E-tracer Tube tester, Curve Tracer and more
Description
This is a new made digital tube tester by Chris Chang from Taiwan. This tester is a concept copy of Ronald Dekker's uTracer. A so called pulse tester, meaning it tests the tube with very short pulses. This keeps the power supply at much lower cost compared to full power testers, such as the Sofia, Roetest, and AT1000, and some others. So when a tube is tested at say 400V anode voltage, this is indeed present, but it is switched on only for 1/1000 of a second. The savings on the power supply will reflect of course on the price, the dimensions, and the complexity of the internals, which is all positive. The tester is purchased as a working Printed Circuit Board, and hardware along with it, but for the rest it is a kit. Optically it reminds me of the Sofia, with that difference that the Sofia is much larger size, inside and outside. Compare the two pictures, and you will see the deck of the e-tracer consist mainly of the tube sockets and banana plug, whereas with the Sofia this part looks the same, but fills only the middle part of the deck plate.
What is good about the E-tracer?
- This PCB itself is tested and assembled. .
- A good web page, you find it here.
- Support. His support is very good. Unlike what I get from Amplitrex (close to nothing. We bought three AT1000 testers, and support is a shame).
- Weight and size
- Tube Charts
- The voltage and current specifications: A stunning 750 Volt, 300mA. This is really very much for a standard version
What is not good about the E-tracer?
I think it has almost no negative points, The latest versions are really master pieces.
- It can not do auto bias testing, which is the only way to test data sheet conforming, and the only way to compare Gm vs. data sheet
- The tube curves looking a little bit like Excel. Though shape and information is the same.
- For the negative points in GENERAL, there are several, but this is related to the impulse testers as such, and not to this tester. Several of these points are very important. Read more about this.
Conclusion
- Please look here for a complete compare of this tester with the others.
- My advise is, to use an impulse type tube tester in combination with some classical tester, which can test under reasonable or full dissipation. Then it is a great combination. For instance Funke, Kalibr, Neuberger, etc. Like this you can do the really important testing under dissipation, and once the tube has PASSED, you may be interested in addition to have the curve charts in cold condition, and for what it's worth "cold condition" dynamic parameters derived from that.
- This product is designed with pride and very well done.