finding a smaller film cap!

[mordechai]

I have a few .68uF film caps that I got from Small Bear...and they're huge!  Each one is the size of a piece of Dentyne Ice gum.  I am looking for something about half the size so that I don't have to bend the leads to fit it into the cap footprint on a PCB I'm using.  Any suggestions on what brand/model film cap I can find that has the same .68uF value but isn't nearly as big?

[Morocotopo]

Film caps in those values are big, no matter the brand. Try a multilayer ceramic. Tiny little thing.

[pappasmurfsharem]

I assume it's a Mylar or similar film?

The box caps tend to be considerably smaller than the chiclet style caps

[nocentelli]

I have some 1uF box caps that are indeed smaller than the 680n chicklet ones, but the lead spacing is still 5mm (i.e spans three holes on perf/veroboard). If you want half the lead spacing, electrolytics of that value come in much smaller sizes: Maybe you could find some non-polarised elctro's, is that an issue?

[Kesh]

+1 to box caps

[mordechai]

Actually, I managed to find a box cap that does the trick.  Much easier to work with.

I also found a Greenie that seems to fit the spacing, too, but this brings up a related question -- do Greenie's really sound different than other film caps?  I've heard mixed views on this, and I wonder whether it would matter much at all in a fuzz/overdrive type of circuit, as opposed to something like a compressor or a chorus where signal clarity is more pronounced...

[armdnrdy]

Capacitors increase in size with capacitance and rated voltage. A 200 volt .68uf is going to be much larger than a 63 volt model of the same capacitance.

The unwritten rule is to use caps that are rated for about twice the voltage of the particular section of the circuit.

With that being said...one can use a cap rated for 16 or 25 volts in a nine volt pedal. In a section where only the signal is passing through, you can use a lower voltage rated cap.

Now it isn't practical to stock every value in many assorted voltages but.....if there are space constraints on the PCB, and the circuit section allows, you can utilize a lower voltage/smaller sized cap.