hi again, the circuit i'am referring to can be found at MZEntertainment.com (ludens) basically, the circuit consists of a square wave osc, that signal is amplified, detected and rectified then goes to a meter. the actual ac signal(100kc) is picked off and fed to the cap under test the resulting signal then is amplified and fed to the meter. the lower the esr the greater the meter deflection. you have to short the test leads to start the test, you adjust for max deflection of the meter, then test the cap. my question was why does the meter deflect full scale when you short the leads? one of the leads is tied directly to ground. doesn" that kill the signal?