This post is part of my video blog: In The Lab With Jay Jay.

Silly Job Title: Grounding Genius

Old Book: Industrial Electronics Reference Book by Electronics Engineers of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation published 1948 with 680 pages.

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Today we teardown a homemade continuity tester which I put together for use before I had a multimeter, so that was in the early days of my new lab, circa August 2021.

While I was preparing the links for this blog post I discovered that the plastic case I used for the continuity tester was the HB5610 Black Hand-held Electronic Enclosure from Jaycar. I purchased one of these for AU$9.95 back in August 2021, which was around the time that I made this continuity tester.

I subsequently purchased a ten pack of similar plastic cases from AliExpress for AU$64.55 (inc shipping) in March 2022. I went to find the AliExpress listing so I could link you to it, but it’s an old listing and has been taken down. I did search for an equivalent product but didn’t find what I was looking for. The dimensions are roughly 70mm x 135mm x 24mm and there is a facility for 2x AA batteries built in.

The multimeters I use/mention in this video are:

• OWON XDM1041 Bench Multimeter (notes, AU$188.51, February 2022)
• ANENG AN-999S Bench Multimeter (notes, AU$157.04, February 2022)
• DigiTech QM1323 Multimeter (notes, AU$64.95)
• DT830B Digital Multimeter (notes, 5x AU$5.45, July 2023)

The multimeter I mention I want to get is this one: EEVblog 121GW Multimeter.

What I say in the video about active vs passive piezoelectric buzzers is correct. The active buzzer will do the buzzing for you, all you need to do is supply some power. The passive buzzer will need an input signal in addition to power, so some sort of oscillator if you want to generate a tone.

I knocked up a schematic for this continuity tester, something like this:

I’m gonna try getting some PCBs made for this circuit from PCBWay, because I’m still trying to learn everything I can about that process!

Here is a table of products I use which may appear in my video with affiliate links to vendors if you would like to buy. The link given here won’t necessarily have the best price so please do shop around to see if you can find a better deal. If you have thoughts or questions please feel free to let me know. Let’s go shopping!

Equipment	Affiliate Link	Notes
Rigol MSO5074 Mixed Signal Oscilloscope	MSO5074 70MHz 4 Channel MIXED SIGNAL OSCILLOSCOPES	notes
OWON XDM1041 Bench Multimeter	Owon XDM1041/XDM1241 Digital Multimeter 55000 Counts High Accuracy Desktop Multimeters AC/DC Tester True RMS USB Multimeter	notes
ANENG AN-999S Bench Multimeter	ANENG AN-999S Desktop Voice Multimeter Digital 19999 Counts Professional Bluetooth Tester True RMS AC/DC Voltmeter Current Tools	notes
DigiTech QM1323 Multimeter	DigiTech QM1323 Multimeter – Grey/Yellow	notes
DT830B Digital Multimeter	DT830B AC/DC LCD Digital Multimeter 750/1000V Voltmeter Ammeter Ohm Tester High Safety Handheld Meter Digital Multimeter	notes
Brother P-Touch D210 Label Maker	Brother P-Touch D210 Handheld Label Maker TZe 3.5mm 6mm 9mm 12mm with Free Tape	notes
‎OUSFANAM Capactior Discharge Pen	Portable Capacitor Discharge Pen Fast Discharging Tool Digital Sparkpen Discharger 1000V For Industrial Sparkpen Battery Capacitor Fast Discharge 1000V Repair Tool Discharger For Safety	notes
ALKOY Capactior Discharge Pen	1000V Portable Capacitor Discharge Pen High Voltage Quick Discharging Tool Constant Discharge Pen Electronic Repairs Discharge Pen ALKOY	notes
Kaisi Repair Mat	Kaisi Heat Insulation Silicone Repair Mat with Scale Ruler and Screw Position for Soldering Iron, Phone and Computer Repair Size:17.7 x 11.8 Inches	notes
MMOBIEL Helping Hands	LED Light Helping Hand Magnifier Station for Soldering, Assembly, Repair,Modeling, Hobbies and Crafts – 2.5X /4X LED Light – Hands-Free Magnifying Glass Stand – Incl. Clamp and Alligator Clips	notes
QWORK Helping Hands	QWORK Glass Stand	notes
Legion Tools Mini Screwdriver Set	Precision Mini Screwdriver Set 11pc Jeweller Laptop Phone Watch Repair Tool	notes
Sudake SDK07 test clips	10X Universal Chip clamp micro IC clamp SOP SOIC TSOP MSOP SSOP SMD IC Test Clip pin Socket Adpter Programmer for logic analyzer	notes
Sudake SDK08 test clips	10pcs x Universal Chip IC clamp SOP SOIC TSOP MSOP SSOP SMD IC Test Clip Socket Adpter Programmer for logic analyzer	notes
Victorinox Swiss Champ Red Swiss Army Knife	VICTORINOX SWISS CHAMP RED – SWISS ARMY POCKET KNIFE – LENGTH: 91 MM – 33 TOOLS	notes
Scotch Titanium Scissors	3M Scotch Precision Ultra Edge Titanium 8″ Scissors Stay Sharp Smooth Cutting	notes