Recommended Equipment to Accuratly Measure Capacitance  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: DrSwagtastic
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 06:39:30 pm
content: Hi everyone,I'm new here so Ill start with a brief introduction. I am an EE student in the US state of Georgia. Right now I am beginning to stockpile gear for my home lab. I am asking for recommendations on accurate yet affordable devices to measure capacitance. Currently, I am working on designing and building some bandpass filters for an audio application and I need a way to measure capacitance accurately.Also as a beginner, recommendations for other pertinent equipment I may want to invest in would be appreciated to. Thank you!

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 06:56:16 pm
content: For capacitor values relevant to audio circuits, I am very happy with my DER-5000, at its low price point.Be sure to properly calibrate the unit with your test fixture: “calibration” is a misnomer, it actually compensates for the fixture parasitic parameters.

author: MarkT
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 11:10:26 am
content: That is exactly what calibration is! Compensating to get more accurate readings.

author: mawyatt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 12:32:11 pm
content: Second Tim's recommendation. The DER-5000 is a very capable LCR Handheld. We've compared to our Lab Bench Hioki IM3536 and Tonghui TH2832 LCR meters with good results.A word of caution with any LCR Meter, don't attempt to measure a "Charged Capacitor"!! The usual result is a blown LCR Meter front end!!EE at GT?Best

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 12:38:41 pm
content: Quote from: mawyatt on March 23, 2025, 12:32:11 pm... unless the meter is designed to allow measurements on a capacitor with a fixed bias voltage. RTFM appliesUseful if you want to see how capacitance varies with voltage, MLCCs being an extreme example.

author: SteveThackery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 01:23:05 pm
content: These guys have a good reputation, although I haven't personally tried their LCR meter:https://www.peakelec.co.uk/acatalog/lcr45-lcr-impedance-meter.html

author: rstofer
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:16:55 pm
content: I would look at Digilent's Analog Discovery 3 and the Impedance Analyzer attachmenthttps://digilent.com/shop/analog-discovery-3/https://digilent.com/shop/impedance-analyzer-for-analog-discovery/Example discussion:https://forum.digilent.com/topic/30086-ad3-impedance-analyzer-detect-small-capacitance-in-parallel-with-130%CF%89-resistor/The AD3 can be a student's best friend as it has a 2 channel scope, a 2 channel Arbitrary Waveform Generator, a 2 channel power supply (limited voltage/current but workable), a 16 channel logic analyzer (or digital IO) wiith enough add-ons to be truly useful.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:32:53 pm
content: Quote from: MarkT on March 23, 2025, 11:10:26 amNo, it is “compensation”. On LCR meters such as the DER 5000, the calibration results from a crystal-controlled frequency and a precision resistor.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:38:27 pm
content: Any modern handheld meter with capacitance measurement function will do the job just fine for your audio range project.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:46:13 pm
content: Quote from: Bud on March 23, 2025, 02:38:27 pmThe modern hand-held LCR meters are good. However, the capacitance measurement in a handheld multimeter does not help withQor frequency dependence.

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:55:11 pm
content: I think the other responders are right, The new little LCR devices are really great things and I have one. I think even the really cheap ones that cost much less than the Atlas or DER work pretty darn good and also analyze transistors etc... I have used other Atlas units and they are really nice, If you are going to use surface mount components there are some posts about tweezers in the Test equipment section. I would search the test equipment section for more info on any specific meter but here is a start:https://www.circuitstoday.com/top-6-portable-handheld-lcr-metersSince you are an EE student you might be interested in something like the GenRad 1650B Impedance analyzer , I know, it's big and old. But if you are interested in the actual workings of a device for your own edification, it may be something you can learn from, These things are still useful and can measure capacitance quite well. They also can measure capacitance with other components in the circuit. They can measure capacitance with bias voltage also. There are other functions also. I would not spend a lot of money for one but if someone were to offer me one, I would gladly accept the instrument. (Someone did give me one and I had to replace the meter. I am impressed with the function of the device)Just a suggestion......

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 03:06:07 pm
content: Bridges (such as the 1650 series) are good ways to learn about impedance measurements: not just a magic box with a digital readout. One interesting detail about some of these GR bridges is “OrthonullTM”, a clever way of mechanically linking the loss and capacitance knobs to avoid a “sliding null” with low-Qcapacitors.

author: Simmed
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 07:26:09 pm
content: Quote from: DrSwagtastic on March 22, 2025, 06:39:30 pmaccurate to what error %