Capacitor Leakage Tester

This tester can be used to check smaller value capacitors to see if they have leakage at their rated voltages. It can also be used to test insulation resistance in wires or to test a diode's reverse breakdown characteristics. The analog meter on the front of the device gives an indication of the current going through the device under test DUT and the multimeter gives the voltage across the DUT.

NOTE OF CAUTION: THIS DEVICE DEVELOPS VOLTAGES UP TO 1000 VOLTS WHICH CAN BE LETHAL IF THIS DEVICE IS MISUSED. ONLY BUILD THIS DEVICE IF YOU UNDERSTAND THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS FOR WORKING WITH HIGH VOLTAGES.

All the pieces used here I had on hand and most came from salvaged parts from other devices or bits and pieces I acquired long ago. If you want to make the project yourself, here are the tools and parts you will need:

Tools:

1) Pliers: Long nosed,

2) Soldering Iron 40 watts

3) Electronics solder

4) Electric drill with drill index.

5) Reamer and miniature file set

6) Multimeter

7) Assorted screwdrivers

Parts:

1) (2) 2N3904 bipolar transistors

2) (2) 1k resistors

3) (2) 4.7k resistors

4) (3) 15 nF capacitors

5) (2) 1N914 diodes

6) (1) IRF630 MOSFET

7) (1) 10-1 miniature audio transformer

8) (1) miniature single pole single throw pushbutton switch (normally off)

9) (1) 1/2 watt, 1 megohm potentiometer

10) (1) 9 volt battery connector

11) (1) 9 volt battery

12) (13) 2000 pF capacitors rated at least 400 volts.

13) (13) 1N4007 diodes

14) (1) set of banana jacks, one red one black.

15) (1) miniature analog meter for current indication. Preferably less than a 1 milliamp movement.

16) different colors of hookup wire and heat shrink tubing to fit over wires that carry high voltage.

17) knob for potentiometer

I have capacitor testers but not a leakage tester which actually measures the current going through a capacitor at its rated voltage. As capacitors age, they start becoming leaky and this tester will demonstrate if they are exhibiting this characteristic. Unfortunately, this tester will not deliver enough current at high voltage to test capacitors of about 1 mfd and above so it isn't very useful for testing electrolytics but excellent for anything below this in value. The best way to test electrolytics is by measuring it's ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) but that's for another Instructable.

This circuit uses an Astable Multivibrator using (2) 2N3904 transistors running at about 10 kHz. This frequency was picked because the 10-1 ratio miniature transformer worked most efficiently at this frequency. The signal is coupled from the second transistor via a 15 nF capacitor to the gate of a IRF630 MOSFET which is biased at 4.5V between the two 1 megohm resistors. One of the resistors is a variable resistor and it varies the size of the signal getting into the gate and therefore varying the voltage on the output. The drain of the IRF630 is connected to the primary of a 1-10 ratio step up transformer where it is stepped up from approximately 25 volts peak to to around 225 volts peak. This voltage is then applied to a Cockroft-Walton voltage multiplier. The end product is around 1000 volts DC which is applied to two outside terminals with the positive side going through a 0-400 microamp meter movement to the positive terminal. The outside terminals are banana terminals so they fit most standard size meter probes.The 9 volt battery current is supplied through a momentary push button switch when a test is to be made.

I first took the box and drilled the necessary holes for the potentiometer, push button switch, meter and the two holes for the banana plugs. The box had top and bottom halves so I put all the holes into the flat part of the top side except the banana plug jacks which were drilled into the lower half.

Using the correct sized drill bits, drill holes for the potentiometer, push button and switch in the top half of the box and in the lower half, for the two banana plug sockets. The meter opening will need to be drilled, reamed and filed to get it to the right size. Do not install meter at this time as the meter plastic cover needs to be taken off and a new scale needs to be made.

I made the voltage multiplier on a piece of vectorboard that was 3 inches by 1 1/2 inches which allowed the components to fit neatly with lots of room. The 13 capacitors and 13 diodes were connected with their own wires together and soldered in place. The AC input goes in one end between two terminals and the positive 1000 volts output is taken from the last capacitor and the right hand terminal of the AC input. This board is transformer isolated from the other board.

The multivibrator was made on a 3 by 1 3/4 inch piece of vectorboard with the components connected together by their own wires and pieces of bared copper wire. The voltage control potentiometer was connected to the multivibrator board and also the push button switch. The output of the transformer was connected via short leads to the voltage multiplier board. Once the multivibrator board was completed, it was confirmed that it operated at 10 kHz by looking at it through an oscilloscope. The MOSFET was mounted without a heat sink and the whole assembly with the miniature transformer mounted with lots of room to spare.

Take off the plastic cover that's covering the meter. It's secured with tape. Cut a piece of white bond paper to size and shape and very carefully make a scale with 4 equal divisions and mark the beginning as 0 and the end as 400. The divisions should read 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 and write microamps on the bottom. Secure the new scale with paper glue and put the meter cover back. The meter can now be installed on the top cover with hot melt glue.

Wire everything together as seen in the schematic and the above photos. The high voltage wiring should either be done with regular hookup wire with a sleeve of heat shrink tubing slipped over the wire. I used old high voltage wire salvaged from an old television.

Looking at the signal taken at the gate of the MOSFET on the far left picture, we see a 9 volt positive going sawtooth waveform with an approximately 1 microsecond negative going spike caused by the input capacitance of the MOSFET. The second waveform shows the drain of the MOSFET where it connects to the transformer. The waveform is more rounded off until it hits a peak of 20 volts. Note the 25 volt spike at the beginning of the waveform as the primary of the transformer tries to resist the change in current passing through it. The third waveform is of the signal as it comes out of the transformer and is applied across the voltage multiplier input. Here it's approximately 225 volts peak or 159 volts RMS. This will be multiplied in the voltage multiplier to approximately 1000 volts DC.

In the first picture the meter is applying approximately 400 volts to a small modern capacitor rated at 400 volts and there is very little leakage, around 25 microamps. The second the same 400 volts is applied to an old fashioned paper capacitor also rated at 400 volts, it's very leaky, passing through 10 times the current. If this capacitor was in a circuit, I would replace it, the other one I wouldn't.