Purchasing a capacitance tester

[security0001]

it's NOT shotgunning. It's like an oil change!!! REQUIRED MAINTENANCE!!!

Electrolytic Caps need to be changed after 10-20 years ffs. ALL OF THEM.

Why do you even CARE about the ESR when the caps cost 25 cents each?! Geez!

BEFORE CAPKIT:

View attachment 488688

AFTER CAPKIT:

View attachment 488689

(yes, beyond the capkit, obviously the lines were fixed by replaced 4x 2101 ram ic's)
(yes, i still need to do a quick degauss on the mon, lol)

+1

You know I don't like when you raise your voice at me, Gleek. Mega hurts my feelings. I do a little side work for one of my friends. Sometimes he wants a full capkit and sometimes he just wants me to get a monitor working and only replace the caps that are causing issues.

It also comes in handy when I get an unfamiliar monitor like this Atari Tm-202 Matsushita I got the other day. It was only 20 bucks and I only bought it because I need a frame. I just repaired the broken in half neckboard. If it doesn't fire up now then I'm done. If it does fire up then I'll just replace the caps that are high ESR for now and check out the quality of the image. If it has all kinds of issues still after replacing high ESR caps then I'll throw it in someone's car the next time I have someone over for a sell.

when dealing with 20-40 year old electrolytic caps on monitors it takes more time to test the cap then to just replace it and 95% of people couldn't tell me what frequency the datasheet says the caps need to be tested at for ESR nor can they tell you what frequency their tester tests the caps at so your results can be skewed. if i had a customer or friend that only wants to replace some caps i would send them down the road and tell them to have someone else do it because as a professional i have a reputation that matters and the quality of work i do matters and even if that friend didn't complain when shit fails you have others that will acquire that game/monitor and won't know why something was done half ass. (as example look how often g07 flybacks blow in half when you cap them and keep the original in so what happens when you do that with partially new and old caps). There is a time and place for testers and its a waste of both time and tester on 30+ year old electrolytic caps on monitors.

 

[VectorCollector]

You want to really test the cap, out of circuit, at the application frequency and at the datasheet spec to confirm its health.
If the cap is used to rectify the AC mains, then you need to test a 120Hz or similar (60Hz/50Hz dependent).
If the cap is used on the input/output of a switcher, then it will see the PWM frequency likely in 10/100's of kHz.
If you want to use the datasheet, then there are other variables you can use to calculate the theoretical capacitance/ESR/impedance at a given frequency.

Using an LCR meter like the DER EE allows the user to truly analyze a capacitor at many frequencies and make a quantitative decision if the cap is good or not.
An expensive and fancy piece of equipment for some of us who find that type of meter very useful. Perhaps not for everyone.

But, for monitors, just replace them all. They're probably old, outside of their lifetime, and have been subjected to excessive heat stress. When I recap monitors, I don't bother to test them. I just replace. YMMV

 

[Ohmerone]

Check out the Octopus Tester

Its the best test on most component's
Used with a O-scope which is part
of any bench repair if your serious
Troubleshooter, and not fan of shot-gunning parts
and Its great, Its worth the time and parts.
Here's a example, of the Octopus tester
And you can save money on buying the
other test equipment you might get.
Oscilloscope are cheap these days.
Maybe you don't see a reason for a O-scope
with the old school models.
You will on the tri-res or High Res
Or Vector and Game boards
The signals and waveforms need to be correct
And you dont just go by the part testing
Like a IC you look for waveforms coming from it
using a Oscilloscope.
Good Luck!

Normal (n5bl.org)

Open link to new tab if needed.
and check other sites that have the details
with the Octopus Tester.

 

[creepykenny]

i have a huntron tracker which is essentially what an octopus is i think? use it all the time when rebuilding power supplies and vector monitors, its the best thing ever when repairing those two, can spot the bad parts quickly