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Start Run Capacitor Testing Using A Cheap Meter DIY (HVAC_Stereo_Microwave_Electronics) Service
WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en
00:00:07.060 hello everyone recently I was asked if 00:00:09.61000:00:09.620 it's possible to test a capacitor with a 00:00:11.95000:00:11.960 cheap meter not one that has the 00:00:14.41000:00:14.420 capacitance testing capability on it and 00:00:17.40000:00:17.410 actually it is possible the test to see 00:00:20.14000:00:20.150 if the capacitor is actually working 00:00:21.79000:00:21.800 with a $7 meter this is a cheap meter I 00:00:25.45000:00:25.460 bought from Amazon I'll put a link to it 00:00:27.82000:00:27.830 in the video description below and I'm 00:00:29.80000:00:29.810 going to be using it to test this run 00:00:32.92000:00:32.930 dual run capacitor this is a 440 volt 00:00:36.67000:00:36.680 capacitor from an AC unit so it will do 00:00:39.72900:00:39.739 the job 00:00:40.12000:00:40.130 very well and as long as your meter has 00:00:43.69000:00:43.700 a 2,000 K to 20,000 K ohm resistance 00:00:47.95000:00:47.960 check on it you should be able to do the 00:00:50.26000:00:50.270 same test on your capacitor okay so what 00:00:53.31900:00:53.329 this test will do is it will tell you 00:00:54.91000:00:54.920 whether the actual capacitor is working 00:00:57.36900:00:57.379 or not all right before we test anything 00:00:59.95000:00:59.960 I want to do a safety note for everybody 00:01:01.74000:01:01.750 capacitors are can be very high voltage 00:01:04.45000:01:04.460 devices these two here for the air 00:01:06.58000:01:06.590 conditioners that I have can store up to 00:01:09.05900:01:09.069 440 volts a piece and I don't care what 00:01:12.58000:01:12.590 amperage that's at that's a heck of a 00:01:14.52900:01:14.539 jolt you don't want to get hit by that 00:01:15.69900:01:15.709 so you need to properly discharge these 00:01:18.87000:01:18.880 capacitors or any capacitor that you're 00:01:21.37000:01:21.380 working with okay it needs to be brought 00:01:23.65000:01:23.660 down to zero voltage and what I use is a 00:01:26.23000:01:26.240 voltage this discharge tool and this one 00:01:28.90000:01:28.910 I made myself I actually have a video on 00:01:31.18000:01:31.190 how to make that and I'll put the links 00:01:33.37000:01:33.380 in the video description below for how 00:01:35.68000:01:35.690 to discharge these how to make this 00:01:37.35900:01:37.369 discharge tool if you need to and how to 00:01:40.12000:01:40.130 safely discharge capacitors now again I 00:01:44.83000:01:44.840 can't stress this enough they're high 00:01:46.87000:01:46.880 voltage devices and before you you know 00:01:49.18000:01:49.190 before you even test them with a meter 00:01:51.66900:01:51.679 if they're fully charged and you put 00:01:53.08000:01:53.090 your meter up to them you're blasting 00:01:54.55000:01:54.560 your meter your meters going to have 00:01:56.13900:01:56.149 smoke coming out of it and you might 00:01:57.85000:01:57.860 harm yourself as well so again please 00:02:01.57000:02:01.580 please please understand that how to 00:02:04.24000:02:04.250 discharge these and that they need to be 00:02:06.19000:02:06.200 discharged so I've already discharged 00:02:08.13900:02:08.149 these two capacitors so we can go on 00:02:10.44900:02:10.459 from here and you know start testing 00:02:13.57000:02:13.580 them to see if they're actually valid or 00:02:16.44900:02:16.459 good capacitors 00:02:18.16000:02:18.170 all right the first thing I'm going to 00:02:19.80900:02:19.819 cover and again I'm aiming my videos at 00:02:23.08000:02:23.090 the novice so please bear with me if you 00:02:26.11000:02:26.120 already know this basically I'm showing 00:02:29.29000:02:29.300 you where to put the leads into the 00:02:31.39000:02:31.400 actual meter themselves itself and you 