Welcome to the KEMET Electronics page on element14. Here you can find things such as our latest news, training videos, and product details. Additionally, you can engage with us in our forums.
Even though we produce on the order of 1,000 capacitors per second, 100% of KEMET's capacitors are tested for parameters like Leakage Current (or Insulation Resistance), ESR, DF, and Capacitance before being shipped. Typically we'll use an Agilent E4980 (HP4284) or similar meter for our measurements. However, not everyone has access to that kind of equipment on a day to day basis. Don't worry though because John Fattaruso, professor and former analog engineer, provides a relatively simple circuit to measure either capacitance or inductance of a component in this EDN article.
(Image/Schematic hosted by edn.com)
The idea behind the circuit is to measure the time constant of a component when driven with a square wave. Dr Fattaruso's write-up fully describes how the circuit works. One of the trade-offs is that you aren't going to be "reading" the value of the component directly. So you'll need to do some calibration with a potentiometer before you make your first measurements.
Keep in mind when building a circuit like this, you want to use C0G Ceramic Capacitors, where possible. Their stability with voltage and temperature make them ideal for both reference values and for stable measurements.
(Note I have not built and tested this circuit myself, yet.)
