Capacitor Tester

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.

 

[John Larkin]

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

 

[Cursitor Doom]

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.



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[Cursitor Doom]

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?





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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.

 

[John Larkin]

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

 

[jfeng@my-deja.com]

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.

 

[Cursitor Doom]

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





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[Cursitor Doom]

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?





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[John Larkin]

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

 

This may be the right thing for my simple electronics repairs. Thanks.

Normally I just guess and replace Capacitors. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. I'm just hoping to save myself a little time and maybe money. It's frustrating destroying the environment because a few Capacitors went bad by throwing out tons of perfectly good electronics .

It's a hobby not my life long profession, although I Know there are some serious hobbyists out there. I know many it seems either work for companies or are former employees of electronics firms.
I'm just a shmuck fixing stuff.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Phil Allison]

stevw

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.

** For *electro* caps, you need an ESR meter to determine if they are OK.

Like this one.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-ESR-Tester-Fully-Assembled/dp/B00O0BMIYQ

Google "Bob Parker" ESR meter for info.

..... Phil

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 14:21:53 -0700, John Larkin wrote:

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.

Thanks, that's what I suspected.





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protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 18:57:21 -0000 (UTC), Cursitor Doom
<curd@notformail.com> wrote:

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

It's a nuisance to desolder caps to test them, especially
surface-mount parts. It's easier to scope the circuit and look for
symptoms of a bad part.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

[Phil Allison]

John Larkin 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


It's a nuisance to desolder caps to test them, especially
surface-mount parts.

** There is NO need to do that for ESR testing of electros !!!.

ESR meters use low currents and high frequencies ( 100kHz typ ) to asses the impedance near the component's series resonance.

Electro failure is indicted by an unusually high reading, compared to similar parts.

It's easier to scope the circuit and look for
symptoms of a bad part.

** Not for ESR it isn't.


.... Phil

 

[John Larkin]

On Sun, 3 Jun 2018 16:55:23 -0700 (PDT), Phil Allison
<pallison49@gmail.com> wrote:

John Larkin 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


It's a nuisance to desolder caps to test them, especially
surface-mount parts.



** There is NO need to do that for ESR testing of electros !!!.

ESR meters use low currents and high frequencies ( 100kHz typ ) to asses the impedance near the component's series resonance.

Electro failure is indicted by an unusually high reading, compared to similar parts.


It's easier to scope the circuit and look for
symptoms of a bad part.


** Not for ESR it isn't.

For a power supply filter, just scope the ripple. If there's too much
ripple, the cap is bad; too little C or too much ESR, still bad.

You can learn a lot by probing and thinking. Provided you understand
the circuit.

I tell my kids: Measure and think; don't solder.


--

John Larkin Highland Technology, Inc

lunatic fringe electronics

 

[Phil Hobbs]

On 06/03/2018 07:55 PM, Phil Allison wrote:

John Larkin 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


It's a nuisance to desolder caps to test them, especially
surface-mount parts.



** There is NO need to do that for ESR testing of electros !!!.

ESR meters use low currents and high frequencies ( 100kHz typ ) to asses the impedance near the component's series resonance.

Electro failure is indicted by an unusually high reading, compared to similar parts.


It's easier to scope the circuit and look for
symptoms of a bad part.


** Not for ESR it isn't.


.... Phil

Depends where in the circuit. In a power supply or audio output,
sure--there are probably PN junctions isolating the cap from the rest of
the circuit when it's powered off.

In a low-Z RC circuit, not so much.

I have a set of Smart Tweezers that I use for debugging and
troubleshooting. I like them pretty well.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[Cursitor Doom]

On Sun, 03 Jun 2018 16:29:02 -0700, John Larkin wrote:

It's a nuisance to desolder caps to test them, especially surface-mount
parts. It's easier to scope the circuit and look for symptoms of a bad
part.

For you perhaps, but not, I suspect, the OP. Anyway, that Peak meter I
linked to is able to carry out in-circuit measurements, so except in
certain circumstances, it's not necessary to lift a lead.



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[Cursitor Doom]

On Mon, 04 Jun 2018 12:53:04 -0400, Phil Hobbs wrote:

Depends where in the circuit. In a power supply or audio output,
sure--there are probably PN junctions isolating the cap from the rest of
the circuit when it's powered off.

In a low-Z RC circuit, not so much.

I have a set of Smart Tweezers that I use for debugging and
troubleshooting. I like them pretty well.

I've found some switchers with ripple on the output and it was due to
some obscure issue with the feedback path; fortunately it was easy to
establish that all the caps were fine and that saved a lot of time.





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[Phil Allison]

Cursitor Doom wrote:

For you perhaps, but not, I suspect, the OP. Anyway, that Peak meter I
linked to is able to carry out in-circuit measurements, so except in
certain circumstances, it's not necessary to lift a lead.

** The Peak meter is not generally able to measure capacitance while the part is still in circuit - the instructions leaflet says exactly that.

See final sentence under "Great Service Aid" .

However, it CAN test the ESR of electro caps while in-circuit with rare exceptions and that is the reading you need when hunting for bad or almost worn out ones.


..... Phil