Capacitor testing

Frequently asked questions on capacitor types, ratings, brands, use and abuse.
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trad3mark
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Post by trad3mark »

Hey all,
I have a vague recollection of coming across a circuit that can be build so you can use a multimeter to measure the capacitance of a capacitor. I've a few mystery components that i'm fairly sure are caps...

anyone have any ideas on how i can measure the capicitance with a DMM?
tm

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JiM
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Post by JiM »

The easiest method is to use a multimeter with built-in capacitance measurement. But as you ask that question, obvioulsy yours doesn't.
Here are a couple of alternative methods :
http://www.pupman.com/listarchives/1998 ... 00625.html
http://www.piclist.com/images/www/hobby_elec/e_capa.htm (just to tell if it's a capacitor or not)
http://www.picotech.com/experiments/cap ... citor.html (maybe you can use a soundcard-based oscilloscope)
http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/capac.htm (some info about color codes)
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