Measuring pF caps with a multimeter

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Bucksears

Well-known member
I'm in a bit of 'paralysis by analysis' here, in that I received several new bags of 5% tolerant pF caps, but they're registering WAY more (like 20% or higher) on my multimeter.
I don't have an actual pF setting, but using the nanofarad detection. Anybody else experienced this?
 
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You may be seeing variance in the measurements due to some limitations in your meter, but seeing more than 5% variance in those low value caps could also be a factor. Are you seeing different results if you measure 10 of them that are supposed to be the same value? And even if they are measuring out of spec, are the measurements consistent with each other? If you get variances between caps of the same value, you can at least choose the ones closest to what they are supposed to measure. If the caps are measuring off but consistent with each other, I would think the accuracy of your meter might be a part of the issue.
 
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It could very well be the meter.
Higher values (.001uf and up) appear to be good. The pF caps I measured are pretty consistent among themselves, so it's likely the meter that's out of whack.
 
I ended up getting a TC1 tester. It tests all caps, resistors, diodes and transistors, including Ge leakage.
 
I had the same problem with pf caps for a long time when using my multimeter, below 1nf I just hoped they were right.

I got one of the mega328 kit testers off eBay really cheap, works very well for pf caps, larger caps (also shows vloss and esr), transistors, diodes, etc.

The tc1 tester mentioned above looks to be about the same thing.
 
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