Afroman writes, “Electrolytic capacitors are common, but knowledge of their limitations is uncommon. A demonstration is shown highlighting the difference in performance between electrolytic and ceramic capacitors in power supplies. Other topics discussed in the video: Electrolytic capacitor construction, ceramic capacitors, ESR, ESL, impedance curves, why “0.1uF”, and more.” Via Afrotechmods. Check out the video after […]
Tag Archives: capacitor
App note: Output filter caps for mission critical applications
A great guide from AVX on output capacitor types and their specific uses based on ESR, ESL and temperature properties. Link here (PDF) This document discusses the effect of capacitors on output power quality. It evaluates and provides a comparison of different capacitor technologies, their high reliability qualification availability from COTS+ to space level, and […]
Tear down of a super capacitor
A teardown video of a 1 Farad super capacitor from Electronupdate: In a recent video on the tear down of an electrolytic cap a viewer was wondering what a super capacitor looks like. They have much more capacitance: 10,000 time more on average for the same volume. Surely this means the physical construction must be amazing! Interestingly […]
Bad electrolytic capacitor teardown
Teardown and analysis of a bad electrolytic capacitor from Electronupdate: So, there sitting in a dumpster is what looks like a perfectly good monitor… some of the protective plastic on the base was never even peeled off. A quick power up showed why it was tossed: it simply did not turn on. I had been […]
App note: Conductive polymer aluminum solid capacitors
Presenting the polymer capacitor by Nippon Chemi-Con Corporation. Link here (PDF) Conductive polymer aluminum solid capacitors, which will be abbreviated to “polymer capacitors” in the following, have been recently extending in their applications. The polymer capacitors as well as conventional aluminum electrolytic capacitors are featured by large capacitance and excellent bias characteristics which multilayer ceramic […]
On-chip decoupling capacitors
Ralph Doncaster writes: In virtually all of my micro-controller projects, I’ll use 0.1uF ceramic capacitors between Vcc and Gnd. Depending on the power draw of the MCU and inductance on the power lines, they may not be necessary, at a cost of a penny or less each there’s little reason not to use them. I […]
DIY in circuit capacitor ESR meter
Here’s a DIY in circuit capacitor ESR meter build by Lawrence: This project was conceived as a way to enhance the collection of test equipment on my test bench. I buy a lot of older HP test gear off ebay as well as older radios. Most of this gear is 25-60 years old and needless […]
Emicon-Fun inductor/capacitor lessons
Riktw writes to inform us of a tutorial site covering the theory behind capacitors, and inductors, as well as noise suppression filters. The site is actually a blog, with new posts being posted every month or so. When looking for a small switching power supply module at the website of Murata I found this Emicon-Fun! […]
Troubleshoot and repair a defective LCD monitor
Victor took apart a defective LCD monitor and repaired it. The LCD didn’t respond at all to the power button, so chances were good something was off in the power supply. Sure enough there was a bulging cap, replacing it revived the monitor and saved it from the landfill. Some time ago I was donated […]