How To Know Ceramic Capacitor Value

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.

How to know ceramic capacitor value.

A ceramic disc capacitor does not have a polarity and connects in any direction on the printed circuit board. 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. When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads. Similarly n51 indicates a 0 51nf or 510 pf capacitor etc.

How do i identify an smd ceramic capacitor and how do i find its value you don t. Often the value may be given in picofarads. Class 1 caps np0 c0g ceramics. This is why manufacturers started using a three digit code to mark ceramic capacitors.

Imagine if we had to shrink their complete specifications down and print them on the capacitor. Here is how to read ceramic capacitor values. It s difficult to read their values even with the code. We d need a microscope to read them.

Ceramic capacitors are tiny. Reading values printed on electrolytic capacitors is easy digits on ceramic capacitors need to know some theory. Surface mount capacitors are often very small and do not have the space for markings. Smd ceramic capacitor codes.

The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier. Sometimes figures such as 10n will be seen and this indicates a 10nf capacitor. A ceramic capacitor is a fixed value capacitor where the ceramic material acts as the dielectric it is constructed of two or more alternating layers of ceramic and a metal layer acting as the electrodes the composition of the ceramic material defines the electrical behavior and therefore applications. There are special codes and marking on capacitor which tell about the value of capacitor.

If you are new to capacitor codes then the best way to start is with a chart because that way you can see the arrangement of the code. The color of the ceramic body material can be sometimes helpful. About ceramic capacitor codes. A variety of schemes may be used.

Like resistors has some coding which needs to decipher printed digits on ceramic capacitors also needs deciphering. 99 9 of them are not marked at all. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them.