Almost All Digital Electronics L/C Meter IIB

The AADE IIB is mostly meant for RF work and measures pF / low-nF caps. The internal calibration capacitor is approx 1nF.

I love mine but it gives up above 0.1uF and I use a cheapie Chinese Cap meter for higher values. Does your IIB measure low value parts OK?

Check the AADE website, last time I checked it had a lot including schematics, kit build instructions, etc.

piglet

Oh, yes,low pF caps measure within specs of the cap; caps from about

10p to uFs read nicely. Bought mine made by the company after downloading the schematics and build instructions. Have had it for around 2 years with no problems until recently.

Any clues?

On 25/10/2014 07:01, Robert Baer wrote:>>> On semi-rare occasions,when i am measuring capacitors,the meter will >>> say "Not a capacitor" and re-zeroing does not help. > Have had it for around 2 years with no problems until recently.

So does it-

a) read "Not a capacitor" with parts that it sometimes does read correctly? or

b) always reads some caps correctly and always reads others as Not A cap?

Try opening the case and check for spider webs across the switches or similar cleanliness or connection issues. Sorry that is all I can think of at present.

piglet

Does your description "until recently" mean suddenly? That is, as far as you can tell, did it possibly degrade over time? Either way can be a clue.

• Usually get that open circuit...

• It is a ranDUMB problem.

I use it so little, that "recently" is the only answer..

Could be leakage.

You could add a smaller cap in series w/the 'cap under test' & do the math. That would eliminate any leakage problem, and extend the meter's range too.

Cheers, James Arthur

I was responding to the original post.

If it happens with the leads open, that's another thing entirely. It would help if you'd just said that to start with.

"My AADE cap meter reports 'not a capacitor' with nothing connected."

There, that wasn't so hard was it?

Cheers, James Arthur

An OPEN circuit? RanDUMB?

With the test terminals open the AADE should read near zero low pF i.e. what you zero out with the zero button. The display is NOT A CAPACITOR when the terminals are shorted or the capacitor value is too large. Conversely on inductance it displays low nH when shorted and NOT AN INDUCTOR when open.

The fact you are getting the shorted or overrange display when open circuited makes me suspect internal intermittant shorts around the switches. Have you looked inside?

BTW this meter does not have a low battery warning - have you checked the battery is OK?

The meter is diy-friendly and should be straightforward to fix.

piglet

Battery is OK; guess i should check the switches.