[Boatanchors] ESR Measurements: How Bad Is Bad ??

[Dave Harmon]

Interesting....I have one of those Dick Smith meters too and in the course
of using it I was scratching my head when 47 year old electrolytics I
removed from several Collins 516F-2's were testing good on the meter but the
pop-tops were blown open and they stunk indicating that the electrolyte had
left town years before....mebby decades.
I replaced the caps anyway of course but perhaps this meter would be best
used on smaller caps like what would be used on today's electronics instead
of boatanchors.

Regards

Dave Harmon
CCA 97-535
Midwestern Collins
K6XYZ[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
Sperry, Ok.

-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Garey Barrell
Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 9:05 PM
To: boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] ESR Measurements: How Bad Is Bad ??

Dick -

Generally speaking, bad is  _BAD_  , i.e., either a cap will read 
fractional ohms for most caps, certainly less than 2-3 ohms.    Bad caps 
will read hundreds of ohms or more depending upon the rest of the 
circuit.  I don't think I've ever seen one over 3-4 ohms that wasn't BAD.

73, Garey - K4OAH
Glen Allen, VA

Drake 2-B, 4-B, C-Line & TR-4/C Service Supplement CDs
<www.k4oah.com>



Richard W. Solomon wrote:
> I have one of the Dick Smith ESR meters. Nice device, but I
> wish I could find more info on analyzing the test results.
>
> For example, I test a 470 mfd @ 50 vdc cap. The meter reads
> 0.15, the chart on the meter says 0.09. How bad is bad ??
>
>
> Thanks for any tips,
>
> 73, Dick, W1KSZ
>   
>
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