00:02:34.30000:02:34.310 can see that the black lead and these 00:02:36.43000:02:36.440 just slide in there pop into that into 00:02:40.39000:02:40.400 those holes the black lead goes into the 00:02:42.37000:02:42.380 common hole okay and you should say calm 00:02:45.16000:02:45.170 you should see a symbol of like a ground 00:02:47.55900:02:47.569 on there and so let's put that in there 00:02:50.19900:02:50.209 the positive lead or the red lead goes 00:02:52.75000:02:52.760 into the voltage allman milliamp hole 00:02:56.92000:02:56.930 now there's a third hole here that says 00:02:58.93000:02:58.940 10 and 10 a DC that means 10 amps DC 00:03:02.62000:03:02.630 okay so that's for testing high amperage 00:03:06.31000:03:06.320 DC current so we're not we're not going 00:03:08.92000:03:08.930 to deal with that at all we're going to 00:03:11.38000:03:11.390 deal with voltage ohms and milliamps so 00:03:14.71000:03:14.720 we're going to put that in here once 00:03:16.42000:03:16.430 you've got that property set the next 00:03:18.34000:03:18.350 thing you're going to do is turn your 00:03:20.46000:03:20.470 meter on and set the gauge to the at 00:03:24.16000:03:24.170 least the 200 K ohm setting okay you can 00:03:29.25900:03:29.269 go lower and if you don't have 200 K go 00:03:32.02000:03:32.030 as high as you can and hopefully that'll 00:03:34.56900:03:34.579 get the result you need from the meter 00:03:36.94000:03:36.950 so let's take it and start testing the 00:03:39.64000:03:39.650 capacitor all right I want to stress 00:03:41.86000:03:41.870 here that this capacitor has been fully 00:03:43.96000:03:43.970 discharged and what we're going to do 00:03:46.87000:03:46.880 here is check to see if the capacitor 00:03:48.81900:03:48.829 actually can take a charge and basically 00:03:51.61000:03:51.620 what we're doing is we're going to use 00:03:52.75000:03:52.760 the resistance mode a 200 K on a 200 00:03:56.44000:03:56.450 kilo ohms on this meter this little 00:03:58.81000:03:58.820 cheap little meter to put 5 volts into 00:04:01.27000:04:01.280 this which is what it's going to do and 00:04:02.74000:04:02.750 then if the resist if it does exactly 00:04:06.46000:04:06.470 what it's supposed to do which is you 00:04:08.80000:04:08.810 know start with a low resistance move 00:04:10.33000:04:10.340 all the way up into an open circuit we 00:04:12.10000:04:12.110 know that the actual capacitor is 00:04:13.63000:04:13.640 working so let's do that 00:04:15.09000:04:15.100 negative on the negative or the common 00:04:17.25900:04:17.269 and then we'll go over here onto the 00:04:18.96900:04:18.979 positively and you can see it's taking a 00:04:22.00000:04:22.010 charge and then BOOM let's say when it 00:04:25.21000:04:25.220 hits 200 it says ok open circuit there's 00:04:27.31000:04:27.320 no more left - no more resistance - 00:04:29.58900:04:29.599 check it 00:04:30.59000:04:30.600 open-circuit now at this point because 00:04:32.39000:04:32.400 the point five volts are coming out of 00:04:34.61000:04:34.620 these leads can't be you know won't 00:04:36.89000:04:36.900 accept anymore so as far as the meter is 00:04:39.17000:04:39.180 concerned it's an open circuit so here 00:04:41.63000:04:41.640 if you want to test it the other way we 00:04:42.98000:04:42.990 just reverse it you can see it going 00:04:44.54000:04:44.550 down an egg and the negative so we're 00:04:47.84000:04:47.850 discharging it now and now we're 00:04:49.31000:04:49.320 charging it back up again we just 00:04:50.78000:04:50.790 changed polarity and again it's going 00:04:54.38000:04:54.390 all the way to 200 and then BOOM okay so 00:04:57.95000:04:57.960 we know this capacitor is good it's 00:05:00.50000:05:00.510 taking a charge it's doing what it's 00:05:02.48000:05:02.490 supposed to do okay now we can do the 00:05:04.64000:05:04.650 same thing over here to the other 00:05:06.23000:05:06.240 capacitor