RF laboratory often requires capacitance meter for small capacitors in pF range. Such a device can easily be built by yourself. Here, a measurement converter for PC serial port is presented. The frequency of an oscillator is reduced by the target and measured on a PC. The appropriate conversion then allows the direct display of the capacity. The input uses a short and low capacitance probe tip. The opposite pole is clamped to ground cable with a crocodile.
The NE555 precision timer receives its operating voltage directly from the serial interface and produces a measurement object without C is a square wave with a frequency of 3.5 kHz. The signal is processed via the CTS input of the interface.
Build Accurate LC Meter and start making your own coils and inductors. This LC Meter allows to measure incredibly small inductances making it perfect tool for making all types of RF coils. LC Meter can measure inductances starting from 10nH - 1000nH, 1uH - 1000uH, 1mH - 100mH and capacitances from 0.1pF up to 900nF. The circuit includes an auto ranging and reset function to make sure the readings are as accurate as possible ... [more]