What Does The Numbers On Small Ceramic Capcitors Mean

This also is the same for 5 µf and the 4 µf capacitors.

What does the numbers on small ceramic capcitors mean.

The top 683 marking indicates the capacitance value which is 68 000 picofarads pf. 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. In a way a capacitor is a little like a battery. 5 µf 6 4 7 to 5 3 µf 4 µf 6 3 76 to 4 24 µf.

The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier. There are three exceptions for the last digit. The two most common types are multi layer ceramic capacitors and ceramic disc capacitors. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them.

The first is used with small ceramic capacitors and appears as a single letter. However small capacitors don t have enough room for all that. When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads. They also happen to be the cheapest capacitor of the bunch so stock up.

Many capacitor manufacturers use a shorthand notation to indicate capacitance on small caps. A ceramic capacitor is a capacitor which uses a ceramic material as the dielectric. Characteristics precision and tolerances. 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.

Unlike their electrolytic counterparts ceramic capacitors hold a smaller charge but also leak less current. The above image shows a mylar film capacitor. 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. Class 1 and class 2.

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. 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. 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. There are two classes of ceramic capacitors available today.