24
Making Measurements
Hint: If you want to accurately mea-
sure a very small resistance, you can
view the resistance of the meter’s test
leads, then subtract that resistance
from the measured value. To mea-
sure the resistance of the test leads,
simply touch the ends of the leads to-
gether. The meter selects the 400
Ω
scale and displays the resistance of
the test leads. You can also use the
meter’s relative function to do this
(see “Using Relative Measurement”
on Page 17).
MEASURING
CAPACITANCE
The capacitance measuring circuit in
your meter charges a connected ca-
pacitor to a specific voltage level,
then discharges the capacitor to a
lower voltage. The meter measures
the amount of time takes to discharge
the capacitor.
Caution: Do not connect the test
leads to a source of voltage with the
function selector set to
•
•
•
•
. This
could damage the meter or the circuit
being tested.
1. Remove all power from the cir-
cuit under test and discharge all
capacitors.
2. Rotate the function selector to
•
•
•
•
.
3. Set the meter to measure capaci-
tance by pressing
SELECT
.
nF
or
µµµµ
F
appears. Then repeatedly
press
RANGE
if necessary to
manually select the range you
want.
4. Attach the red test lead to the
positive side of the capacitor and
attach the black test lead to the
negative side of the capacitor. Or
remove one of the leads of the
capacitor you want to measure
from its circuit and connect the
test leads to the capacitor. The
measured value appears.
Note: Electrolytic capacitors
have positive and negative termi-
nals. Be sure to connect each
test lead to the correct terminal to
match the polarity of these
capacitors.
Notes:
• The voltage applied across elec-
trolytic capacitors will affect their
measured values. That is, a
measurement taken with a low
voltage will be different and lower
than that taken with a voltage
that approaches the capacitor’s
voltage rating. Since this meter
cannot use high voltage to set
the electrolyte, it cannot measure
the absolute value of capaci-
tance.
• Low-value capacitors might
match or be close to the actual
input capacitance of your meter.
To measure low capacitance val-
ues, use the meter’s relative fea-
ture to adjust the meter for the
meter’s own capacitance (see
