How do You Test a Capacitor on a Circuit Board?

Capacitors

There are many reasons why you need to test your capacitor. For instance, you may want to know if it’s dead, good, open, or short. But you can’t achieve this if you don’t know any testing methods.

So, here are three ways to test your capacitor with multimeters and voltmeters.

Methods for Testing and Checking a Capacitor

Method 1: Capacitor Test using A Digital Multimeter

Digital Multimeter

Before you start, ensure your digital multimeter is in resistance or Ohm mode. Here’s how to do this project:

• First, discharge the capacitor before connecting your multimeter.
• Then, change your meter’s settings on the Ohmic range to at least 1000 Ohm/ 1kΩ.
• Next, take your multimeter’s probes, and connect them to the capacitor’s terminals. Link negative to negative and positive to positive.
• Check your multimeter’s screen. It should show some numbers before switching to the next step. Ensure you note or memorize the values.
• After a few seconds, the multimeter will switch back to OL (Open Line) or Infinity.
• Lastly, your capacitor is in good condition if it shows the same result for every test. If it doesn’t, the component is faulty.