How to Choose the right Capacitor

[jksuperstar]

Slightly older reference, but still holds it's water. Has some very good descriptions about various types of Caps, and when to use them.

http://home.comcast.net/~wjungieee/wsb/Picking_Capacitors_1.pdf
http://home.comcast.net/~wjungieee/wsb/Picking_Capacitors_2.pdf

For the search engine: cap capacitor choose select electrolytic poly propelyne tantalum polarized

[Edit by Blue Hell: also try http://www.reliablecapacitors.com/pickcap.htm - it seems to have moved]

[Edit by Blue Hell: Uploaded 'm here .. see that post in this thread .. erm .. http://electro-music.com/forum/post-442129.html#442129 .. that is]

[mosc]

Wow, that is a great article. I wish I would have read this one years ago. Thanks for posting this. This is practical information you never get in engineering school. Seems this topic is worth making a sticky one.

[jksuperstar]

Sticky = YES! It'd be nice to keep a well moderated sticky for any reference material like this found to be invaluable.

[v-un-v]

[Benjamin]

Hello hello.

The links don't work, which is really a shame since I was hoping to find out what a capacitator is.

[blue hell]

http://waltjung.org/PDFs/Picking_Capacitors_1.pdf I think, there is also a part 2 - found through : http://waltjung.org/Classic_Articles.html the author's web site as it seems.

[Antimon]

And now it seems to have moved again, I think (none of the links above worked for me).

I googled to here:

http://www.reliablecapacitors.com/pickcap.htm

/Stefan (who is making his first journey into musical soldering, trying to decode that tantalum capacitor...)

[blue hell]

[Antimon]

[paults]

a) the best caps for VCO integrators are polystyrene. Look for Mouser series 23PSxxx.

b) for 'general purpose' caps 0.47uf and under (VCFs, etc) use a polyproplyene. A really good size/cost are the WIMA FKP2 series (also at Mouser) or the Panasonic ECQ-P from Digikey.

c) for 0.1uf bypass, use axial ceramic monolythic, such as AVX SA 'Spinguard' series (SA105E104M) at Mouser.

d) for electrolytics, avoid tantalum like the plague (they fail *shorted*) and use a low ESR, 105C type. I like Nichicon UPW series (Mouser).

[meloditech]

Also,when going across a power cable tapped off a car or other high current battery avoid monolithic ceramic surface mount caps directly
across the bus...if they are damadged or physically shocked,they can crack internally to where they dont short complety but experience a great reduction in resistance. No blowout,but you have created a minature infraread heater device in the middle of your project's real estate.A fire after the lights are out is quite possible. Depending on your wiring and whether or not you fused,fusible linked or went direct ;you could short out enough harness wiring to intiate a catastrophic failure of your high current source.Lead-acid battery burns are no fun. i work with these high current taken for granted devices and have learned a healthy respect for both their maintenance and use. Please do not wire these types of caps directly across the battery bus.

[meloditech]

Some experimenters use batteries for some synth,electro -art sculptures or amp projects. I felt the comments concerning high current appropriate.

[gwaidan]

Hi all,

This is another very good reference site...

http://my.execpc.com/~endlr/

[3phase]

just one remark..

for service of vintage modules i started to collect old capaciators from the 50´s and 60´s..

mainly to recap vintage studio modules...

but i realized that some of these big old beasts are very beautifull in synth circuits...

so i recomend to dont throw the old 50´s valve tape machine into the trash without getting the caps out...

of cause you need to test them..but after a few years in this game i can state that caps from 50´s to late 60´s are often in a better condition than the ones from the 80´s.. at least with german gear from that time...
old grundig gearf has often strange time resistance telefunken caps inside...

old measuring equipment is also a source of high quality caps...
at least european stuff

picking the wright cap in a synth circuit very well can be using an audiophil cap..but also can be using a standard shit cap...

they all sound different... and in synth circuits you really hear that..

in the generation of sound details seem to matter more than in the reproduction of sound..

but in the generation of sound also so called bad components can give a nice charakter... while in the reproduction any dirt hurts that might be musical in a synth circuit.

I just wanted to mention that choosing the wright cap is altering sound..and thats worth on special modules to connect a breadboard and have a listen...
can be worth the effort..
picking the wright cap is testing it...

[mosc]

3phase makes a great point. We tend to think of capacitors, resistors and inductors as ideal components, but in reality the devices are not ideal. Every capacitor has some parasitic resistance and inductance, and these are, to various extents, non-linear. The same goes for the other parts as well.

It is convenient for us to ignore these parasitics, and in most cases we can get away with it. But even though we can sometimes ignore them, we should always remember that they are there. While the parasitics are quite difficult to measure, they can sometimes be easy to hear.

[LektroiD]

[blue hell]

[fretless]

[fretless]

----------
so i recomend to dont throw the old 50´s valve tape machine into the trash without getting the caps out...
----------
Nothing is tossed unless it might cause a fire.

----------
they all sound different... and in synth circuits you really hear that..
----------
Tube rolling and cap rolling....

----------
in the generation of sound details seem to matter more than in the reproduction of sound..
-----------
Program EQ vs. source EQ. Program EQ is something that Hirsh Labs would want to measure. Source EQ is measured at the source.

Talkin' about caps and music is talking about "creamy guitar", or Air Studios, or Judy Garland in a field of poppies, oh I digress...

[beep]

Does Anyone still have the PDFs? I get only 404.

400 nanofarad. lol.

[blue hell]

I've just added the following note to the first post in the thread :

[Edit by Blue Hell: also try http://www.reliablecapacitors.com/pickcap.htm - it seems to have moved]

[beep]

thanksalot.

the butler looks inviting.

[JovianPyx]

http://www.musicsynthesizer.com/txt/caps2.txt

Another capacitor reference (FAQ).

[rogerlatur]

Is it ok to use 50v caps in place of 25v caps? For instance 1uF 50v instead of 1uF/25v and vice versa?

Of course I will read all documents about capacitors linked here to know about the subject, but I am ordering right now and wondered as I also have some stock with other voltage values.

[rogerlatur]

Found this evening the answer to my question (could have search a bit more before asking !):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCSNWi3UHf4

Now what I don't understand is why using 25v when 50v can handle more voltage ? I mean why not always using a capacitor with the highest voltage value ?