LCR Meter

About LCR Meter Android App

Using the LCR Meter Application and self-made measuring cable you can turn your Android 6.0 and higher into a professional multi-frequency meter of resistors, inductors, capacitors, and generally any complex impedances. The measurement frequency can vary from 50 Hz to 20 kHz, the level of the measuring signal from 10 mV to 1 V. The resistors can be measured from 0.1 Ω to 10 MΩ, capacitors from 1 pF to 10,000 μF, inductances from 1 μH to 100 H.

The table shows the results of real measurements from a specially manufactured measuring stand. The measurements were performed using the LCR Meter app and the Samsung Galaxy S5 Android 6.0 device. Only starting with the version of Android 6.0, the sampling frequency of 192 kHz is used, which ensures high accuracy of measurements.

For comparison, measurements are made using the professional LCR meter Motech 4080A. The cost of such a device is about $1000.

The measuring cable is inserted into the headset.

For a self-made measuring cable you will need: 4-pin Audio Jack 3.5 mm connector, a few elementary radio components, 4 colored wires (red, green, blue and yellow), two pieces of heat-shrinkable tubing 3 and 6 mm (in extreme cases, you can use insulating tape) and a soldering iron. All this you can buy at the nearest radio parts store. The cost of all components is less than $2. The most expensive component is the connector. Do not save on the connector - its reliability depends on the stability of the work, it is recommended to choose a connector with gold-plated electrodes. Note that you need a connector with 4 contacts. You can make a cable in 15 minutes - and start measuring immediately. The cable is universal for any Android device. The electrical circuit of the cable is contained in the app itself.

To connect to the measured element, you can use electrodes or clamps. Wires should not be made too long - their resistance, capacitance and inductance will affect the measurement. Before soldering, carefully study the electrical circuit of measurement cable.

The measurements are recorded manually or automatically when new components are connected. At low inductance values, it is necessary to increase the frequency, for large capacitance values on the contrary, lower. In the (AUTO) mode, the frequency will be selected automatically. In the (SCAN) mode, all frequencies will be selected sequentially.

To further improve the accuracy of measurements, use the calibration in modes short circuit (SHORT), idle (OPEN) or scaling factor (SCALE).
It is necessary to close the electrodes, open, or connect with 1 kΩ resistor.

The measurement is illustrated by an animation diagram in the complex plane. You can clearly see the principle of the application.

You can edit the measurement, save it to a SD memory card, load or delete it.

In Demo version, you can measure the impedance from 100Ω to 10 kΩ. In all other respects there is no difference between LCR Meter Demo and LCR Meter.

In Pro version, you can output any measurements on the Nyquist and Bode diagrams.

Good luck!

Sincerely, Vladimir Yukhlin.