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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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187602 No.187602 [Reply] [Original]

How do I go about seeing if a component is working or not? does it still pass a value when I put it to a multimeter? I bought a bunch of old radio shit at an estate sale last week, just resistors and electro and film caps and such, and alot of the stuff seems to have been pulled from boards.

>> No.187607

get a multimeter and do a continuity test.
if the meter says 'infinite resistance' the part is junk.

>> No.187608

Get yourself a multi-meter that can measure capacitance.

>> No.187617

>>187602
gibba seffa mully mena an dowah coninuipy pest

>> No.187640

>>187617

yo queero taco bell

>> No.187650

>>187607
That's not really true.
Current doesn't flow through a capacitor. A multimeter will think there's some continuity while it's charging up, but that will be over in a few milliseconds for small caps, at which point it will say O.L. A broken capacitor on the other hand might show continuity if the plates are touching.

Some multimeters can test capacitance. The best way to test a part without one is to see if replacing it fixes the problem, or make a simple circuit that uses it.

>> No.187656

>>187602
Really old shit? Like antique?
Rule of thumb: Electrolytic capacitors more than, say, 5 years old? Likely to be shit, all dried out and useless. Small value solid capacitors? Other passives? Probably OK. Transistors? You can check them. Tubes? Unless you know someone who has a transconductance-type tube tester, or you have something known-good-working to plug them into, it's anybody's guess.

>> No.187668

As above, first replace all electrolytic capacitors. Use good ones like rubycon, Nichicon, Panasonic, etc from RS Components or Farnell/Element14 etc.

>> No.187673

>>187668
I kind of wonder, though, does the likely lower ESR of newer-design electrolytics make much difference when used as replacements in old tube equipment? Not where used as power supply filters, naturally..

>> No.188042
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188042

>>187673
Not really. Most equipment built during that period had +/-10 or even 20 % variation in parts values. You probably shouldn't use electrolytic caps in anything but filters anyway IMHO.