Capacitor Help

[Painandsuffering]

math

I'm good enough at math to do that stuff in my head but my numbers in my head were different from the numbers being put out by the scientific calculator on the computer I'm using. I think the computer is tweaking!

 

[Dean Huster]

Ceramic cap voltage ratings

You'll be hard-pressed to find a ceramic cap of 0.1µF or smaller that doesn't have a voltage rating of at least 25vdc; 0.01µF and under are usually at least 50vdc; once you dive below 0.0047µF, most will probably have ratings of around 250-500v. If all you're working with is solid state circuits under 50v, I doubt that you'll have any trouble with your grab-bag caps.

Electrolytic caps are the ones that tend to have lower voltages since they have higher capacitances. Fortunately, most of those always have the voltage ratings printed on them.

Most Mylar (polyester) caps will have voltage ratings of around 50v, and most of 0.01µF and below are 100v. There are no guarantees on any of these minimum ratings, of course, but with 40 years of experience in this stuff, you get a feel for what's normal after a bit.

Dean