I dont have a capacitor tester. (Well a very small one on my Digital meter) I want one that is good general use. Some seem to only go to 100 or 200 uF. I think you really need something that goes to maybe 4000uF. I looked at some electronics I have they have for example 2200uf. I want to spend less than 100 Canadian. I have seen a few Honeytek A6013L Capacitor Tester or Klein mm1000 which seem to fit the bill. Although some sites list the values differently. Any recommendations ?. I know if they are cheaper the quality is less but these seem to be decent for someone like me. testing a few things on broken routers and switches that may have bad Caps. I'm also confused, some reading tells me only to get ESR meters to test Caps. That an ordinary meter will not do the job properly. I'm confused why people don't use esr's if other meters dont work correctly. Is the ESR really needed for my needs, for example simple testing of a wide variety of Caps.
Capacitor Tester
Started by ●June 3, 2018
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 08:21:33 -0700 (PDT), stevwolf58@gmail.com wrote:>I dont have a capacitor tester. (Well a very small one on my Digital meter) >I want one that is good general use. >Some seem to only go to 100 or 200 uF. I think you really need something that goes to maybe 4000uF. I looked at some electronics I have they have for example 2200uf. >I want to spend less than 100 Canadian. > >I have seen a few Honeytek A6013L Capacitor Tester or Klein mm1000 which seem to fit the bill. Although some sites list the values differently. > >Any recommendations ?. I know if they are cheaper the quality is less but these seem to be decent for someone like me. testing a few things on broken routers and switches that may have bad Caps. > >I'm also confused, some reading tells me only to get ESR meters to test Caps. That an ordinary meter will not do the job properly. > >I'm confused why people don't use esr's if other meters dont work correctly. Is the ESR really needed for my needs, for example simple testing of a wide variety of Caps.If you have a 50 ohm function generator or a pulse generator and an oscilloscope or a DVM, you can measure capacitance and ESR and maybe ESL, with a little math. Cheap c-meters are often very wrong, and even pricey L meters are often wrong. This waveform shows capacitance, ESR, and ESL. https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk521zy53dn3s5h/Polymer_ESR.JPG?raw=1 It's a 50 ohm square wave driving a polymer aluminum cap. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc lunatic fringe electronics
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 08:21:33 -0700, stevwolf58 wrote:> I'm also confused, some reading tells me only to get ESR meters to test > Caps. That an ordinary meter will not do the job properly.That's correct. If whatever meter you have won't measure ESR, you're wasting your time. -- This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 09:06:41 -0700, John Larkin wrote:> This waveform shows capacitance, ESR, and ESL. > > https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk521zy53dn3s5h/Polymer_ESR.JPG?raw=1 > > It's a 50 ohm square wave driving a polymer aluminum cap.Have you gone back to Tek scopes or is this an old picture, John? -- This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
I dont think i will buy an scope as I would not know how to use it. I also think it falls outside my price range. Are there any inexpensive ESR units? Also why is it I see many electroic people on the net via utube for example with all sorts of testing equipment Scopes etc. yet they also seem to use Capacitor testers. When would they use them? Thanks.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 17:16:59 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom <curd@notformail.com> wrote:>On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 09:06:41 -0700, John Larkin wrote: > >> This waveform shows capacitance, ESR, and ESL. >> >> https://www.dropbox.com/s/qk521zy53dn3s5h/Polymer_ESR.JPG?raw=1 >> >> It's a 50 ohm square wave driving a polymer aluminum cap. > >Have you gone back to Tek scopes or is this an old picture, John?That's a year or so old, probably. My bench scope is now the 4-channel 500 MHz (upgraded) Rigol. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc lunatic fringe electronics
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sunday, June 3, 2018 at 8:21:37 AM UTC-7, stevw...@gmail.com wrote:> I'm also confused, some reading tells me only to get ESR meters to test Caps.One reason you seem to be confused is that you do not know why you want one. If you are trying to resurrect something built in the 21st century, an ESR meter is probably the best tool to find the bad electrolytics. If you have a box full of non-polarized capacitors, and you want to know how many farads in each one, you need something different and and ESR meter will be useless. If you care about leakage and breakdown voltage, you need something completely different. If you do not know the difference between polystyrene, mica, and tantalum, then get some more experience and knowledge about practical electronics before you try to measure C.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 10:38:19 -0700, stevwolf58 wrote:> I dont think i will buy an scope as I would not know how to use it. I > also think it falls outside my price range. > Are there any inexpensive ESR units? > > Also why is it I see many electroic people on the net via utube for > example with all sorts of testing equipment Scopes etc. yet they also > seem to use Capacitor testers. When would they use them?They're so much quicker and easier than rigging up a scope to do it. Here's the one I use, i know others here prefer other ones, but IMO this one's hard to beat: http://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/jz_esr70.html -- This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 11:06:16 -0700, John Larkin wrote:> That's a year or so old, probably. My bench scope is now the 4-channel > 500 MHz (upgraded) Rigol.Model number? -- This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via the Usenet protocol. Reproduction in whole or part through other protocols, whether for profit or not, is conditional upon a charge of GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.
Reply by ●June 3, 20182018-06-03
On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 18:58:12 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom <curd@notformail.com> wrote:>On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 11:06:16 -0700, John Larkin wrote: > >> That's a year or so old, probably. My bench scope is now the 4-channel >> 500 MHz (upgraded) Rigol. > >Model number?https://www.dropbox.com/s/hci7l2cy2rv0coc/DSC02062.JPG?raw=1 500 MHz is a software thing which you can usually get free if you buy the 350 Mhz (brain-damaged) version. -- John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc lunatic fringe electronics
