Enigmatic Condenser Coding

[Eric H]

There are various Capacitor Color Code Charts on the Web, it can be hard to find exactly the one you need.

I will say this though, those particular Capacitors are unlikely to be bad in most cases, Mica and Ceramic Caps are very reliable.

[Kevin Kuehn]

Yep, I Googled ceramic capacitor color code.

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&c...9,r:0,s:0,i:75

[Winky Dink]

Before I posted I spent considerable time looking for examples like the image above. There seems to be a pattern that the extra makings, like the end cap color and the fourth color stripe, indicate information in addition to the capacitance value--most likely voltage rating, tolerance, and/or what units to read (mfd or mmfd [pF]). This one, from the same Admiral TV, reads the correct value if you only use the middle three marks. I did see one site that showed color codes for voltage rating, and green would mean 500V max. Brown would be 100V max. So far I haven't had any problem with just leaving the micas and ceramics alone. But I'm only working on my fifth project ever.



Thanks for the comments. If I find definitive answers, I'll post again.

- Winky

[Kevin Kuehn]

Your last picture is a radial lead ceramic.
As per the chart: The end cap color(A) is definitely the temp coefficient(brown = -30).
The green stripe (E) indicates + - 5% tolerance.

[Phil Nelson]

It's good to learn these things, but I would repeat Eric's observation that this type of cap rarely if ever needs replacement. I don't think I have ever replaced one of the types shown in these photos, knock on wood.

I would be especially leery of messing with this type of cap in an RF or IF circuit, since that might force an otherwise unnecessary realignment.

Phil Nelson

[Kevin Kuehn]

I wouldn't change those caps either, unless the circuit is acting up because of one.