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    How To Test Capacitor

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    Joshua Oliver
    The document provides instructions for testing capacitors using a multimeter. It discusses the different types of capacitors including electrolytic, non-electrolytic, and ceramic capacitors. It describes how to test capacitors using a digital or analog multimeter in both the capacitance and resistance settings. The tests check the capacitor's ability to hold a charge by comparing the measured and labeled capacitance values, or by observing how the multimeter's needle behaves when the capacitor is connected and reconnected. Ceramic capacitors are also summarized, explaining their construction and uses in dissipating heat and voltage regulation.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    How To Test Capacitor

    Uploaded by

    Joshua Oliver
    1K views4 pages
    The document provides instructions for testing capacitors using a multimeter. It discusses the different types of capacitors including electrolytic, non-electrolytic, and ceramic capacitors. It describes how to test capacitors using a digital or analog multimeter in both the capacitance and resistance settings. The tests check the capacitor's ability to hold a charge by comparing the measured and labeled capacitance values, or by observing how the multimeter's needle behaves when the capacitor is connected and reconnected. Ceramic capacitors are also summarized, explaining their construction and uses in dissipating heat and voltage regulation.

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    The document provides instructions for testing capacitors using a multimeter. It discusses the different types of capacitors including electrolytic, non-electrolytic, and ceramic capacitors. It describes how to test capacitors using a digital or analog multimeter in both the capacitance and resistance settings. The tests check the capacitor's ability to hold a charge by comparing the measured and labeled capacitance values, or by observing how the multimeter's needle behaves when the capacitor is connected and reconnected. Ceramic capacitors are also summarized, explaining their construction and uses in dissipating heat and voltage regulation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    1K views4 pages

    How To Test Capacitor

    Uploaded by

    Joshua Oliver
    The document provides instructions for testing capacitors using a multimeter. It discusses the different types of capacitors including electrolytic, non-electrolytic, and ceramic capacitors. It describes how to test capacitors using a digital or analog multimeter in both the capacitance and resistance settings. The tests check the capacitor's ability to hold a charge by comparing the measured and labeled capacitance values, or by observing how the multimeter's needle behaves when the capacitor is connected and reconnected. Ceramic capacitors are also summarized, explaining their construction and uses in dissipating heat and voltage regulation.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    HOW TO TEST CAPACITOR

    Capacitors are voltage storage devices used in electronic circuits.

    Capacitors come in main 2 types: Electrolytic capacitors can fail by discharging too much current
    or by running out of electrolyte and unable to hold a charge. It is used with vacuum tube and transistor
    power supplies.

    Non-electrolytic capacitors most often fail by leaking their stored charge. It is used to regulate
    direct current surges.

    TESTING OF CAPACITORS USING DIGITAL MULTIMETER

    A. With capacitance setting


    1. Disconnect the capacitor from the circuit it is part of.
    2. Visual inspection of the capacitors if there is any sign of bulging tops.
    If it appeared, the capacitors need to be replaced. When replacing a capacitor, it is of
    utmost importance to replace it with a capacitor of the same or higher value. Never
    subsidize with a capacitor of lesser value.
    3. Read the capacitance value on the outside of the capacitor.
    The unit for capacitance is the farad, which is abbreviated with a capital “F.” You may
    also see the Greek letter mu (µ), which looks like a lowercase “u” with a tail in front of it.
    (Because the farad is a large unit, most capacitors measure capacitance in microfarads; a
    microfarad is a millionth of a farad.)
    4. Set your multimeter to its capacitance setting.
    5. Connect the multimeter leads to the capacitor terminals.
    Connect the positive (red) multimeter lead to the capacitor anode lead and the negative
    (black) lead to the capacitor cathode lead. (On most capacitors, especially electrolytic
    capacitors, the anode lead is longer than the cathode lead.
    6. Check the multimeter reading.
    If the capacitance reading on the multimeter is close to the value printed on the
    capacitor itself, the capacitor is good. If it’s significantly less than the value printed on the
    capacitor, or zero, the capacitor is dead

    B. Without capacitance setting


    1. Disconnect the capacitor from its circuit.
    2. Visual inspection of the capacitors if there is any sign of bulging tops.
    If it appeared, the capacitors need to be replaced. When replacing a capacitor, it is of
    utmost importance to replace it with a capacitor of the same or higher value. Never
    subsidize with a capacitor of lesser value.
    3. Set your multimeter to its resistance setting.
    This setting may be marked with the word “OHM” (the unit for resistance) or the Greek
    letter omega (Ω), the abbreviation for ohm.
     If your unit has an adjustable resistance range, set the range to 1000 ohm = 1K or higher.
    4. Connect the multimeter leads to the capacitor terminals.
    Again, connect the red lead to the positive (longer) terminal and the black lead to the
    negative (shorter) terminal.
    5. Observe the multimeter reading.
    Write down the initial resistance value, if you wish. The value should soon revert to
    what it was before you connected the leads
    6. Disconnect and reconnect the capacitor several times.
    You should see the same results as on the first test. If you do, the capacitor is good.
     If, however, the resistance value does not change on any of the tests, the capacitor is
    dead

