Ok so I am still trying to understand the whole conversion concept for capacitors. You know uf to nf etc. I'm lookinng at the conversion chart here http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html. I'm trying to find 10uf, I don't see ithere. Is there another conversion I need to do?
Does anybody have a simple method I could use to convert caps?
10uF is fairly large value, so it's not typically written in smaller units. If you wanted to do it, you just need to move the decimal point over 3 times to write it in nF, and another 3 (6 total) to write it in pF.
10uF
10000nF
1000000pF
that's quite a lot of zeros, so you can see why uF are preferred in this case.
very occasionally, you may see it written in mF, which is a larger unit than uF, 0.01mF. Be careful if you're ever browsing smallbear, they incorrectly write uF as mF for some reason.
Thanks! I have a hard time trying to find caps on small bears website.
So would 10uf be listed as 10mf?
Quote from: PaxWorks on July 29, 2011, 07:26:41 PM
Thanks! I have a hard time trying to find caps on small bears website.
So would 10uf be listed as 10mf?
At the Smallbear website, yes. The 'm' usually means 'milli' but when it comes to capacitors, it's uncommon to see milliFarads so in our application would mean microFarads (which should be the letter 'mu')
-Kaleb
Micro = Greek character mu, which looks like this: μ, but is a pain to type. That's why, by convention, everyone (except Smallbear) uses the lowercase u.
1000pf = 1nf
1000nf = 1uF
That's always helpful as well. I prefer 3nF to 0.003uF personally. The decimals can get all complicated, so I try hard to just use nf designations.
Jacob
Ok so currently trying to get together the parts for a serendipity build. Are these the right Caps from smallbear?
C1 0.47mf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=167
C2 100pf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=969
C3 0.1mf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=976
C4 3300pf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=970
C5 0.47mf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=167
C6 100mf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=188
C7 47mf http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=190
The mf thing is still confusing.
Use a poly film for c4 .0033 mF
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=890
Also remember with those electrolytics, they are only rated to 16v. Just an FYI if you ever wanted to run the pedal at 18v you'd be above their rated spec.
Josh
Thanks! Should I go with polyfilm?
Sorry, I don't really understand the question. If you're referring to using poly rather than electrolytic caps. The answer is no. You can source out higher volt rated caps other places if needed. I don't usually power drives at 18v but I like knowing I could...as long as everything else is rated accordingly.
Josh
Here's an excellent conversion table for capacitors --- I printed it out and posted it above my workbench for quick reference.
http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html (http://www.justradios.com/uFnFpF.html)
Practice, practice practice! You'll get it soon enough!