Looking for good affordable capacitor tester

[joelwhrs]

I am currently looking for a good capacitor tester and am not quite sure what is a good one. I'd like to keep the price under $350. I understand that most people are using esr meters but I am not quite sure which to get model to get... Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JimB]

I'd like to keep the price under 350, preferably under 300 if possible.

Well there is a problem for a start.

350 what?
US Dollars, Aussie Dollars, British Pounds, Euro, Korean Won or what?

A poorly phrased question.

JimB

 

[joelwhrs]

Sorry for that, I have edited the post and tried to clear it up a bit.

 

[MikeMl]

I have one of **broken link removed**. Works well, but does not measure ESR or large capacitors. I use an RC charging technique to measure large electrolytics.

 

[joelwhrs]

I should have been a bit clearer on exactly what I'm looking for. What I'd like is for it to be able to test capacitors in circuit or at least be able to test them with a leg of the capacitor desoldered. The primary capacitors that I would be testing would be electrolytic capacitors.

 

[piloteer]

GME C350. All Electronics. Paid $45 + shipping. Love it
Google it for more info.

 

[Dean Huster]

If you want to measure ESR, you'll have to buy an ESR meter ... usually a separate item, the function not available on most inexpensive testers.

If you want to accurately measure capacitor values, you'll need a digital cap meter such as the B+K 830. The "C" range of a digital multimeter will work, but won't be as accurate or have the measurement range of a decent dedicated digital cap meter.

If you want to test a cap for voltage breakdown, you'll need an older capacitance bridge such as an EICO 950B or Knight-Kit KG-670 or any one of three or four Heathkit models. One of these will also measure cap values, but their accuracy is usually limited to about ±5%.

If you want to measure leakage on high-voltage capacitors, you're almost going to have to use a megger or a semiconductor curve tracer such as a Tektronix 576 that's capable of putting out 1000 volts and measuring in the nanoamp region.

 

[bryan]

If you want to build your own ESR tester here is one that can be built cheaply.

Capacitor ESR Tester

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I should have been a bit clearer on exactly what I'm looking for. What I'd like is for it to be able to test capacitors in circuit or at least be able to test them with a leg of the capacitor desoldered. The primary capacitors that I would be testing would be electrolytic capacitors.

You want an ESR meter, almost all failures are high ESR in electrolytics - there's little or no point checking the value, and many ESR meters do that anyway.

I would highly recommend the one I use:

Peak Electronic Design Limited - Atlas ESR - Equivalent Series Resistance Meter and Capacitor Analyser - Model ESR60