How about a Capacitance Meter?

[katzcaps]

I'm looking to purchase a Capacitance Meter, and of course, the sky's the limit as far as features/price. As with anything these days, the selection out there is enormous.

I see the cheap $15-$25 units on ebay, as well as the kits that you can build yourself, and of course the $1000+ units on the electronics supplier sites.

Any of you guys care to recommend a good all around meter for a budget of under $100? Something decent for mobo testing/guitar amps/lcd monitors, etc.

Thanks for any/all suggestions!

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

Your message is rather sort, and you do not mention your exact needs.

Imagine capacitors as to was trees living in a huge forest.
In case that you need to cut down a tree you need the proper chainsaw regarding size, and if this tool haves some quality on it, in long term you will cut many trees with just one chainsaw.

If you say how large trees you need to cut, I will give you a better advice.

[smason]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

There are a few discussion threads on here about capacitance meters.
The 2 most common that would suit your needs and price range, according to many in those threads, are the Blue ESR meter, and the ESR Micro.

[katzcaps]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

@ Kiriakos GR -

Sorry, I thought my description would give enough insight as to what my needs would be. I am working on things like motherboards/guitar amps/lcd monitors, things of that nature. The values are fairly typical in those items, yes?

@ smason -

I did search through the forums before posting, but I wasn't real successful finding relative threads. Sometimes these things get buried I suppose, or you need to use the correct search terms.

I will have a look at the meters you mentioned, thanks.

[smason]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

I did search through the forums before posting, but I wasn't real successful finding relative threads. Sometimes these things get buried I suppose, of you need to use the correct search terms.

I will have a look at the meters you mentioned, thanks.

I think you probably needed the key search term ESR meter as opposed to capacitance meter.

Try these threads:

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...ight=esr+meter

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...ight=esr+meter

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...ight=esr+meter

[katzcaps]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

I read through the threads that you referenced. For my needs, it would appear that either the Blue ESR meter or ESR Micro would be suitable. Now, how to narrow it down between the two?

[budm]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

One can do only ESR, another can do both capacitance and ESR readings.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

@ Kiriakos GR -

Sorry, I thought my description would give enough insight as to what my needs would be. I am working on things like motherboards/guitar amps/lcd monitors, things of that nature. The values are fairly typical in those items, yes?

In this thread you got all ready some answers, and even so non of those product solutions are called as best.

If you plan to make money from this job, you should raise your budget further, so to enter in the range of products which do no hide compromises.

[smason]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

In this thread you got all ready some answers, and even so non of those product solutions are called as best.

If you plan to make money from this job, you should raise your budget further, so to enter in the range of products which do no hide compromises.

You do keep saying that, but I think you're forgetting what site you're on

Many of us do this as a HOBBY, and we don't need expensive test gear to get the job done.
The inexpensive devices discussed here, and in the other threads (namely the Blue, and ESR Micro) are quite capable of doing the job at hand, which is identifying bad capacitors.

We're fixing consumer electronic devices, we're not checking specs to the 100th digit for a 10 billion dollar satellite.

I've repaired 30 some odd monitors a few tvs and assorted other things, and I've made NO money (a couple bottles of Crown Royal, and a gift card won't help buy a fancier cap tester, nor do I need one)

[mariushm]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

In this thread you got all ready some answers, and even so non of those product solutions are called as best.

If you plan to make money from this job, you should raise your budget further, so to enter in the range of products which do no hide compromises.

And in this thread you're also going to find jerks like Kiriakos GR who are only able to provide non-answers.
You're not helping him in any way, only writing generic messages that any moron can write. Everywhere I see your comments, you're either bragging about your expertise and how great you are at various stuff or how a tool is a toy compared to a $xxxx tool.

If you have something to contribute, I think you should write something on topic or shut up.

I think you're smart enough to determine from the way this user wrote, that he's not looking for a $500+ lcd meter but you can't be even bothered to give more suggestions directly.
.


on topic:
katzcaps, both of those tools are adequate to determine if a capacitor is faulty or not in a large percent of cases (let's say 80-90%).

They're capable of giving you a measurement that's a close enough approximation of a capacitor's ESR and in the case of esr micro, it also tells you the capacitance value withing a good enough error margin (let's say +/-5%)

They're not precision instruments, they're not 100% accurate, but they work great for doing what you say you need them to do.

If however you need to design circuits or repair some high end hardware (that requires calibrations and other expensive things) you'd be wise to invest on proper LCR meters that can do measurements at different frequencies (100hz, 1khz, 100khz etc) and measure other things.
The cheapest such tools on market are about 150-200$ but good quality ones can cost around $500-1000

[katzcaps]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

Thanks to all for your input, I appreciate it.