    TESTING OF CAPACITORS USING ANALOG MULTIMETER

    1. Disconnect the capacitor from its circuit.


    2. Visual inspection of the capacitors if there is any sign of bulging tops.
    If it appeared, the capacitors need to be replaced. When replacing a capacitor, it is of
    utmost importance to replace it with a capacitor of the same or higher value. Never
    subsidize with a capacitor of lesser value.
    3. Set your multimeter to its resistance setting.
    4. Connect the multimeter leads to the capacitor terminals.
    Red lead to positive (longer) terminal, black lead to negative (shorter) terminal
    5. Observe the results.
    Analog multimeters use a needle to display their results. How the needle behaves
    determines whether or not the capacitor is good.
     If the needle initially shows a low resistance value then gradually moves to the right, the
    capacitor is good.
     If the needle shows a low resistance value and doesn’t move, the capacitor has been
    shorted out. You’ll need to replace it.
     If the needle shows no resistance value and doesn’t move or a high value and doesn’t
    move, the capacitor is an open capacitor (dead)

    Other type of capacitor

    Ceramic capacitors

    A ceramic capacitor uses a ceramic material as the dielectric. Ceramics were one of the first
    materials to be used in the production of capacitors, as it was a known insulator. Many geometries were
    used in ceramic capacitors, of which some, like ceramic tubular capacitors and barrier layer capacitors
    are obsolete today due to their size, parasitic effects or electrical characteristics. The types of ceramic
    capacitors most often used in modern electronics are the multi-layer ceramic capacitor, otherwise
    named ceramic multi-layer chip capacitor (MLCC) and the ceramic disc capacitor. MLCCs are the most
    produced capacitors with a quantity of approximately 1000 billion devices per year. They are made in
    SMD (surface-mounted) technology and are widely used due to their small size. Ceramic capacitors are
    usually made with very small capacitance values, typically between 1nF and 1µF, although values up to
    100µF are possible. Ceramic capacitors are also very small in size and have a low maximum rated
    voltage. They are not polarized, which means that they may be safely connected to an AC source.
    Ceramic capacitors have a great frequency response due to low parasitic effects such as resistance or
    inductance.

    A ceramic capacitor is a capacitor which uses a ceramic material as the dielectric. The two most
    common types are multi-layer ceramic capacitors and ceramic disc capacitors.

     Ceramic disc capacitors


    Ceramic disc capacitors are manufactured by coating a ceramic disc with silver contacts
    on both sides. To achieve larger capacitances, these devices can be made from multiple
    layers. Ceramic disc capacitors are usually through-hole components and are falling out of
    favor due to their size. MLCCs are used instead, if capacitance values allow. Ceramic disc
    capacitors have a capacitance value of 10pF to 100μF with a wide variety of voltage ratings,
    between 16 volts to 15 kV and more.
     Multi-layer ceramic capacitor (MLCC)
    MLCCs are manufactured by accurately mixing finely ground granules of paraelectric and
    ferroelectric materials and alternatively layering the mix with metal contacts. After the
    layering is complete, the device is brought to a high temperature and the mixture is
    sintered, resulting in a ceramic material of desired properties. The resulting capacitor
    basically consists of many smaller capacitors connected in parallel, increasing the
    capacitance. MLCCs consist of 500 layers and more, with the minimum layer thicknes of
    approximately 0.5 micron. As technology progresses, the layer thickness decreases and
    higher capacitances are achievable for the same volume.

    Ceramic disc capacitors are units used to manage voltage for various dielectric functions in the
    computer industry. The role of ceramic layers is to dissipate heat which may occur due to high voltage,
    while protecting the environment — both internal and external — from damage. With these capacitors,
    volumetric efficiency is inversely proportional to stability and accuracy, thus making the testing process
    difficult.

     Step 1
    Testing ceramic capacitors is important, because, when exposed to high voltage, the capacitors
    may short out. If this occurs, your monitor may blink or be absent. You can solve this problem by
    replacing the ceramic capacitors all together. However, if you have the proper equipment you
    can test the ceramic capacitors.
     Step 2
    Use a digital multimeter to test a ceramic capacitor. If the voltage is constant, the capacitor
    functions properly. However, you cannot measure it properly if the ohmmeter's output and
    digital capacitance don't correspond to the capacitor's voltage, in which case the second
    solution is preferable.
     Step 3
    Test using an analogue insulation tester to find the short circuit or to determine cases where
    digital capacitance meters fail to show shortened readings. Adjust the analogue meter to 10
    Kohm in order to achieve an output of 12 volts. This step is needed in order to test the ceramic
    capacitor. Also, if you still want to avoid replacing the capacitor and to test it onboard, you can
    use both methods to increase the measurement accuracy.

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