[sdiy] finding bad caps

[Barry Klein]

Curious if any of you guys have suggestions on capacitor testing
instruments.
I have used the BK 875A LCR meter, an ESR meter, and a Huntron and am really
not satisfied that I can use these to find bad electrolytic (or other) caps.
Right now I am just going through some non-working things in my garage, like
motherboards and LCD monitors.  I see obviously bad electrolytics pull them,

replace them, and many of these things then worked.  But I take those same
parts and put them on the various instruments and not much becomes apparent.
Frustrated, I do some research.  There are a couple "cap analyzer" products
out there - but I'm thinking they work like my ESR meter.  The ESR meter
does show some variance, but isn't good enough to find everything.  I then
read about Sencore cap analyzers...  there have been many different models
over the years.  They test caps 4 different ways. Seem like maybe they would
be the best bet as they test at rated voltage for dielectric absorbtion and
leakage as well as capacitance and esr.  There are so many different models
I ask if you may know if it makes much difference or even if these have
proven worthwhile units to have for you.  I have ordered a demo of the cream
of the crop LC03 for a work-related demo to see if it can determine anything
worthwhile about MLCC caps - the guys at Sencore didn't really know how
weird MLCC's can be with DC bias... and had not tested them with the LC03.
After looking at that I'll look at those bad electrolytics...  but I will
never spend that kind of money on a cap tester for home...  Maybe you know
of some old jewel tester with the tuning eye tube that does what I want?
There is a youtube video of a guy recommending one of these but ebay and
craigslist come up empty finding one.
I know many of you just guess the date of caps and replace the older ones
but I'd really like to nail this if I can.

Barry