which is a fan capacitor and 00:05:10.63000:05:10.640 you saw how fast that happens so I could 00:05:13.94000:05:13.950 put that back up to the 2,000 km and 00:05:16.52000:05:16.530 that that'll actually slow the process 00:05:18.02000:05:18.030 down a little bit so let's go you can 00:05:21.68000:05:21.690 fool around with the homage home 00:05:23.42000:05:23.430 settings to get the result you wish so 00:05:26.47000:05:26.480 here we go actually let's go this way 00:05:29.51000:05:29.520 there we go I'm reversing the polarity 00:05:32.27000:05:32.280 which reverses the charge which 00:05:34.19000:05:34.200 basically charges the capacitor in 00:05:36.83000:05:36.840 Reverse there's no damage on this is 00:05:39.14000:05:39.150 only point five volts and there you can 00:05:43.04000:05:43.050 see how that goes all the way to two 00:05:45.35000:05:45.360 thousand kilo ohms and then says okay 00:05:48.14000:05:48.150 that's it so we know this capacitor is 00:05:51.83000:05:51.840 good because it's performing it's taking 00:05:54.56000:05:54.570 a charge and doing exactly what it's 00:05:57.14000:05:57.150 supposed to do 00:05:57.83000:05:57.840 storing it 00:06:03.70000:06:03.710 okay so if you see your capacitor 00:06:06.01900:06:06.029 performing that way this is a good 00:06:08.51000:06:08.520 capacitor okay I will test it with a 00:06:10.64000:06:10.650 regular multimeter in a minute so you 00:06:13.10000:06:13.110 can see what the actual values are here 00:06:15.01900:06:15.029 and you know again this test only tells 00:06:18.83000:06:18.840 you that the capacitor is working it 00:06:20.39000:06:20.400 doesn't tell you what kind of capacity 00:06:22.07000:06:22.080 it has it just says hey it's thinking is 00:06:24.35000:06:24.360 taking a charge and storing it what it's 00:06:26.71900:06:26.729 supposed to do it's a capacitor right so 00:06:28.82000:06:28.830 good capacitor 00:06:30.11000:06:30.120 no problem now let's go with them with 00:06:32.20900:06:32.219 one that I know is blown okay this one 00:06:34.70000:06:34.710 here and you know if you want to know if 00:06:37.79000:06:37.800 a capacitor is blown first thing to look 00:06:39.73900:06:39.749 for is damage this one has the top of it 00:06:43.01000:06:43.020 is all bulged out it's bubbled up I 00:06:46.27900:06:46.289 don't know if you can see that at that 00:06:47.48000:06:47.490 angle or not but it basically has a big 00:06:49.24900:06:49.259 bubble you can see the dent here if you 00:06:51.80000:06:51.810 see a leak on them or if you see a crack 00:06:54.14000:06:54.150 in them or if the bottom is bowed out or 00:06:56.51000:06:56.520 any part of the capacitor has something 00:06:59.89900:06:59.909 that looks like out of place or 00:07:01.30900:07:01.319 basically wrong then you know 00:07:05.26900:07:05.279 don't even bother just replace the 00:07:06.70900:07:06.719 capacitor this one here looks like a 00:07:08.57000:07:08.580 soda can that's been left out of the Sun 00:07:11.14900:07:11.159 basically it's just it's done this is 00:07:13.76000:07:13.770 definitely a bad capacitor but we'll run 00:07:15.55900:07:15.569 the same test on it and we'll see what 00:07:16.85000:07:16.860 we get so common go here on the common 00:07:23.54000:07:23.550 go to erm first and we'll take it down 00:07:29.42000:07:29.430 to 200k there nothing dad again nothing 00:07:36.20000:07:36.210 dad we can check the reverse polarity on 00:07:39.07900:07:39.089 this thing you know just to make sure 00:07:44.13900:07:44.149 nothing again and we'll try the reverse 00:07:48.37900:07:48.389 polarity on this son dead so that 00:07:52.27900:07:52.289 capacitor is toast now another way a 00:07:54.32000:07:54.330 capacitor can actually self-destruct is 00:07:58.67000:07:58.680 by shorting to ground or to shorting 00:08:00.82900:08:00.839 through the actual casing itself okay so 00:08:03.43900:08:03.449 what I'm going