hFE/leek multimeter test?

[peps1]

Are there any multimeter that will test leakage as well as the hFE if a transistor?

[Scruffie]

I think the PEAK Analyzers can... but they're pretty pricey, that's all I know of that can and I don't think even those are 100% accurate.

[peps1]

looks like I may as well stick with my little R.G. Keen box then 

[Scruffie]

looks like I may as well stick with my little R.G. Keen box then 

Fraid so, but atleast it works well! Maybe if you bought a seperate multimeter for it and enclosed it all into a nice set up with transistor socket etc. it'd be a bit more user friendly to test multiple germaniums.

[IvIark]

The Peak is well recommended.  It also identifies pins of unknown transistors along with whether they're npn or pnp, measure base-emitter voltage drop, gate-source threshold voltage in mosfets, plus it will measure forward voltage in diodes and LEDs.  It can also detect shunt resistors and diode protectors in transistors.  It isn't exactly cheap but then it's not a fortune either and only the price of a Boss effect here in the UK, so worth considering.  

[R.G.]

It was once a requirement for every electronics repair shop (does anyone but me remember they even had those?  ) to have a Sencore Cricket or Super Cricket transistor tester. These were designed near the end of the germanium era, just before silicon make leakage a laughable memory. Unlike my quick and very dirty tester, these things *did* measure gain, leakage, and a host of other things, and were designed to do it well.

My fully working Super Cricket came from ebay, cost me $12.00 plus $8.00 to ship it. They are completely useless to modern electronics designers because silicon transistors are so uniformly and boringly high gain and low leakage. So...

[peps1]

It was once a requirement for every electronics repair shop (does anyone but me remember they even had those?  ) to have a Sencore Cricket or Super Cricket transistor tester. These were designed near the end of the germanium era, just before silicon make leakage a laughable memory. Unlike my quick and very dirty tester, these things *did* measure gain, leakage, and a host of other things, and were designed to do it well.

My fully working Super Cricket came from ebay, cost me $12.00 plus $8.00 to ship it. They are completely useless to modern electronics designers because silicon transistors are so uniformly and boringly high gain and low leakage. So...

electronics repair shop?? surly your making that up 

Thanks for the heads up on the Sencore Cricket/Super Cricket will keep an eye on ebay, but right now there are only two, and they are the wrong side of the pond for me here in the UK.

[peps1]

Would this device measure leakage on both transistors (germanium) and capacitors too !?! HERE!

[R.G.]

Would this device measure leakage on both transistors (germanium) and capacitors too !?!

It does swear that it measures leakage (that's "Iceo") up to 2000ua in 1uA resolution. So yes, technically, it would measure that range of leakage for either silicon or germanium. 1uA leakage is pretty useless for silicon, as these are usually in the 10-100nA range, but the 0-2000uA range is great for germanium, and germanium is what you really want to measure leakage for.

I do not see that it does both PNP and NPN, or both polarities of FETs, but I'd feel pretty sure it did.

Interesting toy.