETY SYMBOLS AND TERMS

The WARNING

heading in this manual

indicates

dangers that might result in personal

injury or death.

Always

read the a

ssociated information very c

arefully

before performing the indicated proced

ure.

The CAUTION heading in the manual indicates

hazards that coul

d

damage the device. Such

damage may invalidate the w

arranty.

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GETTING STARTED

This section summarizes basic op

eration of Smart Tweezers.

In

the section:

O

VERVIEW : Overview of the device Controls – Describes controls

POWER-ON: Describes the p

ower-on

and p

ower-off sequ

enc

e,

the warm-up time, and default conditions.

DISPL

AY: Discusses the display format and messages that

HOW IT WORkS

ST evaluates impedance of a compo

nent by measuring the voltag

e

across the comp

onent and c

urrent through it. The complex ratio

of

voltage to c

urrent is equal to the

complex impedance. The uni

t’s

proce

ssor

calculates various p

arameters that

are displayed i.e. R, C or L.

RS

may appear while using the device.

MENU STRUCTURE: Covers

menu structure, syste

m

settings and f

eatures.

OVERVI

EW

Smart Tweezers (ST) is a portable impedance measuring
device. ST is capable of measuring resistance, capacitanc

e

or inductance over a

range of more t

han 8 orders of

DUT

AU

RI

AL

VOLTAGE

SIGNAL

TO ADC

VS

CURRENT

SIGNAL

TO ADC

magnitude. The device has a basic

accuracy better

than

0.2% (resistance) and operates at four test frequencies.
Smart Tweezers is controlled by a microcontroller that sets

measurement conditions, processes data and op

erates the displa

y

and user

interface. The device has a unique mechanical design

that

allows manipulation SMT compo

nents with size down to

0201.

In

actual use

Smart Tweezers provides more accurate results than

most of the

benchtop LCR meters due to small and very predictabl

e

p

arasitics of its

probes. Probability of meas

urement errors

a

ssociated with setup

(wires, tips, probes and etc.) is minimal.

Voltage across the component is generated by

the test signal source
Vs. Both the amplitude and frequency of Vs can be set. The voltage
is

applied to the device under test

(DUT)

through the sourc

e

resistance

Rs. Current

flows to the virtual

ground of

the curren

t

amplifier

AI, and through the current conversion resistor Ri. The

output of AI

provides a

signal pr

oportional to the current, I*Ri.

Voltage across the

DUT is meas

ured by a separate signal

path

(amp

lifier

AU), thus

providing a

pseudo 4-wire Ke

lvin co

nnection.

Voltage and

current signals

are processed by

the A/D converter.
Obtained values are then corrected using calibration factors,
converted to impedance and sent to the display.

T

here are four selectable frequencies: 100

Hz, 120

Hz,

1.0kHz and 10kHz. The output frequency is accurate

to
50 ppm (0.005%). Frequencies are set in the menu or by
moving

the Navigation Controller to the RIGHT.

T

here are three output voltage levels that can

be

selected: 0.25 Vrms,

0.5 Vrms and 1.0 Vrms. The

accuracy of the out put voltage levels is 2 %.

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The

output voltage is applied to the device under

test
through the source impedance. The voltage across
the

device is always less

than or equal to

the

output

voltage. Source impedance values are

62.5Ω

(R1), 1kΩ

(R2)

and 16

kΩ (R3).

The source impedance is selected as a

function of the measurement

range. For most

devices, including resist

ors,

most

capacitors and many
inductors, the 1.0 Vrms setting provide best result.

For some inductor

s

and active devices, the 0.25 or 0.5 Vrms

setting should be used.

Certain devices require a specific test voltage, such
as

Z5U

ceramic capacitors (test voltage =

0.5 Vr

ms

for 25V

parts and 1.0V for < 16V parts).

Note: Use the largest voltage

possible for the best SNR and acc

uracy

.

The

ST5

provides three measurement

ranges (R1-R3). Each of

the

three ranges

has the source impedance of approximately

the

mid-scale impedance. The table below specifies

the

impedance ranges for each of the measurement

ranges.

