# testing capacitors ( Sprague TO-6 )



## aeroscott (Jan 5, 2008)

I found a TO-6 for $50.00 ,2000uf limit seams low for big inverter caps (6000uf) . what would be a better way?


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## Salty9 (Jul 13, 2009)

I don't know if they would meet your needs but microwave ovens have large high voltage caps. 
be careful tho, if tested to destruction they can explode.


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## aeroscott (Jan 5, 2008)

I have lots of caps mostly from inverter welders . the TO-6 is a cap tester but maxes out at 2000 uf .My big inverter caps are 6000uf @450 volts . I was hoping that some knows more about cap testing / equipment . Thanks for the post .


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## jk1981 (Nov 12, 2010)

What do you want to test? Just measuring the capacitance? Put them in series with another known value capacitor to bring the total for the string down below 2mF. Calculate C_unknown_ from C_measured_ and C_known_.

1/C_measured_ = (1/C_known_) + (1/C_unknown_)

jk


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## Tesseract (Sep 27, 2008)

aeroscott said:


> I found a TO-6 for $50.00 ,2000uf limit seams low for big inverter caps (6000uf) . what would be a better way?


Why didn't you say you want to test a bunch of inverter capacitors in this post? We aren't mind-readers, you know.

Anyway, the most important spec. for caps used in power conversion is ESR. The best way to test ESR is with a network analyzer, but an extremely handy device that I use all the time is the Peak Capacitor Tester.

$110 + shipping and worth 10x as much. Sure beats carrying a rack-mounted network analyzer around, too.


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## aeroscott (Jan 5, 2008)

Tesseract , thanks, sorry I wasn't clear, that esr meter is way better .


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