Originally posted in January, 2022
The BK Precision 879B is a good quality, dual display 40,000 count LCR (inductance, capacitance, resistance) meter with 0.1% basic accuracy. It was first manufactured in 2010 and is still available (2021) for around $420 Cdn. I purchased mine several years ago and find it very convenient and easy to use.
Things I like about the 879B:
Open/short calibration completes very quickly as opposed to the DE 5000
Decent quality Kelvin clips and smd tweezers
40,000 counts for extra accuracy
Very good accuracy when compared to my HP4263A
Long battery life
Easy to use menu system and quick setup
A common problem with these units is the lack of robust input protection. What this means is that if you forget to discharge a sufficiently large capacitor and attempt to test it, you will damage the front end of the meter which will then refuse to function and display an error: ERR02. There is a good description of this problem and solution on the EEVBLOG Forum.
Of course, in a moment of distraction I managed to damage the input by doing just that and encountered the ERR02 code. The following components needed to be replaced in order to repair the meter:
- F200, 04661.25NRHF (Input Fuse smd)
- U603, TPS60400DBVR (negative switching voltage regulator)
Replacing these two components cleared the error and the meter was repaired. I decided to measure several of my standard capacitors as a check.
Having completed the repair, I will be much more conscious about discharging capacitors prior to testing them.