MF470 Capacitor Tester Review

[@robharley9838]

You can't have too many devices to test the mysterious Capacitor! :) Thanks for the review. - JRH

[@nathanrice1796]

I like your unbiased evaluation of electrical test equipment. I need something that can measure 1.0 Farads.

[@josephlalock8378]

hi tony. hope your surgery goes well and i wish you a speedy recovery. i would really like to see another tuner alignment video but with focus and detail on IF sweeps for earlier tuners.

[@kylesmithiii6150]

Thanks for the video Tony! I have an old version of it, perhaps 10 years old. I don't use much anymore. I think yours has more features. The contacts between the red and black plugs are for inserting the legs of the capacitor directly, they can be useful. I used to power mine mostly via the USB input, I rarely used batteries (so I would not forget them for a long time in the equipment and they would leak -- OMG Duracells that destroyed some of my testers in the past). Regards,

[@JCWise-sf9ww]

Thank you for evaluating these nice capacitor testers. I have the ESR Capacitor Wizard, I seen it on your channel and on another channel being used to test the ESR of various caps. That inspired me to buy one, I like it for the in circuit testing. One drawback of the Cap. Wizard, was I would forget to turn it off, so I installed a LED power on indicator and told the manufacture it needs a power on light.

[@guateque1718]

I've had my mf470 for about 8 months. Hardly any reviews out there but I got it to try and it's very good. The other obscure piece of test equipment with only one review on KZbin that really works well is the Clt-3G capacitor leakage tester. Both of these are cheap and very useful.

[@Edisson.]

Thanks for the info and have a nice day 🙂 Tom

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

Love that it can check the big main filter caps. My peak ESR70 and even the Sencore LC102 struggle with anything over about 15000uF

[@SimonB6706]

I have the same Peak ESR70 too. Just checked the spec and they've updated it to the GOLD model that measures up to 90,000uF.

[@NovaluxStereophonic]

@@SimonB6706Do you have the new version?

[@LawpickingLocksmith]

Cool! I like the way it guesses the values and shows tolerance. Pity on the ESR side it should go lower to 1uF to be a practical repair help.

[@solarman30]

Nice! Ordered one. Need something to measure and sort little pf caps (for RIAA, etc.) Thanks Tony! Dan

[@brianwood5220]

Nice gadget, I hope you get good use from it. Thanks for sharing.

[@poormanselectronicsbench2021]

I have owned an earlier version of this tester ( Excelvan M6013) since 2017, and I will admit, it is a fairly accurate tester compared to some of my other testers ( Leader LCR740 bridge, Sencore LC53 and LC102, along with a few others) The one negative of my older one is, it does not also do an ESR measurement like the newer item you have. Coming equipped with shorter leads is also another issue, except for, it's leads won't add any stray capacitance to a low - PicoFarad value measurement, and I use it often for those purposes. It also does not have any internal discharge circuit in it, so a user must be aware of this or they may toast it quickly trying to test a cap that either didn't discharge or bounced back due to dielectric absorption.

[@zulumax1]

I also have the M6013. I will rid the test leads altogether, and use the plug in port for very low noise and stability if the components leads allow. Of course zero calibrate without the test leads.

[@poormanselectronicsbench2021]

@@zulumax1 You might have an instance of just lifting one lead to test in the unit, so, they are still handy to have around.

[@zulumax1]

@@poormanselectronicsbench2021 I have to have this new one, because the M6013 won't do the large caps above 470 mfd. The price is affordable. I also have the MESR-100. Happy with them, yes.... good value for the money.

[@garygranato9164]

good video, thank you

[@BJcanal270]

Thanks for sharing

[@dkubarek1]

@xraytonyb I have the MESR-100. Have you experimented with creating new leads? I tried banana plugs and short speaker wire. I also tried banana plugs to DMM probes but couldn't get it to calibrate due to the probes being too long. The alligator clips make it hard to test in circuit.

[@guateque1718]

I tried all types of different probes on my mesr 100. I actually got some cheap aneng brand multimeter probes to zero. I had two screw on type banana plugs, I cut the plug end off of the multimeter leads and shortened them both in steps of 1 inch until the mesr 100 would zero. Sounds good but the values using the multimeter probes were not accurate. The only thing that works very well are the kelvin clip type probes. one example of the kelvin clip type that you can search google for " firgelli automations gold plated smd test lead with kelvin clip and 4 mm banana plugs".

