reading capacitor codes

[scaesic]

what does this mean??

1H103kt   anyone?

[albatross]

I would guess by 103 it means

103 = 10000 pF which is 10n and also 0.01


K = +/- 10% tolerance but I am not sure what "T" means

[Seljer]

^^yep on the 103 part
two numbers + multipleir as a power of 10


I can't remember the other stuff, I think 1H is the voltage rating?

[scaesic]

ahh, i saw kt and thought "oh no, boltzman"

[rove]

this link is the best:
http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/calc/calccap.htm

[boyersdad]

Hmm, how about tropical fish colour codes? I have some TF caps pulled from some old logic equipment, but no capacitance meter...

They have coloured bands similar to resistors, and a letter, like T and H as I remember. Probably tolerance or voltage?

I never see these mentioned in designes. Is that because they're rare, or because they don't sound as good as poly film?

[Meanderthal]

 Tropical fish are poly film. They're not specified because they're big, expensive, and really no better than newer less expensive caps.

[slacker]

This page covers tropical fish cap colour codes.

http://www.arar93.dsl.pipex.com/mds975/Content/components01.html

[boyersdad]

Wow... what I have are definatly not TF caps then. I originally suspected them of being Ge diodes... but they have either 3 or 4 coloured stripes, and a letter "T" near the bottom. They are about the size of a 1n34, and similar looking. My camera batteries are dead-city otherwise I'd post a picture...