Hello All,
I recently bought one of those generic "component testers'" on Amazon or eBay, and I must say I am impressed. For less then 20 bucks this thing can identify and value test most passives, and show discreet semiconductor pinouts and generic family (NPN/PNP BJT, Triac, diode, etc.). I especially like the rapid test for capacitor value and overall condition. However, I felt like a bit of a dinosaur when I tested my first cap. I was told it was a 100nF cap with X % of VLOSS and had an ESR of x.xΩ.
I have been retired for about 7 years, spent the last 20 years of my career as a video systems engineer, and for 25 years before that I was a bench tech/field service eng./installer. My point is I have been away from "components" for quite a while, which may explain the questions coming next.
When did nano farad become a thing?
Most of my electronics training was through the U.S. Air Force, and we mostly talked in "puffs & muffs" (pF and µF). Of course there are now super capacitors, and we actually have caps measured in Farads, but this nF thing caught me off guard. And when did VLoss become popular? More importantly, are go/no go values for VLoss published anywhere (similar to ESR charts)? My last days as a bench tech introduced me to ESR. We often had to shotgun entire boards because those little SMD caps didn't have much of a life (has that improved at all?). One last comment - I used to be an electronic "tinkerer" in the late late '70's through about the mid '80's.
About a year ago I got the bug again and I am amazed at what is available. My home "lab" was stocked mostly with Heathkit stuff back in the day, but now DSO's, DDS generators and all manner of other goodies are now within the reach of the hobbyist. Add to that the Arduinos, Pi's and plethora of shields and software and this is a great hobby (with apologies to those of you that actually make a living at this stuff - I used to do that too, but find being a hobbyist is much more fun). Comments?
I recently bought one of those generic "component testers'" on Amazon or eBay, and I must say I am impressed. For less then 20 bucks this thing can identify and value test most passives, and show discreet semiconductor pinouts and generic family (NPN/PNP BJT, Triac, diode, etc.). I especially like the rapid test for capacitor value and overall condition. However, I felt like a bit of a dinosaur when I tested my first cap. I was told it was a 100nF cap with X % of VLOSS and had an ESR of x.xΩ.
I have been retired for about 7 years, spent the last 20 years of my career as a video systems engineer, and for 25 years before that I was a bench tech/field service eng./installer. My point is I have been away from "components" for quite a while, which may explain the questions coming next.
When did nano farad become a thing?
Most of my electronics training was through the U.S. Air Force, and we mostly talked in "puffs & muffs" (pF and µF). Of course there are now super capacitors, and we actually have caps measured in Farads, but this nF thing caught me off guard. And when did VLoss become popular? More importantly, are go/no go values for VLoss published anywhere (similar to ESR charts)? My last days as a bench tech introduced me to ESR. We often had to shotgun entire boards because those little SMD caps didn't have much of a life (has that improved at all?). One last comment - I used to be an electronic "tinkerer" in the late late '70's through about the mid '80's.
About a year ago I got the bug again and I am amazed at what is available. My home "lab" was stocked mostly with Heathkit stuff back in the day, but now DSO's, DDS generators and all manner of other goodies are now within the reach of the hobbyist. Add to that the Arduinos, Pi's and plethora of shields and software and this is a great hobby (with apologies to those of you that actually make a living at this stuff - I used to do that too, but find being a hobbyist is much more fun). Comments?