- LCR-P1 Transistor Tester, LCR Meter, Capacitor Tester, Auto Test

Review for FNIRSI LCR-P1 transistor tester. I used two methods to verify the accuracy of this tester. First, by comparing the readings against my multi-meter, and second, by testing known value parts and comparing the readings. First test was with an ancient Germanium transistor. The tester identified the lead pin out, the polarity as PNP, the Vbe (base to emitter voltage) and hFE (current gain). The hFE was close to what the multi-meter read. As another test tried rotating the transistor one half turn and reinserting into the socket and it still identified the leads correctly. Next, resistor function was checked. Again, the readings were very close to what my Multi-meter read. Then Capacitance function was checked. The tester will read value and ESR (Equivalent series resistance). The values matched the multi-meter with some exceptions. It read a 2000 Pf mica capacitor as 1nF (1000 pf) that is a 50% error. Yet the Multi-meter read the correct value. Next inductance was checked. It will show the value and DC resistance of the inductor. In this case I was only able to verify the DC resistance against the multi-meter. Also tested the zener diode function. The zener voltage shown was very close to the rated value of the part. Finally, used tester to read the codes of various infrared remote controls. It could not read all remotes, not sure why. This tester does have a few quirks. When you first press the test button to wake up the unit it will show "unknown/No component/Or damaged" just press the button again and the test will proceed normally. Also the value sometimes shows as only one significant digit (1 nf) not high accuracy. One more note and this is not mentioned in the manual when charging the battery, the LED indicator will change from red to green when the battery is fully charged. To sum up, this is a well designed tester which combines several devices into one unit. The instruction manual is clear and well written. The only drawback is there is no USB power module included, but if you are like me you already have several of these lying around.

This little tester is very useful if you work with electronics or like repairing small boards. I used it to check components like capacitors and transistors, and it helped identify them quickly without having to guess. The screen is easy to read, and the tool is small enough to keep on the bench or carry with other tools. It is especially handy when you have loose components and need to confirm what they are before using them.

This component is good for identifying components and 'estimating' the parameters for the components. However, please do not rely on this too much because sometimes, it's misleading. However, in short, it's a good device for getting some idea of your component, so I recommend this. Caution is like this. For LCR measurements, the values and parameters deviate sometimes significantly from the actual values from an LCR meter. For transistor measurements, sometimes it confuses the pin out of BJTs. For both of forward and reverse direction of a PNP transistor, it said that both were 'EBC', which was impossible. However, finding the base pin could be easily done by this. However, the zener function is really convenient. I can recommend this only because of that function.

Overall, I'm happy with the FNIRSI LCR-P1. It's a handy, compact tester that's easy to use and works well for identifying and testing most common electronic components like transistors, MOSFETs, capacitors, and resistors. The display is clear, and it has saved me a lot of time during troubleshooting and repairs. The only issue I've run into is with Zener diodes. Even when I selected Zener mode, the tester had trouble correctly identifying the component and didn't consistently detect it as a Zener diode. I verified the diodes separately, so this appears to be a limitation of the tester rather than the components themselves. Aside from that, it performs well and offers a lot of functionality for the price. If FNIRSI improves the Zener diode detection in a future firmware update, this would easily be a 5-star product.

Update to original Review ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I updated my review to 5 stars for the simple reason the support folk responded swiftly (within 36 hours) to my issue of a broken black lead and have shipped me a new set of leads to rectify the situation even though I clarified I only needed a replacement black lead. That's the kind of after sale service we all yearn for, a seller/manufacturer that cares about its customers. They say it may take 10 days for the leads to get here but they've given me a shipping tracking number and I'm perfectly ok with waiting. Thanks guys for caring. The meter continues to provide impressive results on analyzing and calculating the values of components I've tried. I realize some reviewers have noted issues but again, in cases where I can determine the part number of transistors etc, I've not had any issues testing the ones I have confirming them against the manufacturers specs. For the price, even though this unit seems very light weight and perhaps feels a little flimsy due to its tiny size, I'm impressed and will continue to add my recommendation, more so now I've received excellent after sales service to rectify a lead problem. At some stage I hope to find a small hard shell case I can keep it in but for now, I've retained the box it came in as it affords protection for the ZIF lever which protrudes out the side. Not a big issue. Original Review ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To be upfront, I've emailed the support folks regarding this. If they respond and deal with the issue I'll gladly change the review but for now... Received the unit today. Here's the initial review. The unit is much smaller than I had expected. It works great!!!... but it is tiny. I tested transistors, mosfets. caps (various types), resistors, even tested the IR detector. IR detector worked just fine. It appears to give different codes for different buttons so I have no reason to disagree with the results. Capacitors tested were all correct results. Only thing I noticed is that the cap rating was within 2-3% of the caps rating. Some were spot on. None the less, I would say all caps tested were correctly identified. MOSFETs tested were all correct results. After reading reviews I decided not to just plug them in but checked online for the pinouts and use the leads. This is where I encountered a problem... The supplied black lead arrived broken! More on this later. I temporarily rigged up a lead from some other test leads I had. It correctly identified the MOSFETs I tested. Transistors. Same as MOSFETs, they all tested with correctly identified results per spec sheets I found online Resistors all tested correctly with the correct ratings. The screen display, while small, is very legible. I had no issues reading results and the color screen is actually very nice and clearly labels the pins on the connector. Very nice!!!! I did remove the ZIF and install the surface mount just to see it fitted okay. Not sure I'll use that part but wanted to see it fitted. The ZIF attached to the circuit board feels a little a little fragile but as I said, I will use this almost exclusively so I currently see no reason to remove/replace it with any frequency. So I'm totally happy with this setup for my situation. I did charge the unit using a standard 5v 2aH USB-C charger and cable. Charged fully within 45 minutes. No issues there either. So I have to say, very impressed. Everything tested thus far was correctly identified per the ratings either on the component or on the spec sheets. The black test lead arrived "broken". The test leads are not a great quality but none the less, one is broken. I've emailed support to see if they are going to replace the lead. If not I will return and request a replacement of the order from Amazon. If they replace the lead, I'll gladly change the rating to 5 stars because functionally I was very impressed with the unit. Now a minor quirk... Do NOT throw away the box... unfortunately, the unit is tiny and looks/feels fragile. Also with the ZIF connector, the lever sticks out the side so actually it's best kept in the box to keep it safe. I have no problem with that but the box tore very easy while trying to open so I ended up using some clear packing tape to strengthen it and hold it together. Still, this is a minor quirk and has nothing to do with the units functionality. So depending on whether the support folks are going to replace the broken test lead or I have to return it to get one that isn't broken, time will tell. I'll give them a week or so to respond and if nothing heard, back it goes for replacement. Yes, I would replace it because functionally, this does everything I had hoped it would do. If you do buy one, check the leads and meter functionality soon as you get it. If you're expecting it to give 100% ratings, you might be a little disappointed but as everything I tested came in 2-3% with some being spot on, it would be sensible to also note that the variance could be the components tested themselves. The electrolytic caps were new and some were used, the MOSFETs, other caps, resistors etc were all used (taken off dead circuit boards). I was testing things to see that they they came within an acceptable range of the rating and in my case, they did.

