What Does The Numbers On Small Ceramic Capcitors Mean

When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads.

What does the numbers on small ceramic capcitors mean. The second is used for a variety of capacitor types and is indicated by a unique assortment of lettrs and numbers which represent the low and high temperature requirements the lower and upper acceptable temperature range of operating the capacitor and its. The above image shows a mylar film capacitor. 5 µf 6 4 7 to 5 3 µf 4 µf 6 3 76 to 4 24 µf. The first is used with small ceramic capacitors and appears as a single letter.

There are three exceptions for the last digit. The two most common types are multi layer ceramic capacitors and ceramic disc capacitors. Characteristics precision and tolerances. The top 683 marking indicates the capacitance value which is 68 000 picofarads pf.

If you have a capacitor that has nothing other than a three digit number printed on it the third digit represents the number of zeros to add to the end of the first two digits. This letter represents the tolerance of the capacitor meaning how close the actual value of the capacitor can be expected to be to the indicated value of the capacitor. As you can see the high side of the 35 µf capacitance tolerance 37 1 µf does not meet the low side of the capacitance tolerance of the 40 µf 37 6 µf capacitor you are trying to replace it with. However small capacitors don t have enough room for all that.

There are two classes of ceramic capacitors available today. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them. You can quickly identify a through hole ceramic capacitor by looking for the small yellow or red bulbs with two terminals sticking out of them. Although they work in completely different ways capacitors and batteries both store electrical energy if you have read how batteries work then you know that a battery has two terminals inside the battery chemical reactions produce electrons on one terminal and absorb electrons on the other terminal.

7 is not. The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier. This also is the same for 5 µf and the 4 µf capacitors. In a way a capacitor is a little like a battery.

Many capacitor manufacturers use a shorthand notation to indicate capacitance on small caps. They also happen to be the cheapest capacitor of the bunch so stock up. A ceramic capacitor is a capacitor which uses a ceramic material as the dielectric. Ceramic capacitors which are usually tiny pancakes with two pins typically list the tolerance value as one letter immediately after the three digit capacitance value.