[Benny/W5TYZ]

Does anyone have a recommend on a Capacitance tester? Years ago I had a hand held unit I used for checking starter Caps on water well pumps and Air conditioners. Someone borrowed it, and I never saw it again. I understand that one of the "Box" type is better for our radio cap testing, because they are capable to test caps at a higher breakdown voltage. Any thoughts on a reliable brand. I would suspect that they are prolly very much alike inside, just different trim...
Thanks

[morzh]

I am not sure today's restoration needs those. There is nothing to test. The lyrics and papers get replaced no matter what, and micas need not to be tested generally, and if they do, regular DMM is enough to confirm capacitance.
I only use DMM.

[codefox1]

Agree, inexpensive handheld digital meters can roughly indicate value, but cannot test under voltage conditions. Old Bridge meters which provided actual voltage and indicated shorts by a closing or an flickering eye tube are somewhat useful, but as stated most caps are just replaced nowadays.

[Eliot Ness]

Just for grins I like to test some of the capacitors I replace.  I also test the new caps I put in since most come from China and I like to verify they are-what-they-are.  Most of the time they are fine, but I have found a couple of off-value "yellow devils" as I like to call them. 

Because I want to check these under voltage I use a vintage Jackson 650A that has served me well over the years.  I also have a Heathkit but I like using the Jackson a little better.

[morzh]

I only buy my caps from Mouser/Digikey, they do not sell caps that are likely to be defective. I trust them as small batch mfr do kit from these catalog for industrial needs.
In my 25 years of EE career here in the US and heavy use of these two (well, some Newark and Allied too) I never ever had problems with any of passive components bought from them. Not once.
And, true, many mfrs are in China, but then there is China and there is....China. Depends on who it is who manufactures it.

[Eliot Ness]

Many moons ago my buddies and I used to buy up boxes of caps from hamfests.  While 99.5% were epoxy and NOS, I felt safer checking them under working voltage before installing them.  Old habits die hard and it only takes a few seconds to verify a cap is good.  Makes me sleep better at night.......

[morzh]

Beer makes me sleep better at nightes

[Arran]

Just for grins I like to test some of the capacitors I replace.  I also test the new caps I put in since most come from China and I like to verify they are-what-they-are.  Most of the time they are fine, but I have found a couple of off-value "yellow devils" as I like to call them. 

Because I want to check these under voltage I use a vintage Jackson 650A that has served me well over the years.  I also have a Heathkit but I like using the Jackson a little better.

 I do that as well, truth be told I don't know where some of the yellow ones were made, Taiwan or China, but most have nothing but a value written in Pf and a voltage, no name, so none the less I still test them. Once I got a capacitor tester, or more acurately a resistance-capacitance bridge, I started testing everything because I used to buy a lot of NOS parts from a surplus house in Montreal, and also from estate/garage sales. I found some duds among the NOS ones I had, culled them from my stash, and just never broke the habit of testing any new ones I picked up. I have two cap checkers, one is an Eico, the other a PICO, the PICO seems to be more accurate for testing values.
Regards
Arran

[TV MAN]

If you decide to get one of the old testers, you will want to recap and calibrate. There are instructions on the internet on how to do this with the popular brands such as Eico, Heath and Knight. I have a Knight that I rebuilt and it works well. Also an Eico, but that hasn't been gone through yet. Isn't bad to have one to check suspect 'new' caps, or to weed out a defective in a restoration with problems. Can happen even with new caps.

[Benny/W5TYZ]

Thanks for the hints and tips.  I'm kinda looking at a nice Tectronic 130.
Seems there are lots of them for sale and wide price spread.
Still lookin'

[morzh]

My approach to test equipment: it either is irreplaceable or at least greatly alleviates certain operations (e.g. RF generator for alignment, or audio generator for audio amps, obviously a DMM, a variac) or is a matter of safety (isolation transformer) or saves me money and troubleshooting time (tube tester, scope).

To me the capacitor tester does neither, so it is a matter of "I just like to do it". Which is a respectable position, but not a necessary one but any means, especially for this hobby. There are situations where it has its merits.

So, if you have money and feel good about it- go ahead, there are many things we do just on a whim, cuz we feel good about it, including this hobby itself.

[Eliot Ness]

The Tektronix 130 is certainly a nice piece of test equipment, but it doesn't appear to test leakage at the capacitors working voltage.  All you'll be doing is checking their values which many DMM's or cheap Chinese testers can do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxqSa7NOAgQ

If you want to check the capacitors leakage you need a capacitor tester such as the Heathkit IT-11 (or) IT-28, a Sprague Tel-Ohmike, Jaskson 650, or Eico 950.  There are several others as well, but I mentioned those because they are relatively easy to find at hamfests, swapmeets, or eBay.  A key that the tester will check leakage is it will have a switch that will go up to about 500 volts.

Be aware that when buying a vintage piece of test equipment, just like a vintage radio, you'll want to replace the old capacitors and out-of-tolerance resistors.  If you buy a Heathkit or Eico you also want to check all the solder joints and wiring since these were kits and many were assembled by folks not used to doing such tasks.   Good luck, some enjoy collecting test equipment more than radios.  Below is a site you might want to take a look at as he discusses his views on various vintage capacitor testers:

http://www.ohio.edu/people/postr/bapix/capchkr2.htm

[Benny/W5TYZ]

After I posted the reply about thinking about a 130, I found out like you said about not being
able to produce a high voltage test.  I missed out on a couple if IT-11's and IT 28'.  I  have a
DMM that resembles the Vichey, and so far it appears to work OK with the caps and resistors. 
Like you said tho' it has it's limits. I understand what you said about some folks just like to
collect and restore test equipment.  I used to do a lot of wood carving, and it takes just a few
tools to produce an impressive piece of wood.  I knew guys that collected wood caving tools
and chisels.  The more they had the better things were.  Kinda like some folks collect friends
on Facebook.  Ain't life great...and versatile. Sumptin' for everyone.
Thanks for the tips......

[TV MAN]

Eliot, thanks for the link. These are the instructions I used when I rebuilt my Knight. I had lost the link when my computer hard drive died. Mike (Morzh) is right, you can get by without a cap checker, (and a bunch of other stuff as well) but if one grabs your attention, go for it. As a tech in the profession for years, I tried different test instruments and eventually put what I used most right in front of me, the rest went on the top shelf, and seldom used equipment under the bench. It doesn't hurt to have some seldom used stuff since you could run into a weird problem, in which you may be glad you have it. Eventually, you will settle on YOUR favorite equipment after you gain experience using it (or not).  There is always Ebay if you find you don't like something at all.

[morzh]

When, long long time ago, in the beginning of my career I used to troubleshoot computers (PDP-11 type, so....large, multi-board etc) I made me one troubleshooting gadget I 1)could not do without, and 2) could do pretty much everything with.
Except power supply repair, which I had analog multimeter for.
That device was.... A logic probe. The industry was not making one to my specs, (not just Hi/lo and blinking pulse indicator, but mid-level and pulse counter also, plus very fast) so I designed and built one myself. Other than power supplies, I never had to use anything else. Even the multimeter.
I got me a scope but it was a whim my boss was willing to pay for. I did not need it nor I had any use for it unless after work hours when I got to play with my audio experiments.

It's like.....all you need some meet and some potatoes and a beer, but sometimes you just want some fancy stuff and then you pay your week's allowance for some caviar and a bottle of Mumm. Nice. But not necessary. But nice.