How To Measure Value Of Ceramic Capacitor

If the capacitor is used in an ac circuit set the multimeter to measure ac voltage.

How to measure value of ceramic capacitor.

How to calculate the value of ceramic non polarized capacitors. A simple method allows measurement of a capacitor s equivalent series resistance esr. If abc is 104 then the digit 104 means 10 104pf 100000pf 100nf 0 1uf. Use your multimeter to confirm the capacitor is fully discharged.

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. Mlccs are used instead if capacitance values allow. To measure capacitance you ll need a digital multimeter which you can pick up at your local hardware store. Another theoretical way to calculate esr of the capacitor is to measure the ripple voltage and ripple current of the capacitor and then the ratio of both will give the value of esr in the capacitor.

Then disconnect the capacitor set the multimeter to measure capacitance and press the rel button if your multimeter has one. First turn off the power to the capacitor and connect a resistor across the terminals to drain the charge. If is used in a dc circuit set the dmm to measure dc voltage. There are special codes and marking on capacitor which tell about the value of capacitor.

If a ceramic capacitor has three digits abc then the value would be ab 10 c pico farad. Ceramic disc capacitors are usually through hole components and are falling out of favor due to their size. However a more common esr measurement model is to apply alternating current source across the capacitor with an additional resistance. Below is a very useful chart for calculation the right value of ceramic non polarized capacitors.

A simple method for a capacitor s esr measurement. Ceramic capacitors which are usually tiny pancakes with two pins typically list the tolerance value as one letter immediately after the three digit capacitance value. This letter represents the tolerance of the capacitor meaning how close the actual value of the capacitor can be expected to be to the indicated value of the capacitor.