The Heathkit C-3 Condenser Checker

In this video I take a look at a piece of vintage electronic test equipment, the Heathkit C-3 Condenser Checker.

[@youtuuba]

Nice video Jeff. I have also done a video on the C-3, as I thought it merited exposure. Unlike some of Heath's lower-end test equipment, in which area I am often underwhelmed, I think the C-3 is a pretty 'nice piece of kit' and does its job quite well. Also, an attractive unit in a businesslike way. Good job on the 3D printed knob; I have started to use my printer more and more to fabricate odd items in my restoration projects (most recently a replacement for the original 'light shield' in a Heathkit IM-102 Nixie DMM).

[@transmaster]

I also have a C-3 and fairly good condenser checker. But with this said I figured out that you have to test the cap out of circuit you might just as well replace it with new one.

[@6A8G]

Thank you so much for posting this - I have one of these in my workshop though it's in the older colour scheme (my favourite BTW). I replaced all the caps - they were out of tolerance for leakage & value. The resistors for measurement were spot on but the ones in the voltage divider shange were all high.

[@josephcote6120]

I like mine, useful for showing to visitors that ask "What does all this stuff do?" I did find on mine that the leakage test voltages were all high, so I rebuilt the voltage divider to bring all the voltages to just under what it says on the meter. Three wire cord and a 1/4 amp fuse added. Death cap taken out. The binding posts were pretty oxidized, so those were replaced.

[@randyab9go188]

I use mine not for checking old capacitors but for checking new ones to make sure that my newly acquired assortment from China are good and can hold up under rated voltage.😊

[@ssks1979]

As always, excellent device details. Thanks!

[@danapeters]

I've always wondered whether a "condenser" was somehow different from a "capacitor". Now I know it is just an antiquated term.

[@R2AUK]

👍

[@hammingdad1]

Great video! Thanks for going through the trouble of posting, Jeff. New subscriber here. I have one of these which has been restored. I'm currently using it to leak check the several paper caps (black beauties) in an old RCA Senior Volt-Ohmist VTVM, Model WV-98A. WHAT type of CAP would you recommend I replace those black beauties in this VTVM with? They are all bad.

[@jefftranter]

Any modern metallized film capacitor should be suitable, such as you can get from justradios.com or Mouser or Digikey.

[@hammingdad1]

Perfect. @@jefftranter Thanks. Have a pleasant evening.