How To Know Ceramic Capacitor Value

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.

How to know ceramic capacitor value. 99 9 of them are not marked at all. Hence the value of the capacitor above is 47000 pf 5. Reading values printed on electrolytic capacitors is easy digits on ceramic capacitors need to know some theory. The color of the ceramic body material can be sometimes helpful.

Here is how to read ceramic capacitor values. Below is a very useful chart for calculation the right value of ceramic non polarized capacitors. How to calculate the value of ceramic non polarized capacitors. 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.

A variety of schemes may be used. Sometimes figures such as 10n will be seen and this indicates a 10nf capacitor. Imagine if we had to shrink their complete specifications down and print them on the capacitor. 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.

Similarly n51 indicates a 0 51nf or 510 pf capacitor etc. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them. Smd ceramic capacitor codes. It s difficult to read their values even with the code.

There are special codes and marking on capacitor which tell about the value of capacitor. We d need a microscope to read them. How do i identify an smd ceramic capacitor and how do i find its value you don t. Ceramic capacitors are tiny.

Like resistors has some coding which needs to decipher printed digits on ceramic capacitors also needs deciphering. When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads. This is why manufacturers started using a three digit code to mark ceramic capacitors. The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier.

About ceramic capacitor codes. Surface mount capacitors are often very small and do not have the space for markings. Often the value may be given in picofarads.