UPDATE: Firmware fixes Pin Out error: There is Firmware update available that appears to fix the wrong pin out display of Transistors. Doing the update is not a walk in the park, the hold up for me was the version of .NET included with the Firmware update, it would not install. I downloaded a version of the SAME .NET version directly from Microsoft, installed that, then was able to update the firmware using the included BOOTTOOL.EXE. Anyway, FNIRSI must have seen my negative review prior to this update, because they sent me a full refund. So even though the tester didn't work at first, now it seems to work fine. It was a hassle, but FNIRSI was awesome at refunding my purchase. I would have preferred them getting it right before releasing, but they acknowledged their mistake, compensated me, AND fixed the problem. How many companies do that today? FNIRSI has me as a loyal customer now. Thank you FNIRSI!! Like most of the other 1 star reviews, I noted that the pin-out on transistors is not accurate. This has been reported for a long time so I'm guessing that it's not a software bug but more likely a limitation of the hardware, otherwise they would have fixed it by now. I just checked their website and my unit has the latest firmware version. Identifying the correct pinout would be super helpful when working on vintage stereo equipment, but this doesn't work. It does show the pin-out, but it's often wrong. I could overlook this if it weren't advertised as a feature. I guess they don't say whether it's accurate or not.

This review is for software version 1.0.8 of this item purchased 12/25. Manual says new updates may be downloaded when available. A product with many issues should have never been shipped. I thought this was a new product just out with missed bugs, but it has been produced for two years. After some research, this SW version has been out for a year. I have used one of those $10 boards for years and never found a real issue with it. In a recent move it got lost and needed to be replaced. I was looking for one with a real case and rechargeable battery. I found the ability to decode a remote to be a handy feature which induced me to buy this. The following are some of the usability issues with this model. Having to press the test button twice is really annoying. It always comes up with unknown part first being displayed. The screen font is too small. There is no reason for this. I don't normally wear glasses and I often document the screen by taking a picture. Screen print is too small to take a picture. This is a total lack of consideration for those who use this. I feel like this is a step backwards from what I used before. Resistance is only three digits and is almost off by 2%. Cheap meters can get to better than 0.5%. If those extra digits aren't exactly real, they can still be used to compare like components. All functions seem to give less data. The major issue is that pin identification can not be trusted at all. This is one of my major uses, identifying the pinout of of an unknown transistor. For example: NPN transistor with EBC configuration flat face to you reads incorrectly backwards CBE. Rotate that NPN 180 degrees and it does read correctly. This changes between NPN, PNP, and other lead configurations. I discovered this in less than 15 minutes of working with this. You can't tell me they made any serious attempt to test this software. Who knows what other problems exist. I lie the new transistor they invented with emitter as the center pin. You don't need to see more. All pictures have flat face of transistor facing up. This is a company that is driven by marketing and not engineering. I have several of their products and they always ship with issues. I always have to load in new software the day I receive the item. The philosophy is ship it, we'll fix the problems later. This was a waste of money. If you feel you must have this item, please wait six months for them to fix it.

I’ve been using the FNIRSI LCR-P1 for a while now and overall, it works well for quickly testing components like transistors, MOSFETs, capacitors, and more. It comes with test clips and an accessory for checking SMD components, which is really convenient for surface-mount work. The interface is simple, and the display is bright and easy to read. The internal battery is another plus it holds a charge well and lasts long enough for extended testing sessions without needing frequent recharging. Compared to other testers I’ve used, this one offers very good accuracy when measuring component values. It’s surprisingly precise for the price and gives consistent readings. However, even after updating to the latest firmware, it still has the same issue: no matter how I insert the electronic part, it doesn’t detect any change in polarity. This can be frustrating when testing diodes or polarized capacitors. Despite that, it’s a solid little tool for quick diagnostics and component ID. For the price, it's a great value and a handy addition to any electronics workbench just keep in mind the polarity limitation.

Perfect device very very good

Facilidad/Versatilidad de uso para los entusiastas a la electrónica

Nice tool works well, quality item nice finish and rechargeable, also flying in Leeds and little PCB thank you very much

This thing works great multi use great for checking all kinds of electrical components easy to understand. Easy to use.

Un prodotto da avere in laboratorio…