how can i test a transistor like hsd965, a power mosfet like IRF9z34 and general NPN and PNP transistor with my multimeter? also i wanted to know how to test capacitors.
hey i'm a newbie and moreover i am a medical biotechnologist just started to leanr electronics. have some pity on me...Sometimes, capacitors fail without showing any external signs of distress.
Just the other day, I repaired one of our televisions that had a failed 220uF 200v electrolytic capacitor. One of the leads had separated internally from it's plate connection, resulting in an open circuit. The TV's picture had displayed obvious signs of a cap failure in the power supply (bad 60Hz "waves" on screen) before it's supply resistor burned up.
If your meter is the old fashioned D'arsonval type meter movement, you can discharge the capacitor with a low value resistor, then set your meter to read Ohms, and touch the test leads to the terminals. The meter needle will momentarily go towards nearly 0 Ohms, and then settle towards infinite.
A safer method is to discharge the capacitor, and then charge it via a resistor while measuring the voltage across the cap. You can then get an idea of the capacitance via the RC time constant.
See this chapter in our E-book: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_16/index.html
yes i will do all to be good at electronics.. thankyouGee, I thought I was being helpful, and even gave you a reference where you can learn about RC time constants.
If you don't understand a portion of what was written, please quote the portion that you don't understand, and we will try to explain it so that it is more easily understood.
by Duane Benson
by Jake Hertz