Capacitor FAQ

Frequently asked questions on capacitor types, ratings, brands, use and abuse.
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bajaman
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Post by bajaman »

5. Mylar (i.e., Polyethylene)
NOT polythene - POLYESTER :wink:
cheers
bajaman
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BJF
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Post by BJF »

Hi,

I cannot give you specific advice on the E- quite simply there are something like 38 variants made by the manufacturer and outof which I really liked one and little did I care what it contained.

Now discussing mysteries of capacitors......hm where shall we start?
Ok let's begin with tanatalum capacitors......if you'd bias them in reverse they'd distort and SMD variants and also the ceramic SMD caps can change gender and become resistors or even zenerdiodes- yes this has been studied by the swedish military..........
There's an excellent article in Electure about biasing capacitors and there should be at any decent library the german study on distortions in capacitors.......

Look you have an output cap that is loaded by what ? a 10K pot? Come on just use basic corner frequency calculations and that will bring you in the ballpark and then calculate the number of alike filters in the system and you'd get that the composite corner frequency will be the squarequadrant of the number of filters.....yes it is tedious but simple computation.

Do not ever be deluded by capacitors but study the effects and you will know there is no magic only a way of controlling circuits your way- now define what is your way............

I shit you not you can take that cap that you are thinking about and see how it works in the circuit and it is not hard and then you make an educated decision on what you'd like to do......

Ahum microphonics in capacitors- use your hands as probes and you will be in the know.

If you think that a difference of a filter consisted of a near zero Source Z- and yes that's the axis that would point right of the surface of your mathematics book and poke you in the eye-driving a capacitor of 10 uF loaded by 10K and you can compute that in your head to 1,153159....... Hz.
Yes right this is not the only filter but you need to know it all to compute.....................

Hey go read Walter E Jung........

Come on use your ears and I shit you not I get tired of this. :popcorn:

At any rate have fun
BJ

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Grathan
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Post by Grathan »

does a 22nf + 22nf = 44nf?

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Ripdivot
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Post by Ripdivot »

You can parallel or series caps with the following results:

parallel: 22nf + 22nf = 44nf

series: 22nf + 22nf = 11nf

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Post by Silent Fly »

Grathan wrote:does a 22nf + 22nf = 44nf?
Not to be difficult but if you google "Capacitors" the first link points to Wikipedia where you can find everything you need to know about capacitors. Among the other things, how to connect them. :wink:
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lolbou
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Post by lolbou »

to calculate the value of your assembly, it's like for resistors, but in the opposite way...

i.e. capacitors in parallel : add the values to figure out the assembly capacitance (12nF//5nF = 17 nF)

capacitors in series : add the elastances (inverses of capacitances) and you get the elastance of the assembly (you need then to calculate the capacitance by inverting the new elastance. (1/12nF + 1/5nF = 1/Ceq = 0.28 then Ceq = 1/0.28 = 3.53nF )

That's it...
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Post by quaternotetriplet »

Hi, I'm a newbie. And I would like to ask if I can combine capcitors with different voltage. For example, 16v and 35v and etc. in 1 effects pedal?? tnx

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Post by IvIark »

Yes no problem. Without having to look too deep into the individual circuits, just make sure they're all rated higher than your supply voltage and you'll be fine.
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Post by quaternotetriplet »

thanks.

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Post by quaternotetriplet »

do mylar capacitor sounds great??

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Post by IvIark »

It needs a bit of trial and error, a cap can sound mediocre in one circuit but great in another so it's worth looking for a gutshot to see what the manufacturer used. When I was building up a stash I got a cheap bulk lot of electrolytic and ceramics from eBay which covered most of the low and high values and then bought a selection of poly box which ended up covering most values form 1nF to 1uF.

You can get value packs from Futurlec which would give you a great base to start from. They do 4 sets containing ceramic, electrolytic, multilayer ceramics and mylar - so these would probably keep you going for a while and you could just add more individually when you work out what you're going to need additionally for your builds.
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Post by quaternotetriplet »

will 250v capacitors be ok??

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Post by Fuzzer »

Sure.
The Freestompboxes Forum search function is soo great, use the search function..., the S E A R C H function.

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Grathan
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Post by Grathan »

Silent Fly wrote:
Grathan wrote:does a 22nf + 22nf = 44nf?
Not to be difficult but if you google "Capacitors" the first link points to Wikipedia where you can find everything you need to know about capacitors. Among the other things, how to connect them. :wink:
This thread is now #1 for "chain capacitors". :horsey:


anyone know what the value becomes when you put the negative leads together of two similar caps?

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Post by Ronsonic »

Grathan wrote:
Silent Fly wrote:
Grathan wrote:does a 22nf + 22nf = 44nf?
Not to be difficult but if you google "Capacitors" the first link points to Wikipedia where you can find everything you need to know about capacitors. Among the other things, how to connect them. :wink:
This thread is now #1 for "chain capacitors". :horsey:


anyone know what the value becomes when you put the negative leads together of two similar caps?
Same as if you put them in series any other way. The only difference is that they are now nonpolarized and have the voltage rating of one of them.
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