Re: ESR Meter for Testing Polyester Capacitors



I'm trying to learn here so I would appreciate any feedback on this: From what I have found, and my interpretation, ESR for anything other than electrolytic capacitors tend to be not only be very low but also relatively stable throughout their entire life (I assume due to this self-healing property which also leads to a rather insidious decline of capacitance) and our current measurements for ESR just are not sensitive enough to be able to easily declare a film capacitor "bad" or "good".
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Re: Desoldering Tool Recommendation



Thanks for the response. EEVblog is actually where I came across the ZD985- prior to that I did not even know it existed as a serious product- it's availability here in the US is extremely limited, appearing to be relegated to the South Pacific and Eastern Europe. I actually have a similar post on the EEVblog forum, hoping to draw on input and experience from both forums. The sourcing for consumables isn't the problem- the bigger problem appears to be availability for the parts inside the station itself- the motor, vacuum pump,...

Hey guys,

I have searched the forums finding various pros and cons but I am still undecided. I would value your input on a buying decision here- I am planning on purchasing a desoldering tool/station. I am hoping to avoid the pitfalls other users here have experienced. This will be for commercial use (repairing vehicle PCMs, exhaust analyzers, electronic ballasts, etc.) but since I am just starting off and this is coming out of my own pocket and not my shop's I am trying to keep the costs down.

I have narrowed the list down to three choices all of which are about...

Re: ESR Meter for Testing Polyester Capacitors



Thank you for the response! And I'm glad to hear that your shop likes the MESR-100- I need one anyway so I suppose I will be buying one.

Just for my own edification, why will the ESR meter not work with polycaps?

I also have a question about the ohmmeter with a polycap- won't that only indicate if a polycap is shorted? I am under the impression that an ohmmeter will not work with a capacitor since capacitors do not pass direct current. Also- can this test be done in-circuit? I know the capacitance...

Hey guys, I just had a quick question- I am considering buying an ESR meter (specifically a MESR-100 v2) to work on an electronic ballast for an underhood light I own that no longer works. I am sure I will need it in the future regardless so I am buying an ESR anyway, but this particular ballast uses a lot of of polyester capacitors ("green caps")- will an ESR meter work on polyester caps or will it work only on electrolytic capacitors?

I have searched the forums and I can only find one post which says it will (albeit you run into problems due to the polyester caps tending...

Re: New Members - please post your introductions here

Howdy guys,

Just introducing myself here. I'm 25 years old. My undergraduate is in engineering (specifically biomedical, but with a significant amount of electrical and chemical thrown in) and I am currently a medical student. I've always loved to be able to fix/repair things and so I also work part-time as an automotive technician (I specialize in electrical/engine performance as a diagnostic tech)- turns out fixing people and machines are surprisingly similar- once you understand HOW a system works and WHY it's...