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.