Home
Forum
What's New
EE Directory
Post a Job
EE Jobs
Design Tools
Catalog
Heat Tracing
Motor Control
CAD
Electrical Tools
EE Introduction
Electrical Safety
Find E-Contractor
FE Exam
Electrical Store
Benefit Claims
Take a Break
About Us
Contact Us

Capacitor - What we need to know

Capacitor is a device that stores electric charge. When a voltage potential difference exists between the two parallel conductors, charges will build up and create an electric field between the plates. Capacitors are commonly used in electronic circuits.

A few types of Capacitors


Boss CAP2S 2 Farad Capacitor (Silver)

Boss CAP2S 2 Farad Capacitor (Silver)

Product Features and Technical Details
2 Farad Capacitor With Digital Voltage Display
Silver Finish
Brand Name: Boss
Model: CAP2S

Rockford Fosgate RFC1 - Car audio capacitor

Rockford Fosgate RFC1 - Car audio capacitor

Product Features and Technical Details
Item Weight: 5.9 pounds
Shipping Weight: 6 pounds
ASIN: B0012BWMKW
Item model number: RFC1

How to read capacitor values?


Small capacitors can be read by number Code
For example:
Boss CAP2S 2 Farad Capacitor (Silver)

102 equals 1000pF

1st and 2nd digit is the capacitor's value number and the last digit is the number of zero.

Some capacitors don't have any numbers but you will see some different colors on them. The value then can be read similar as number code using color code method: Black = 0; Brown =1;Red=2;Orange=3;Yellow=4; Green=5;Blue=6;Violet=7;Grey=8 and White=9;

Capacitance Unit Converter

    Mega = 10E6
    Kilo = 10E3
    Milli = 10E-3
    Micro = 10E-6
    Nano = 10E-9
    Pico = 10E-12

Capacitors in Series and Parallel

Calculates the total capacitance of a series or parallel using following formulas:
The total of a number of capacitors in series is given by:
1/C = 1/C1 + 1/C2 + 1/C3 + ...
The total of a number of capacitors in parallel is given by:
C = C1 + C2 + C3 + ...
The relationship between the current flow and applied voltage is given by
Capacitor Circuits


The Energy stored in a capacitor is expressed in joules and given by

Energy = Ue = CV^2/2


The equation for the charge stored in a capacitor is:
Q = C * V
where C is the capacitance, V is the voltage the capacitors is charged to, and Q is the charge in Coulombs.

How to check a capacitor


How to Check a Capacitor - Click here for this week’s top video clips

Recommended Resources

capacitor winder

Capacitor winder

Power System Capacitors (Power Engineering) by Ramasamy Natarajan

Top capacitor page

Home


footer for capacitor page