On Thursday, March 9, 2017 at 2:40:31 AM UTC-5, wrote:
40 years ago, back when I did a lot with electronics, capacitors were
either F (farads), UF or MFD microfarads, (UF and MFD were the same
thing), or PF (Picofarad). Now they are using NF. What the heck is that?

I just bought one of these digital meters that not only measure voltage,
current and ohms, but also measures caps. I just grabbed some old
paper/wax caps (because they were handy).

A .5 cap is reading .455 UF

but a
.1 UF cap is reading 106.3 NF
(why the heck does it not read in terms of UF?)

.01 cap is showing

.05 cap is showing 52.6 NF

.02 (ceramic cap) is reading 15.86 NF

40 UF electrolytic is reading 48.1 UF

I could go on, but the ones that are reading in terms of UF are close to
right. (old caps so they are not real precise).

But those reading NF have my head spinning.....
There is no means to change the settings to read UF instead of NF. I am
completely lost and confused!!!

Unfortunately I do not have any PF caps that are not connected to a
circuit, so I dont know if that would read PF or NF or UF.....

Seems we live in a time when everything that was once simple has become
complicated and for no advantage. Kind of reminds me of trying to
determine if I need a 1/2" or a 12 mm socket, when both look to be the
same size.... More senseless complication....

1 mF (millifarad, one thousandth (10ˆ’3) of a farad) = 1000 μF = 1000000 nF
1 μF (microfarad, one millionth (10ˆ’6) of a farad) = 0.000 001 F = 1000 nF = 1000000 pF
1 nF (nanofarad, one billionth (10ˆ’9) of a farad) = 0.001 μF = 1000 pF
1 pF (picofarad, one trillionth (10ˆ’12) of a farad)

Dan