- Circuit Components
- Assorted Capacitors Values - 5- 100 Uf 16V, 5- 10 Uf 50V, 5- 47 Uf 50V, 5- 220 Uf 50V, 5- 1 Uf 50 V, 5- 1Nf, 5- 100Nf 5- 10Nf
ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITORS
Pin Configuration
The Electrolytic Capacitors have polarity. Meaning they have a positive and negative pin. The pin which is long is the positive pin and the pin which is short is the negative pin. You can also identify the polarity using the negative strip on the capacitor label. As shown in the picture above the negative pin will be directly under the negative symbol.
Note: There are many types of capacitors; however electrolytic capacitors are the most widely used ones and this document is applicable only for the same.
Features
- Capacitor Type - Electrolytic
- Has a high range of capacitance value starting from 0.01uF to 10000uF
- Has a high range of voltage value starting from 16V to 450V
- Can withstand a maximum of 105°C temperature
Capacitance Units
Not all capacitors are created equal. Each capacitor is built to have a specific amount of capacitance. The capacitance of a capacitor tells you how much charge it can store, more capacitance means more capacity to store charge. The standard unit of capacitance is called the farad, which is abbreviated F.
It turns out that a farad is a lot of capacitance, even 0.001F (1 milifarad – 1mF) is a big capacitor. Usually you’ll see capacitors rated in the pico- (10-12) to microfarad (10-6) range.
| Prefix Name | Abbreviation | Weight | Equivalent Farads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Picofarad | pF | 10-12 | 0.000000000001 F |
| Nanofarad | nF | 10-9 | 0.000000001 F |
| Microfarad | µF | 10-6 | 0.000001 F |
| Milifarad | mF | 10-3 | 0.001 F |
| Kilofarad | kF | 103 | 1000 F |
Precaution
While using an Electrolytic capacitor care should always be taken to connect the positive pin to the positive of the circuit and the negative pin to the negative of the circuit. Also the voltage appearing across the capacitor terminals should always be less than the rated capacitor voltage (V). Failing to do so will lead to abnormal heating of the capacitor and might even burst.
CERAMIC CAPACITORS
Pin Configuration
The Ceramic Capacitors has no polarity. Meaning they can be connected in any direction. They are breadboard friendly and can be easily used on a perf board also. The symbol for ceramic capacitor is just two plain lines as shown above since they do not have any polarity.
Note: There are many types of capacitors; however ceramic capacitors are the most widely used ones and this document is applicable only for the same.
Ceramic Capacitor Features
- Capacitor Type - Ceramic
- Has a high range of capacitance value starting from 10pF to 3.3uF
- Has a high range of voltage value starting from 16V to 450V
- Can withstand a maximum of 105°C temperature
Identifying Ceramic Capacitors
The value of a ceramic capacitance will not be directly mentioned on the capacitor. There will always be a three digit number followed by a variable; let’s learn how to identify the value using these numbers. Consider the following capacitor.
As you can notice, these three digits are split into two digits and the third one is the multiplier. In this case 68 is the digit and 3 is the multiplier. So 68 should be multiplied with 10^3. Simple put it is 68 followed by 3 zeros. Hence the value of this capacitor will be 68000 pF. Notice the unit should always be pF. Similarly a capacitor with 220 code means it is 22 Pico farad, since 10^0 is 0.
The voltage rating of the capacitor can be found by using the line under this code. If there is a line then the voltage value is 50/100V if there is no line then it is 500V.
The most commonly used capacitor values along with their conversion in Pico Farad, Nano Farad and microfarad is given below.
Code |
Picofarad (pF) |
Nanofarad (nF) |
Microfarad (uF) |
100 |
10 |
0.01 |
0.00001 |
150 |
15 |
0.015 |
0.000015 |
220 |
22 |
0.022 |
0.000022 |
330 |
33 |
0.033 |
0.000033 |
470 |
47 |
0.047 |
0.000047 |
331 |
330 |
0.33 |
0.00033 |
821 |
820 |
0.82 |
0.00082 |
102 |
1000 |
1.0 |
0.001 |
152 |
1500 |
1.5 |
0.0015 |
202 |
2000 |
2.0 |
0.002 |
502 |
5000 |
5.0 |
0.005 |
103 |
10000 |
10 |
0.01 |
683 |
68000 |
68 |
0.068 |
104 |
100000 |
100 |
0.1 |
154 |
150000 |
150 |
0.15 |
334 |
330000 |
330 |
0.33 |
684 |
680000 |
680 |
0.68 |
105 |
1000000 |
1000 |
1.0 |
335 |
3300000 |
3300 |
3.3 |