to do is I'm going to 00:08:04.70000:08:04.710 simulate that here and show you how you 00:08:07.70000:08:07.710 can test for that there we go like this 00:08:12.83000:08:12.840 now this shorts the ground what you need 00:08:15.26000:08:15.270 to do is take your ground here like so 00:08:18.35000:08:18.360 and we're still in the ohms and this 00:08:20.75000:08:20.760 over to to the lead and if you see that 00:08:24.86000:08:24.870 happen where the meter goes to 0-0 00:08:27.37900:08:27.389 that's a closed circuit there's no 00:08:28.97000:08:28.980 resistance in so basically at this point 00:08:31.46000:08:31.470 you would know that the herm side of 00:08:33.98000:08:33.990 this capacitor has shorted to ground 00:08:36.79000:08:36.800 okay there we go like that and I guess 00:08:41.51000:08:41.520 it's corrosion here causing me not to 00:08:43.31000:08:43.320 get a good connection but again there we 00:08:47.09000:08:47.100 go so that's how you test if it's 00:08:49.16000:08:49.170 shorted to ground if you see that 00:08:51.79000:08:51.800 situation in a capacitor 00:08:54.92000:08:54.930 you know it's toast okay so because you 00:08:57.65000:08:57.660 do that you would do that on all three 00:08:59.12000:08:59.130 leads again make sure it's discharged so 00:09:01.40000:09:01.410 let's try this on the other lead see if 00:09:03.86000:09:03.870 we got anything that's grounded to the 00:09:05.45000:09:05.460 casing nothing there nothing there but I 00:09:09.95000:09:09.960 can simulate that situation easily just 00:09:12.17000:09:12.180 by taking like my alligator clip and 00:09:15.71000:09:15.720 making it happen 00:09:16.64000:09:16.650 and you get that zero zero so zero 00:09:21.56000:09:21.570 resistance means it's a closed 00:09:23.62000:09:23.630 connection or basically it's shorted to 00:09:26.75000:09:26.760 whatever you're testing so it's the same 00:09:29.72000:09:29.730 as being on the cap all by itself but if 00:09:33.02000:09:33.030 any of these leads cause this to happen 00:09:35.66000:09:35.670 then again you would know this capacitor 00:09:37.70000:09:37.710 shorted to ground or to the casing it's 00:09:39.74000:09:39.750 toast it's done right and any physical 00:09:42.32000:09:42.330 damage will also show you that it's 00:09:44.51000:09:44.520 toast or done so that's how you test to 00:09:48.50000:09:48.510 see if the capacitor is actually working 00:09:51.05000:09:51.060 correctly or not also make sure you test 00:09:54.41000:09:54.420 that do that test from and I didn't on 00:09:57.19900:09:57.209 this one I'll do that right now 00:09:58.57900:09:58.589 and that is test from each leak to 00:10:01.01000:10:01.020 ground to make sure that it's not 00:10:02.24000:10:02.250 shorted to ground so this one's good so 00:10:05.15000:10:05.160 you put your negative lead on the case 00:10:07.27000:10:07.280 again and again 00:10:11.16000:10:11.170 and even on this one it's not showing to 00:10:14.34000:10:14.350 ground so any of the three leads if they 00:10:16.55900:10:16.569 short the ground then the thing is done 00:10:18.68900:10:18.699 it's shorted to the casing of it as a 00:10:20.63900:10:20.649 capacitor is no longer any good so those 00:10:23.78900:10:23.799 are the two tests the test for test for 00:10:26.66900:10:26.679 resistance rising and then just like 00:10:30.17900:10:30.189 this 00:10:35.83000:10:35.840 and when you get to 200k of course it's 00:10:38.62000:10:38.630 going to say hey that's it I can't 00:10:41.14000:10:41.150 measure anymore and the same thing on 00:10:43.09000:10:43.100 the other one 00:10:43.66000:10:43.670 well okay let's reverse it because 00:10:46.00000:10:46.010 obviously it's already charged there we 00:10:48.04000:10:48.050 go same thing happens there that happens 00:10:51.64000:10:51.650 you know you've got a good capacitor 00:10:53.23000:10:53.240 semester order to ground you know that - 00:10:54.79000:10:54.800 