Cason Digital XC6013L Capacitance Tester

[Buccaneer]

Got a low-cost Cason Digital XC6013L Capacitance Tester
for Christmas. While the directions are terrible, (Couldn’t
the Chinese hire someone State-side to translate?)
the meter seems to do what it’s suppose to, and accurate
as far as I can tell. I checked a couple of NOS Madza
condensers that were stated to be .15 MFD, and they
tested very close. I tested the old condensers I removed
from my Merc Mark 5 that are suppose to be between
.15 to .19, and they were both at .19

There seemed to be a good instructional video on this
meter on YouTube, but it was in Spanish 🙂

If a condenser test at a good MFD value, is it any more
likely to be good otherwise?
Thanks.

Prepare to be boarded!

[jeff-register]

To check a capacitor one hundred percent a leakage test must be performed. Doing a capacity check is like checking a race car idling on the trailer. Need to put the cap under load to get performance rating. The current that is saved & dumped at a very fast rate is the real test seeing how it performed. Need a Mercotronic or other magneto tester for a good test, 😉

[garry-in-michigan]

Capacitor leakage can be tested with a multi-meter on the resistance scale. A resistance of infinity would indicate no leakage. Dirty insolation will give you a little leakage. In the circuit, it will give you the resistance in the primary coil winding. Another indicator would be to put a charge on it and see if it would hold the charge for a couple minutes.

. . . 😉

[Buccaneer]

Thanks guys. I remember 38 years ago my uncle showing me
a trick of charging a condenser on a running lawn mower
by touching the condenser lead to the spark plug for an
instant, then wait a little bit to see if it would draw an
arc when you went to ground the condenser lead to it’s
case…… was kind of fun if you were careful !

Prepare to be boarded!

[jeff-register]

Garry,
The infinate reading would show only no short or open, but no under load test It shows open using a very low voltage & certainly not the high voltage the cap must handle under load. Just like Franks bad cap. Didn’t show except under load including the rate of discharge or charge would be hurt. We are testing with only a 9 volt meter battery when the cap endures a few hunderds switching voltage. A 1% test at best.
Sorry

[Author]

Posts