Atlas LCR analyser endorsed

I recently received my "Atlas LCR Passive Component Analyser" as a prize for my Circuit Notebook contribution in the November 2003 issue. I have to say thank you for such a fine instrument. I have never had such an accurate professional piece of test gear with such a simple interface. I will be putting it to good use in my future circuit designs.

Just a comment though about the initial review in the August 2003 issue of SILICON CHIP. On page 17 you specified a capacitance range of 0.4pF to 10µF. This is not correct; it is in fact 0.4pF to 10,000µF (I thought it was good with the 10µF rating, so imagine my surprise).

When measuring large capacitors, anything above 1000µF gets displayed in mF which stands for milli-farad not microfarad as in the past (Mfd). It will measure below 1 as well but still has 0.1 resolution.

Uninterruptible power supplies can be lethal

I recently found my young nephew proposing to add an external battery to his UPS unit to increase the time he had to shut down during a power failure. Closer investigation showed this UPS to be a transformerless design and the battery pack was at 240VAC power mains potential!

To add an external battery to such a unit would create a serious hazard where least expected, right on a computer desk. I believe that such units should carry more than the usual "No serviceable user parts inside" warning.