"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I guess that explains why I've seen 30 different answers :))

Thanks for the quick response. Guess I gotta score a C meter.


Or a resistor and sig generator ... either sine or square wave can be used
with the proper technique.
--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.

Tom Bruhns wrote:

It's sad but true that some manufacturers use "560" to indicate 56pF
and some use "560" to indicate 560pF. I've fretted over this same
thing in the past. I have examples of both. Fortunately, the trend
seems to be toward the usage that, as you say, is common sense. Too
bad it has not been universal.

Me, too. I solved the problem some time ago by picking up a really cheap
DMM that measures capacitance as an extra feature. I'm sure it's not
super precise, but it can easily tell the difference between 56 and 560
pF. My capacitors are sorted by decade in plastic drawers. Questionable
ones get checked before going into (or back into) the drawer, so from
then on I can tell which it is by which drawer it's in.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Tom Bruhns wrote:

It's sad but true that some manufacturers use "560" to indicate 56pF
and some use "560" to indicate 560pF. I've fretted over this same
thing in the past. I have examples of both. Fortunately, the trend
seems to be toward the usage that, as you say, is common sense. Too
bad it has not been universal.

Me, too. I solved the problem some time ago by picking up a really cheap
DMM that measures capacitance as an extra feature. I'm sure it's not
super precise, but it can easily tell the difference between 56 and 560
pF. My capacitors are sorted by decade in plastic drawers. Questionable
ones get checked before going into (or back into) the drawer, so from
then on I can tell which it is by which drawer it's in.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

My favorite meter is the LC Meter IIB sold by AADE as a kit.

Does a good job measuring Capacitance and Inductance...the L meter is REAL
handy when you're tearing apart VCR's and old TV's for parts scrounging!

http://www.aade.com

It's a hand-held, digital

Inductor inductance meter
Capacitor capacitance meter
with a four digit display,
a maximum resolution of 1 nHy / .01 pF
a maximum range of 150 mHy / 1.5 uF.
The unit features
AUTOMATIC RANGING and SELF-CALIBRATION.
"It is a solder it together and it works kit."

My favorite meter is the LC Meter IIB sold by AADE as a kit.

Does a good job measuring Capacitance and Inductance...the L meter is REAL
handy when you're tearing apart VCR's and old TV's for parts scrounging!

http://www.aade.com

It's a hand-held, digital

Inductor inductance meter
Capacitor capacitance meter
with a four digit display,
a maximum resolution of 1 nHy / .01 pF
a maximum range of 150 mHy / 1.5 uF.
The unit features
AUTOMATIC RANGING and SELF-CALIBRATION.
"It is a solder it together and it works kit."

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

I agree with everyone else James...

having said that, I don't have a C meter myself and I use a lot of
components recycled from old boards, and I've never yet had a problem. In
fact I've never even thought about it, I just rely on intuition. Seems to
work Ok. I suspect there are a number of subconscious variables that go into
this, like the nature and function of the circuit it came from, and probably
most important, what does the capacitor look like! How big is it, what shape
is it (how fat etc)., and how this compares to some other capacitors found
of supposedly similar value which are unambiguously marked.

73

Hans
G0UPL
http://www.HansSummers.com

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

I agree with everyone else James...

having said that, I don't have a C meter myself and I use a lot of
components recycled from old boards, and I've never yet had a problem. In
fact I've never even thought about it, I just rely on intuition. Seems to
work Ok. I suspect there are a number of subconscious variables that go into
this, like the nature and function of the circuit it came from, and probably
most important, what does the capacitor look like! How big is it, what shape
is it (how fat etc)., and how this compares to some other capacitors found
of supposedly similar value which are unambiguously marked.

73

Hans
G0UPL
http://www.HansSummers.com