Introduction to Capacitor

                                           Capacitor

                                Just like the resistor, the capacitor, sometimes referred to as a condenser, is a simple passive device that is used to "store electricity ". The capacitor is a component which has the ability or "capacity" to store energy in the form of an electrical charge producing a potential difference (static voltage) across its plates, much like a small rechargeable battery .

                         There are many different kinds of capacitors available from very small capacitor beads used in resonance circuits to large power factor correction capacitors, but they all do the same thing, they store charge 

                         In its basic form, a capacitor consists of two or more parallel conductive (metal) plates which are not connected or touching each other, but are electrically separated either by air of by some of a good insulating material such as mica , ceramic, plastic, or some form of a liquid gel  as used in electrolytic capacitors. The insulating layer between a capacitor plates is commonly called the dielectric.

                        Due to this insulating layer, DC current can not flow through the capacitor as it blocks it allowing instead a voltage to be present across the plates in the form of an electric charge.

                 

                             When used in direct current DC in a circuit, a capacitor charges up to its supply voltage but blocks the flow of current through it because the dielectric of  a capacitor is  non conductive and basically an insulator. However when a capacitor is connected to an AC supply , the flow of the current appears to pass straight through the capacitor with no resistance.

Capacitor Color Code Table

Band Color	Digit A	Digit B	Multiplier D	Tolerance (T) > 10 pf	Tolerance (T) < 10 pf	Temperature Coefficient (TC)
Black	0	0	x 1	± 20%	± 2.0 p F
Brown	1	1	x 10	± 1%	± 0.1 p F	-33×10-6
Red	2	2	x 100	± 2%	± 0.25 p F	-75×10-6
Orange	3	3	x 1,000	± 3%		-150×10-6
Yellow	4	4	x 10,000	± 4%		-220×10-6
Green	5	5	x 100,000	± 5%	± 0.5 p F	-330×10-6
Blue	6	6	x 1,000,000			-470×10-6
Violet	7	7				-750×10-6
Grey	8	8	x 0.01	+80%,-20%
White	9	9	x 0.1	± 10%	± 1. 0 p F
Gold			x 0.1	± 5%
Silver			x 0.01	± 10%

Capacitor Voltage Color Code Table

Band Colour	Voltage Rating (V)
	Type J	Type K	Type L	Type M	Type N
Black	4	100		10	10
Brown	6	200	100	1.6
Red	10	300	250	4	35
Orange	15	400		40
Yellow	20	500	400	6.3	6
Green	25	600		16	15
Blue	35	700	630		20
Violet	50	800
Grey		900		25	25
White	3	1000		2.5	3
Gold		2000
Silver

Capacitor Voltage Reference

• Type J  –  Dipped Tantalum Capacitors.
• Type K  –  Mica Capacitors.
• Type L  –  Polyester/Polystyrene Capacitors.
• Type M  –  Electrolytic 4 Band Capacitors.
• Type N  –  Electrolytic 3 Band Capacitors.

Capacitor Letter Codes Table

Picofarad (pF)	Nanofarad (nF)	Microfarad (uF)	Code	Picofarad (pF)	Nanofarad (nF)	Microfarad (uF)	Code
10	0.01	0.00001	100	4700	4.7	0.0047	472
15	0.015	0.000015	150	5000	5.0	0.005	502
22	0.022	0.000022	220	5600	5.6	0.0056	562
33	0.033	0.000033	330	6800	6.8	0.0068	682
47	0.047	0.000047	470	10000	10	0.01	103
100	0.1	0.0001	101	15000	15	0.015	153
120	0.12	0.00012	121	22000	22	0.022	223
130	0.13	0.00013	131	33000	33	0.033	333
150	0.15	0.00015	151	47000	47	0.047	473
180	0.18	0.00018	181	68000	68	0.068	683
220	0.22	0.00022	221	100000	100	0.1	104
330	0.33	0.00033	331	150000	150	0.15	154
470	0.47	0.00047	471	200000	200	0.2	254
560	0.56	0.00056	561	220000	220	0.22	224
680	0.68	0.00068	681	330000	330	0.33	334
750	0.75	0.00075	751	470000	470	0.47	474
820	0.82	0.00082	821	680000	680	0.68	684
1000	1.0	0.001	102	1000000	1000	1.0	105
1500	1.5	0.0015	152	1500000	1500	1.5	155
2000	2.0	0.002	202	2000000	2000	2.0	205
2200	2.2	0.0022	222	2200000	2200	2.2	225
3300	3.3	0.0033	332	3300000	3300	3.3	335