P.S: For people that don't know, (which I now realize are a lot) an LCR meter is an electronical multimeter that can measure Capacitance (C) and Inductance (H) and their equivalent series resistances (ESR). Commercial meters can probably with many other things along with these. I'll be going into detail about it all later.

The motivation

I do not have an LCR meter at home. All I have is this basic meter that can measure the usual stuff (DC/AC voltage, continuity, resistance and current). They were even bothersome enough to include in a diode tester and an NCV (beeps when close to an electric field like wires). Why even? Because I got this machine for a whopping 600 Liras (~12 USD) from a local shop.

I was originally going to get a more sophisticated meter -- there was indeed a 3000 Lira (~75 USD) one advertised on the counter just outside the shop in Ulus I had entered to get myself a measuring device. It was expensive, but all of the content creators I watched recommended it as a must-have, so I digressed. I told the guy that I wanted the LCR meter. He promptly responded with

"[...] Those are out of stock. Most people don't get them anyway. [...]"

That did surprise me at first, but then I came to my senses. Most people tinkering with electronics don't need a very high technology meter that can test the most components. They need something simple and basic that can tell them what voltage is across a component, shout if something's shorted and state the resistance of a resistor without having to bother with the color strips.

I am one of those people. I got the basic meter as I stated before.

So, then why am I hyperfixating on an LCR meter right now? Because I know that I don't need it now.

Reason 1

An LCR meter is genuinely really useful at times. You may want to test out whether a capacitor still functional or a brand new one actually has the advertised capacitance. If you have custom wound or unlabeled inductors, a meter works wonders.

Reason 2

Reason one is an excuse for reason two. I did some preliminary research (that involves more than querying LLMs in fact) into how these things work, and the best way I can describe them is with a paradoxical contrast: basic and really, really complicated.

The theory in spirit is quite straightforward, measuring impedance. These machines however involve and thus require a good grasp of:

• Voltage references and dividers
• AC and complex impedance
• Analog signal processing Digital signal processing
• Signal amplification (OpAmps)
• Microcontroller timers, ADCs and interrupts

For someone who is actually competent in electronics or whatever, these are probably simple concepts. But I know very little about electronics. However I am a software guy, and the processing angle really excites me here. I am someone that can pretty much only fully learn concepts by doing. I get "forced" into learning something that otherwise I could have never bothered with. This project involves enough difficulty that I will definitely struggle and be upset every now and then, but also some areas I can be relatively comfortable in like raw number crunching. There probably are a bunch of unforeseen problems I will have to deal with due to my lack of expertise, but I believe that this is pretty much the perfect project for me to tackle with.

If you're in the same camp as me, that is, someone who is relatively experienced with software engineering, data science and systems design but is just getting into electronics, this is a good project to deal with.

I'll be continuing this series as both a documentation of my journey and sort of a tutorial, giving detailed instructions into what exactly I am doing and also the theory behind it, because I learn best by teaching (even if I end up being dead wrong). Do take my takes on the theory with a grain of salt because I am possibly the worst person to be talking about it.