Kiriakos GR - I do understand what you are saying - and, I do agree. A higher priced unit would be super, especially in the right hands.

Problem is, I probably wouldn't understand how to use it anyway and don't have the time to devote to learning it in great detail. As some of the others have mentioned, I am a casual hobbyist simply looking for something "decent" to work with.

My specialty is as a PC tech, and I replace mobo/monitor caps on a limited basis, so I have no need for the higher priced units.

I will probably go with the ESR Micro as soon as they are in stock, unless something else catches my eye in the meantime.

Any other recommendations, please feel free to post!

[smason]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

Here's an example from last night:

1000uf 25v cap. I measure a brand new one from my parts bin with my ESR Micro.

It measures 1005uf .01ohms ESR

I measure on my Fluke 87 (not really a cap tester, just an example) it measures 1002 uf.

Now I measure one in a dead monitor.

ESR micro reads 6 ohms ESR and 87uf

Fluke measures 150uf.
Oh noes! one of them isn't accurate!
What to do? I don't give a rat's ass! I KNOW the cap is bad.
I suspect the high ESR is throwing off the reading on the ESR micro.

Now some would say I need to look up the manufacturer's specs on the cap to see what the ESR should be. Why? I KNOW 6 ohms is a seriously failed cap.

And some would say I need to match the original's specs with a replacement.
Bah! I know that a Panasonic FM or FC low ESR cap will be way better than the original regardless of the specs the original may have had.


My point?

You can use average quality test gear, or precision high-end gear. For OUR purposes, both are more than accurate enough to to electronics repair.
Is the 5v 5.01 or 5.12? Who cares? The 5v supply is working, keep looking for the fault.

Whew, ok I'm done.

[budm]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

I can verify bad caps with my home mad ESR meter.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...ghlight=AL2416
Its the experience and understand good basic knowledge that help you fix the problem.

[japlytic]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

I could not go wrong with my capacitance meter at https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=21566

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

And in this thread you're also going to find jerks like Kiriakos GR who are only able to provide non-answers.
You're not helping him in any way, only writing generic messages that any moron can write. Everywhere I see your comments, you're either bragging about your expertise and how great you are at various stuff or how a tool is a toy compared to a $xxxx tool.

If you have something to contribute, I think you should write something on topic or shut up.

I think you're smart enough to determine from the way this user wrote, that he's not looking for a $500+ lcd meter but you can't be even bothered to give more suggestions directly.

You had become fool of your self and in the past in this forum, and your ass become toasted at the EEVBlog too in the Extech meter thread (recently).
Why to stop you when you bring smiles in my face.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

Thanks to all for your input, I appreciate it.

Kiriakos GR - I do understand what you are saying - and, I do agree. A higher priced unit would be super, especially in the right hands.

You are welcome mate, my advice is based in what I do when buying new gear, I always look ahead, so to not pay double or triple the price of a poor choice.

Basically this is what every one does in a forum, he just offers one suggestion.
And you as one thinking person, you will select the best idea.

Regards.

[mariushm]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

You had become fool of your self and in the past in this forum, and your ass become toasted at the EEVBlog too in the Extech meter thread (recently).
Why to stop you when you bring smiles in my face.

I don't see how I made a fool of myself there, on the contrary. It seems everyone there also agrees that your contributions are without value, as you always suggest the most expensive tool without thinking of the person's budget or what he plans to use it for.

Just like in this forum: someone asks a simple question about a capacitance meter, says what confused him, says what budget he had, yet you ignore everything he wrote and went off topic making stupid forests analogies instead of simply answering the man with some suggestions and then perhaps suggest something else, if you felt he was confused about what he actually needs.

It's obvious you didn't even bother to read more than the title of the thread.

Maybe next time instead of laughing on my account, you'd think of actually helping people. And maybe running your comments through some online English translator, to correct your grammatical errors.

[tom66]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

There is a good reason he was kicked from EEVBlog. Perhaps best to ignore him though.
Most of us here have double-digit price limits, at best. I saved up for months to buy my Rigol scope.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

I don't see how I made a fool of myself

Speak with the wall, your nastiness is your usual way of behavior and the other people is not here to please your ego, not to give the answers that you prefer to listen.
By the way , who told you that you are capable to understand the other people opinions ?

Speak with the wall, this is the best one to speak with.
And about the others they have their own voice and they do not need yours.

[Kiriakos GR]

Re: How about a Capacitance Meter?

There is a good reason he was kicked from EEVBlog. Perhaps best to ignore him though.
Most of us here have double-digit price limits, at best. I saved up for months to buy my Rigol scope.

Please ignore everything and anything that you do not like, this is what I do too.
And dear people if you get kicked from one forum, there is another 10.000 other to join.
Always be your self and keep your head high.