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crwdns2933797:0Arthur Shicrwdnd2933797:0crwdne2933797:0
crwdns2936043:0crwdne2936043:0 crwdns2933505:0crwdne2933505:0 Arthur Shi
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| [title] Capacitor basics | |
| [* icon_note] A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy. It's like a low capacity, fast charging/discharging battery—except a battery has an electrochemical conversion component, whereas capacitors store electrical energy directly. | |
| [* icon_note] Capacitors are often used to store bursts of energy (as used in camera flash bulbs) and filter/smooth out voltage fluctuations (often in power supplies). | |
| [* icon_note] Capacitance is a measurement of how much a capacitor can store at a given voltage. The SI unit of measurement for capacitance is Farads (F). Most capacitors have a nF (nanofarad) or μF (microfarad). | |
| [* icon_note] The multimeter "measures" capacitance by charging the capacitor with a pulse of energy, recording the voltage decay as the capacitor discharges, and calculating the capacitance value with an equation. | |
| + | [* icon_note] ***You'll often need to decouple the capacitor from the circuit in order to measure it.*** Capacitors are often integrated in parallel to other components in a circuit, making direct measurement difficult. To decouple the capacitor, disconnect one end of the capacitor from the circuit. |
| + | [* black] ***The iFixit multimeter can only measure capacitance up to ~100mF (millifarads).*** |