Reviewing Excelvan M6013 Meter [The Best Capacitance Meter]

You know, capacitance measurement can be done with different approaches. One can use a multimeter or LCR meter.

But the professional way to do it is by using a decent capacitance meter.

However, having a decent meter can a tricky task to complete. There are a lot of meters out there in the market. A beginner or any person might get confused about which one to select.

In this post, I am going to help you solve this tricky task by reviewing Excelvan M6013 which, in my opinion, is the best capacitance meter in the market.

Hopefully, you find this article helpful.

Table of Contents

Capacitance Meter

I think we all know by this time that a capacitance meter is a tool by which you measure the capacitance of a given capacitor. It is a specifically designed tool for measuring capacitance only.

You can use it to repair your old electronics devices, or just having fun measuring the capacitance of various capacitors. If you are an instructor, you can use it to conduct various lab activities, that students gonna love and appreciate.

Usually, in electronics devices, capacitors are the most frequent devices that fail to work with the time and you have to replace them.

To know to weather the capacitor needs replacement or not you have to test it. And this testing is done by measuring its capacitance and see if its value is drifted from its written value or not. If the drifted value is in the given tolerance range, a capacitor is considered good, else it is a bad one and needs to be replaced.

The above discussion is true when a capacitor is outside the circuit. I mean you can use a capacitor meter to test or measure the capacitance when it is outside the circuit. You have to desolder the capacitor first from the circuit to test it.

To measure a capacitor inside a circuit you need an ESR meter. To know more about how to measure a capacitor without desoldering it from circuit check out my this post.

Now, the questions arise why we need a capacitance meter, why a multimeter is not good for measuring capacitances. In the rest of the article, I try to answer it for you.

Why we cannot use a multimeter to measure capacitance?

You may have seen, every multimeter has a capacitance measuring option. I am not saying you cannot use it to measure your capacitance. But the following are the problems I see.

First, a multimeter is designed only for measuring resistance, current, and voltages. this is the main focused goal of multimeter not to measure the capacitances.
Second, the range of values, a multimeter doesn’t have a suitable range for measuring every capacitor.
Moreover, sometimes a multimeter can lead you into false reading as well.

So, in my opinion, if you are measuring capacitance go for a specifically designed tool for the said job and that is the best capacitance meter.

The best Capacitance meter, the Excelvan M6013 review

There are many devices out there in the market or on Amazon. You will see a lot of products from a different manufacturer. They may all claim to do the same job. You have to be very smart to find out the best one among them all.

According to my study and knowledge, I found Excelvan M6013 the best capacitor meter out there. I think it is great for DIY to professional engineers.

best capacitance meter review of Excelvan M6013

Let’s have a look on what I found good and bad about the said device.

The Good Features

It is an auto range, which makes it super easy to use and time-efficient.
Powered by 2X AA batteries or by 5V micro USB port.
Accuracy up to 1%, which is very nice.
Comes with 1-year warranty
Measuring range from 0.01pF to 470mF/470000uF
Resolution of 5 digits
Quick Booting time
Good Bright Screen
Nice port for insert capacitor directly into the meter without using external probes.

The Bad Features

Not EMI or RF isolated, which means the reading can be false if you are using it in such an environment.
Larger capacitors are taking more time to measure, which is fine but a kind of annoying.

In summary, Excelvan M6013 (Amazon link) is my choice for measuring and test any capacitance with decent accuracy. And yet this cool device comes with a price tag of below $30, which is amazing.

Measuring the capacitance by M6013

I guess you may have a little idea of how to use it. This section is designed for people just really starting with electronics.

Follow the following steps to measure the capacitance with this amazing best capacitance meter.

Connect the probes to the meter.
Black probe into the black socket and red in the red socket.
You see the probes wires are too short, but this is because to minimize wire capacitances.
Now, take your capacitor you want to measure.
Don’t forget to discharge the capacitor first.
You can discharge the capacitor by shorting its leads. (Be careful, don’t do it be bare hands for high value capacitors.
Put the capacitor in between the probes according to its polarity.
If your capacitor is non-electrolytic then don’t worry about the polarities at all. Just place it between the probes and note down the reading on the digital screen.

Remember, when measuring capacitance it is required to bring the meter to zero value. This is done by pressing the zero button on the meter.

A lot of people make a big mistake there, they just press the button and forget to short the leads. So, keep in mind always short the leads and then press the zero button to actually bring the meter to zero value.

Is there any alternative to Excelvan M6013?

Of course, there are many other capacitance meters out there to choose from. But the Excelvan M6013 is the I truly believe in and I am sure your money won’t go in wrong hands and product.

My final words on reviewing the Excelvan M6013

This is all I want to share the review of Excelvan M6013. In my opinion, this is the best capacitance meter out there in the market. It is low priced and has high accuracy.

You can measure capacitance with a multimeter, but the preferred way is to measure it by a dedicated capacitance meter. Usually, the multimeter has a range that is just enough for small lab projects, if you are dealing with capacitance a lot. A multimeter will be a big failure for you.

Hopefully, you enjoyed the article

You can also check my other post as well:

Thank you and have a good life.