BK Precision 879B LCR Meter Repair
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 done the repair, I will be much more conscious about discharging capacitors prior to testing them.
Thanks for reading.