okay now I'm going to test this 00:10:56.41000:10:56.420 capacitor with a meter that's capable of 00:10:58.92000:10:58.930 testing capacitance all right now we're 00:11:02.20000:11:02.210 going to test for capacitance this 00:11:04.30000:11:04.310 actual meter can test the the 00:11:07.63000:11:07.640 capacitance on these on this capacitor 00:11:10.03000:11:10.040 and tell me what the actual value of the 00:11:12.25000:11:12.260 capacitor is which as far as I'm 00:11:14.47000:11:14.480 concerned is a little better than 00:11:16.39000:11:16.400 actually knowing that it works not only 00:11:18.22000:11:18.230 does it do you know it works but you 00:11:19.87000:11:19.880 know it works correctly with this test 00:11:22.26900:11:22.279 with the cheap meter all you know is 00:11:24.19000:11:24.200 that the capacitor is actually storing 00:11:25.63000:11:25.640 energy it doesn't tell you whether it's 00:11:27.70000:11:27.710 storing the right amount of energy but 00:11:29.53000:11:29.540 hey knowing whether it's working or not 00:11:31.42000:11:31.430 is usually 99% of the problem anyway so 00:11:35.88000:11:35.890 this cheap meter was about seven bucks 00:11:38.68000:11:38.690 on Amazon this meter which is the tech 00:11:40.93000:11:40.940 power TP 82-68 was $19.99 on Amazon and 00:11:46.18000:11:46.190 I thought it was a great value it was 00:11:47.82900:11:47.839 the cheapest I could find that did 00:11:49.54000:11:49.550 capacitance so if you want to buy these 00:11:52.15000:11:52.160 things I'm going to put the links in the 00:11:53.50000:11:53.510 video description below you can just 00:11:55.18000:11:55.190 link directly to those or you know click 00:11:57.88000:11:57.890 on those and go directly to the buyers I 00:12:00.07000:12:00.080 bought these from now let's turn this 00:12:03.04000:12:03.050 thing on and turn it on and put it on 00:12:06.72000:12:06.730 capacitance which is this symbol here 00:12:09.57900:12:09.589 which is actually four different symbols 00:12:11.07900:12:11.089 so it basically has four functions we're 00:12:13.57000:12:13.580 going to change the function to farads 00:12:16.59000:12:16.600 there we go we're in farad's and this 00:12:19.60000:12:19.610 does have a light on it I don't know if 00:12:20.74000:12:20.750 it makes a difference now you can see 00:12:21.91000:12:21.920 that the difference outline makes I'll 00:12:23.56000:12:23.570 leave it on there for now and it's it's 00:12:26.07900:12:26.089 Auto ranging so you don't have to set 00:12:27.76000:12:27.770 anything you just basically set it to 00:12:30.18000:12:30.190 farad's and then rock-and-roll from 00:12:32.71000:12:32.720 there so let's take it and test this up 00:12:35.05000:12:35.060 we're going to put the comment on it 00:12:36.43000:12:36.440 here and we're going to go to her and 00:12:39.49000:12:39.500 this should be 70 plus or minus 5% so 00:12:43.81000:12:43.820 when you're testing for ferrets you need 00:12:45.57900:12:45.589 to wait a little second as the capacitor 00:12:48.01000:12:48.020 charges 00:12:49.26900:12:49.279 the light automatically times up okay 00:12:51.75900:12:51.769 that's cool and there we go 00:12:57.61000:12:57.620 sixty nine point one so it's within the 00:13:00.91000:13:00.920 five percent variance that the spec for 00:13:03.81900:13:03.829 this capacitor so now I know it's 00:13:07.21000:13:07.220 absolutely a good capacitor before I had 00:13:09.69900:13:09.709 suspect that it was a good capacitor the 00:13:11.53000:13:11.540 other meter would told me that it was 00:13:14.43900:13:14.449 functioning okay and this actually 00:13:17.35000:13:17.360 proves it so for an extra 12 bucks you 00:13:20.35000:13:20.360 can get a nice meter that does this for 00:13:22.66000:13:22.670 you but again if you're in a pinch you 00:13:24.36900:13:24.379 can use that cheap meter or a cheap 00:13:25.74900:13:25.759 meter to do the ohm test