In a recent YouTube video, Thomas Scherrer explores a vintage AIM LCR Databridge 401, a device used for measuring inductance, capacitance and resistance (LCR) in electrical circuits that was manufactured in 1983, revealing a large PCB with a vintage Z80 CPU and additional chips.
Scherrer notes that the unit autoranges and seems to lock up when the Bias button is used.
Inside the unit, a Z80 CPU is joined by other chips and a fast crystal that work together to feed into an analog-to-digital converter, meaning the CPU doesn’t do much of the actual measurement work.
ancient measurement equipment, like LCR meters and grid dip meters, has been replaced by more modern, and often cheaper, options.
LCR refers to inductance, capacitance and resistance, all of which are basic elements used in electrical circuits.
Scherrer suggests that a more thorough teardown would be interesting, as it wouldn’t be possible to tell just from the PCB what is going on.
