Lubricheck experiences?

[Apollo14]

I saw a couple of threads where people had purchased the Lubricheck or it's predecessor.

For those who don't know, these are the devices that let you check your TBN at home.

What are people's experiences with them?

Out of everything measured in a UOA, I am primarily interested in the TBN to help optimize my change intervals.

If it works well, then it would be useful for decades to come.

 

[Ducked]

No experience, but I read up a bit about it.

It doesn't "let you check your TBN at home."

IIRC, and as far as I could tell, it seems to measure the dielectric constant and the conductivity, and do "sums" to give an indication of oil condition.

However, it doesn't actually give you any direct measurements of conductivity or dielectric constant, and they don't tell you what algorithm they use to calculate the oil condition.

That doesn't mean their oil-condition indicator isn't valid, just that it doesn't have any known units.

 

[acbent]

I know this is a very old thread, but I just got a Lubricheck so thought I'd post. I've also read a number of posts here and about everything else I can find on the internet.

I created an excel spreadsheet to record my data. I extracted about 2 cc of used SuperTech Full Synthetic 5W30 from my van (2011 Kia Sedona 3.5L V6, 158000 km) with thin tubing marked with tape at the same length as my dipstick and used a small clean squeeze bottle to store and dispense the oil. The oil has 5150 km on it, so I suspected that there was likely a great deal of life left in it.

I did 10 consecutive tests on the oil, making sure the oil and Lubricheck were the same temperature. The data points were:
5, 5, 5, 4, 5, 3, 5, 4, 4, 4 for an average of 4.4. on the 1 - 10 LED scale. 1 -7 represent "excellent" to "good", 8 - 9 "fair" and 10 "change or "check engine". I was hoping for more consistency.

So, in my quest for more consistency, I decided to clean the sensor more thoroughly. My new procedure is to blot up the oil with a microfiber cloth, then spin soft toilet tissue around in the sensor, pressing firmly down. I then use 70% isopropyl alcohol on a Q-Tip, wiping it around, careful to get all into the sensor's edge around the circumference. Then I dry again with toilet tissue. I repeat the alcohol and TP cleaning two more times. I let it sit for a few minutes to be sure the alcohol is evaporated. I turn on the device so it self "calibrates", put 6 drops of oil in - to the fill line, give the oil a gentle stir.

With this new cleaning process, I repeated the test 4 times in a row and got a reading of "3" for all tests. I then cleaned it and preformed the test on a new sample of the SuperTech full Synthetic 5W30 and got 3 consecutive readings of 1. I then repeated the test 4 times on the used oil and got a reading of 3 for all tests.

Although I cannot say for certain that a degree of luck did not result in completely consistent readings, I now know how important it is to have the sensor absolutely spotless.

Based upon my readings of 3, I plan to extend my drain and recheck ~ every 1000 km to see what the Lubricheck has to say. I usually do about an 8000 km OCI. I happen to have a case of 12 filters I bought on Ebay for $50.00 and about 24 L of Castrol GTX I got on clearance at Costco Canada for $2.65 (CAD)/liter, one 5 qt jug of SuperTech Full Syn 5W20, one 5 qt jug SuoerTech Full Syn 5W30 and 1 L of Pennzoil Ultra 0W40 in my stash. Considering this, I'll likely run my oil out to about a 6 - 7 on the Lubricheck scale before doing a change. With all that oil around, I'll be itching to change probably around the 8000 km mark, but I will consider what the Lubricheck has to say. I'd didn't buy it necessarily with extended OCIs in mind, but more to get a sense of the condition of the oil.

The Motomaster oil I just used as another control. It also obtained a reading of "1" as an unused oil.

 

[acbent]

I timed out on edits.

So, I was going to say that I understand that my processes, observations etc are not really based in science or necessarily conducted in a valid scientific manner. I'm interested in the opinions of others more knowledgeable here and would enjoy hearing others' opinions about both the device itself and/or my planned use of the unit.

Although a few items I read on the internet indicated that the LubriCheck did not measure viscosity, I did find an article abstract that states: "The dielectric properties of lubricating oil are reasonably well correlated with viscosity, and it is proposed that this could form the basis of a useful sensing technique"

The article, which must be purchased might be of interest to those more technically-minded here.
Electrical Techniques....