on it and 00:13:27.75900:13:27.769 figure it out that way let's go to fan 00:13:30.05900:13:30.069 and do the same test here and fan is 00:13:34.30000:13:34.310 much lower 00:13:35.17000:13:35.180 it's microfarads 7.29 which is supposed 00:13:39.34000:13:39.350 to be seven point five so that's within 00:13:42.22000:13:42.230 the five percent again alright so 00:13:44.41000:13:44.420 there's the actual end value on that and 00:13:48.09000:13:48.100 basically testing it with a $19 meter 00:13:52.50900:13:52.519 you can see the difference right you 00:13:54.16000:13:54.170 actually know that it's actually 00:13:55.84000:13:55.850 charging to the right 00:13:57.61000:13:57.620 you know specified values and if you got 00:14:00.97000:14:00.980 one of these you'll find the values on 00:14:02.94900:14:02.959 it right there we go they're on the side 00:14:07.90000:14:07.910 of the cannon actually hasn't seven and 00:14:09.96000:14:09.970 seven 70 and 7.5 microfarads plus or 00:14:16.72000:14:16.730 minus five percent so that's the value 00:14:20.55900:14:20.569 of having a capacitance meter but again 00:14:24.18900:14:24.199 if you don't have it you can just use a 00:14:25.86900:14:25.879 cheap meter to do the basic test let's 00:14:29.19900:14:29.209 test the dead capacitor just for kicks 00:14:31.44900:14:31.459 with a meter see what we get 00:14:36.43000:14:36.440 you 00:14:38.49000:14:38.500 dad okay let's try that fan side as well 00:14:42.15000:14:42.160 just for kicks 00:14:46.67000:14:46.680 dad so we know that's a bad capacitor 00:14:51.83000:14:51.840 that's just for my video showing you how 00:14:54.30000:14:54.310 to test the capacitor using a cheap 00:14:57.39000:14:57.400 meter now if this is all you've got and 00:15:00.30000:15:00.310 you've tested your capacitor and it 00:15:02.31000:15:02.320 fails this is all you need if it fails 00:15:04.65000:15:04.660 the test that I show in this video 00:15:05.88000:15:05.890 you've got a bad capacitor go replace it 00:15:08.61000:15:08.620 now if it passes well more than likely 00:15:11.40000:15:11.410 you have a good capacitor but to really 00:15:13.47000:15:13.480 really tell whether it's within 00:15:15.30000:15:15.310 specification you'll need something a 00:15:17.31000:15:17.320 little more advanced like this tech 00:15:19.17000:15:19.180 power TP eight two six eight for 1999 I 00:15:24.27000:15:24.280 got this at Amazon I'll put that in the 00:15:26.31000:15:26.320 link to that in the video description 00:15:28.11000:15:28.120 below as well as a link to this cheap 00:15:30.15000:15:30.160 meter that I also bought for seven 00:15:31.77000:15:31.780 dollars at Amazon and then you can get 00:15:34.05000:15:34.060 it from the same supplier that I got it 00:15:35.73000:15:35.740 from now that's it for my video if this 00:15:39.48000:15:39.490 video helped you out or if you'd like 00:15:41.43000:15:41.440 this video do me a big favor and give me 00:15:43.89000:15:43.900 a thumbs up in the bottom right hand 00:15:45.78000:15:45.790 corner and I appreciate that number one 00:15:48.93000:15:48.940 and it helps my videos number two now 00:15:51.18000:15:51.190 somewhere on the screen here you'll see 00:15:52.83000:15:52.840 a picture of me that picture is a 00:15:54.75000:15:54.760 subscription link if you click on that 00:15:56.70000:15:56.710 picture it will subscribe you to my 00:15:58.83000:15:58.840 channel also when you're subscribing 00:16:00.45000:16:00.460 you'll see a little bell beside the 00:16:02.16000:16:02.170 subscription link if you click the bell 00:16:03.96000:16:03.970 icon you'll be notified every time I put 00:16:06.39000:16:06.400 up a new video and then you can watch it 00:16:08.28000:16:08.290 at your own leisure now as always I want 00:16:11.79000:16:11.800 to thank you all for your time and for 00:16:13.56000:16:13.570 watching
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