Range

Source R dUT Impedance

1 62.5

Ω

< 400

Ω

2

1 k

Ω

400

Ω

< < 4 k

Ω

3

16 k

Ω

> 4 k

Ω

Note: Meas

urement

ranges determine an impedance

range (not

a value

range), so the ranges for inductance and capacitanc

e
depend upon the test frequency. In addition, the impedance
for capacitors is inversely pr

oportional to its

capacitance,

so

larger capacitors are measured in lower impedance

ranges.

During normal op

erations

the unit automatically changes to

the

optimal range for the

DUT. There is a

built-in hyst

eresis

allowing

to

avoid repeated range changes when a

component is near a range

boundary. The auto-ranging function can be disabled by user.
Range

holding is helpful if a number of

parts with similar values are

being measured or a

specific

measurement condition required.

CONTROLS

The Navigation Controller

The controller is used to select a function or to

change

a
setting of Smart Tweezers. The controller can be moved
(rocked) in 4 directions (UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT). Selection
is

performed by pressing along the vertical axis (PRESS).

Quick Controls

The Quick Controls allow changing test parameters or

modes

without entering the general menu by

moving the Navigati

on

Controller UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT as shown below.

Note: To avoid

errors do
not use the Quick Controls
during compo

nen

t
measurement. The
Navigation Controller
response time

depends

on

the current test frequency.

The

following table summarizes functions of

the Navigation Controller moves:

UP

–

change test signal levels

DOWN

–

change test ranges

LEFT

– changemeasurementmodes

R

IGHT – change test freq

uencies

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POWER ON

POWER-ON - To turn the

Smart Tweezers O

N,

press the

Navigation Controller.

Note: Once

powered on, the unit will perfor

m

the last selected function.

POWER-OFF - ST

powers off automatically if neit

her

a

measurement is performed

nor the navigation controller i

s

operated for approximately 30 seconds (default value).
The power off timeout value can be set by c

hanging

the

TIMEOUT

setting in the SYSTEM m

enu.

The default power-off timeout is 30 seconds in

a

meas

urement

mode and 30 seconds in the MENU mode.

Note: Automatic power-off does not occur if test

freq

uency is manually set to 10kHz.

dISPL

AY

The sc

reen is

divided in four areas:

• Primary Display

• Secondary Display

• Test Parameters

• Device Status with Test Mode Indicator

PRIMARY DISPLAY: The Primary Display is

located in the middl

e

of the screen and uses the largest font. It

shows the dominan

t

impedance p

arameter reading typically with 5

digits displayed.

SECONDARY

DISPLAY: The Secondary Display is located just above the

Primary Display. It

shows the minor impedance parameter reading.

TEST

PARAMETERS: The Test Parameters

area is at the top of the

screen and provides information a

bout current test c

onditions

such as Test Frequency, Range, Test Signal level, Test Model.

DEVIC

E STATUS: The Device Status area is at the bottom of

the

screen and

provides information about the current Test Mode

and settings of the device: Hold, Audio and Battery Status.

TEST MOD

E INDICATOR: The Test Mode Indicator sign

is located immediately to the left of the Primary Display.
Symbols A, R, L, C, |Z|, ESR and Diode indicate Auto

,

Resista

nce, Inductance, Capacitance, Impedance

and ESR

measurement and Diode Test

mode respectively.

DISPLAYED PARAMETERS

The measurement

mode setting (R, L+R,

C+R, C+D, L+Q,
|Z|, ESR and AUTO) determines the measurement
type and the displayed

parameters

R MODE: Resistance is shown on the Primary The resistance

displayed is eit

her the equivalent series or parallel resistance

of the DUT. Resistance units

are mΩ,

Ω, kΩ, or

MΩ.

L+R MODE:

Inductance is shown on the Primary Display and the series

resistance on the

Secondary Display. The units of inductance

are µH,

mH or H. Resistance is the

real part of the impedance. Resistance units

are mΩ or

Ω. Serial equivalent

circuit is used in this

mode.

L+Q MODE: Inductance is shown on the Primary Display

and the quality factor Q on the

Secondary Display.
Inductance
units

are µH, mH or H. Q is the ratio of the imagi

nary part of

the

impedance to the real part of the impedance. Q is dimensionle

ss

and the same for both series and p

arallel representations.

A

g

ood inductance has a large L and a small R and thus a high Q..

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