Capacitors are a very integral part of many circuits – from storing voltage to jump a battery, handling inrush current for your motor, the bootstrap in which controls your high side driver, or as a filter helping to transform AC waveforms into a DC state. Although the functionality of the capacitors may change depending on the job assigned to it, the formula that determines how fast it charges stays the same. In this tutorial, we will be utilizing this relationship between time, resistance, and capacitance to determine the value of the capacitor while utilizing the BeagleBone Black to both drive and measure the circuit. This tutorial will also be utilizing the BeagleBone’s ability to run python as the interface for calculating and displaying the information.
If you wish to replicate this tutorial, you will need the following items:
(1) - small breadboard (1) - BeagleBone Black (2) - 1k Ohm resistors
(1) – Resistor of a known size (x) – Various Capacitors (x) – Various Jumpers
Read the full tutorial here:
Using the BeagleBone Black to create a Capacitor Value Detector.docx (502.0 KB)