[@knightwar3]

i have a similar capacitor meter m6013 it has an esr reading too you can measure capacitors without test leads just insert the capacitor leads into the socket that is between the test leads, for esr measurements i rely on the mesr-100

[@stevent3450]

Thank you for the video, I have several Cap meters/Testers one of which is an Agilent, I always get different results and its confusing, I see there is now a knock off that looks just like this from China so you never know what you're buying, I wish someone in USA would design/develop these things for sale here. oh, and happy Surgery, hope it's not a hernia surgery, I went thru that :)

[@bigbazer]

Thank you for the video 👍 Did you know that you can measure inductance with your mesr-100 meter? Just divide the ohms measurement of the inducter by 0.628 and you get the answer in Millihenrys😉

[@guateque1718]

I learned about this from the learn electronics repair channel. It really works well.

[@bigbazer]

@@guateque1718 I think that's where I picked up that tip too. And it does work well.

[@daveturner5305]

I like the range at the extremes. Many meters don't cover this.

[@jutukka]

So, best meters (not only capacitance but LCR-) often have an option to change test frequency, but they usually naturally cost more as well.

[@davet3804]

Tony , I can measure esr on small caps in manual range 47mf .. try it (but not on auto) I have similar m6013

[@sguttag]

@xraytonyb have you checked its accuracy against a known good meter? It seems to want to read low on _almost_ every capacitor you checked. Perhaps, it isn't well calibrated on its own.

[@overbuiltautomotive1299]

nice tool God bless

[@MrDoneboy]

Hello again Tony!

[@SimonB6706]

I thought you also had a Peak ESR70 too? I took a look at the spec of the newer ESR70 Gold model. It has a resolution of 0.01 ohms, up to 40 ohms. Range 0.3uF to 90,000uF. It can measure in circuit too.

[@xraytonyb]

I don't have one of those, but if they are anything like the Peak products I do have, then it must be good.

[@rogerknapman1260]

Tony, is the female Dupont header with the eight positions for measuring capacitors without the need for the short leads?

[@xraytonyb]

Yes. You can plug the leads of the cap straight into the header connector

[@t1d100]

@ 4:59 There seems to be a good many different capacitor charts on the web. My guess is that they were developed over the years as cap technology changed. However, I don't know which chart to use with my DE-5000, for modern caps. I would very much like a video on the topic, which culminates with a recommendation for a particular chart. Thank you! Capacitance type, uFs, ESR and Leakage.

[@paulb4661]

Perhaps it's best to simply refer to manufacturer's data sheet? All these parameters are listed.

[@t1d100]

@@paulb4661 Certainly better information is found there. But, for a quick check of a part, this is not going to be fast and for the off-brand types you probably are not going to find a data sheet at all. But, thank you for your reply.

[@zulumax1]

There is mention of the ability to use PC software to hook up to the USB C port for logging of data. There is no mention of what software that might be, curious.... I have the M6013 which is similar and looks the same, however it is limited to 470mf and does not test ESR. It also has a USB C port, but I understood that is for battery elimination, not sure if it has data output. I also have the MESR-100 and the Capacitor Wizard which I like both for different reasons, same as you mentioned. Heathkit IT-28 for testing leakage. Perhaps you could do a video that explains what else an ESR meter is useful for, like tracking down short circuits with multiple devices in parallel. I use mine for checking power switches on vintage hifi, and speaker protect relay contacts in circuit. I like the Capacitor Wizard better for that, because it is faster responding and will react to banging on the power switch when it is in the "on" position.

[@xraytonyb]

I went into the website and there is no sign of software being available. Maybe in the future?

[@zulumax1]

@@xraytonyb I am sure there is someone out there in the community who knows. The sum of our knowledge base is always greater than any one of us as an individual. I always come away learning something on this channel. Thanks Tony for sharing this jewel. I will have to get one, good value and build quality.

[@alex1520]

USB is probably for firmware updates

[@xraytonyb]

Yes, and it can also run from USB power.

[@laetlaet6130]

عمل رائع

[@jedi-mic]

What you got hernia? You can't live with it. Make sure you check out the anesiologist see how many deaths they've had under them and rating they got, they're the most crucial person in an operating theater.

[@briang.7206]

I think you're right we should ask who is going to do the procedure and do some research.

[@hubertz3049]

I bought this meter and I am disappointed, what irritates me the most is that when measuring capacitance from 1uF to 4.7uF I cannot read the ESR improvement, and the intention to do so will show AVG. In manual mode, I can only read ESR from a capacity of 10uF and higher. so I'm disappointed. 😤😖🫤😞