10 uf capacitor

[mung]

Hi all, I'm a newb. I'm building a dynacomp and the schematic calls for a 10 uf capacitor.  I can't seem to find one at small bear or mouser.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  Thanks!

[roseblood11]

uF stands for micro farads (correct abbreviation is µF), sometimes "mF" is used...
http://www.smallbearelec.com/Detail.bok?no=190

[KazooMan]

You claim to be a newb, so perhaps you are not aware........

The capacitor you are referring to is an electrolytic capacitor.  It has a specific polarity and must be installed in the circuit in the proper orientation.  On the schematic and layout you are using you will see different symbols for regular and electrolytic capacitors.  The board layout diagram will show which leg of the electrolytic cap is + and which is -.  If you are doing your own pcb with a transfer (or if you bought a board) the positions for electrolytic caps will probably have one square pad and one round one.

If you provide a link to the schematic and layout you are using we can provide some more definitive information.

[PRR]

> schematic calls for a 10 uf capacitor

What VOLTage?

Although, in 9V work, you can generally assume "over 9V rating".

> find one at small bear or mouser.

Mouser has EVERYthing which makes it TOO hard to find something appropriate for pedals (not too teeny, nothing exotic, no mystifying specs).

Small Bear is a better place for beginners to shop for pedal-bits.

Small Bear
Stock List
It's a cap, it is over 0.5uFd, it has a "+" sign, it can be an electrolytic.
Capacitors, Electrolytic
We need over 9V, 16V is the next standard rating.
The Bear lists many 16V electro-caps on one page.
Capacitor, Electrolytic, Radial 16V 2.2 mf - 100 mf
The Bear spells "uFd" as "mf".
Value ...
Pull-down the drop-box and Select "10 mf." Look above to verify that he has some (over 3000 today, OK!)
Add To Cart.

Aron's DIYstompboxes STORE (Aron hosts this forum!) is another good place. Link at the top of this page: "STORE".

Capacitors
10uF 35V Electrolytic Capacitor
Quantity [1]
(but 10uFd is a popular value, good to get several)
Add Selected items to cart.

Mouser.com:
Passive Components
Capacitors (whoa, 286,143 choices!)
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors (60,224)
(you have to know that Al is the common electro cap)
Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors - Leaded (24,078)
(not screws, snaps or SMD surface-mount!)
Capacitance - 10 uF
Voltage
shift-select 10V through 35V
431 matches!! 247 in stock! From 3 cents to 3 dollars! (The $9 cap is back-ordered.)
And most of these will probably work... but how can a beginner be SURE?

Whereas Small Bear and DIYstompboxes specialize in DIY pedal parts, and their stuff is known to work good. (Also Mouser does not really need your order, and does not build pedals; while Steve and Aron do build pedals and need to sell their stock.)

[PRR]

DIYstompboxes store is Aron Nelson http://www.aronnelson.com/ He's a musician with some computer skills and many credits. As you know, even a good musician has a few great gigs and other weeks playing for tips. Aron also works in a studio, but in a small (pretty!) town, another feast-and-famine niche. So when you buy from Aron's DIYstompboxes Store you give business to a fellow musician.

Steve Daniels's story is here. Longtime geek, started a pedal-parts business on the kitchen table, did well, still music/audio-only and pedal-mostly parts. He has posted excellent tutorials on his website and in this forum, a real pedal-lover.

Mouser... I recall when they were a small shop for vo-tech supplies. They now have a 10 acre warehouse on the Texas flatlands. They are very good at supporting Design Engineers and small-run production for ALL types of products. Most of their staff has no idea what a pedal is. (But one forum member reported getting a note recognizing what pedal he was building.) Mouser is now owned by TII Inc which in turn is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. which is mostly owned by Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world (and not known for pedals or music). I happen to like Warren. And Disclosure I own a part-share of one share of BH stock. And if you buy a buck of stuff from Mouser, Warren probably gets a penny and I get a nano-nano-penny of share value.

So even though _I_ "benefit" (ha!) from Mouser sales, I think Aron or Steve are better part sources for beginning and small-time pedal builders. Aron and Steve KNOW what you need. The extra dime you pay them is negligible, but saves you from mistakenly ordering some ODD thing from Mouser which might be great in some OTHER line of electronics but not in a pedal.

[mung]

Thanks everyone.  I managed to figure out that they were electrolytic and found the right one.  I will definitely keep Aron and Steve at the top of the list for future orders.  Great site and community here... easily the most helpful resource I've come across in my short DIY pedal career.

[mung]

So I ordered all my parts for the Dynacomp... I ended up finding the electrolytic 10 uf cap, but ordered the rest as metal film caps.  Will they work or should I cancel my order and get all electrolytic instead? 

[trjones1]

Generally all caps 1uf and above will be electrolytic.  Lower than 1uf you have a few choices for capacitor type, but metal film is probably the best.

[mung]

One more question... for a cap listed as .01 uf, would .013 uf suffice or do the values have to be exact with capacitors? 

[PRR]

Caps under ~~roughly~~ 1uFd 50V, film caps are affordable and work great.

Film caps over roughly 1uFd tend to be expensive and large. The next best alternative is usually Aluminum(*) Electrolytic. These are polarity-sensitive and leak a bit. You have to know where you can use them. If the plan shows a "+" sign, the designer intended an electrolytic. Anything over about 2uFd, unless otherwise noted, is very sure to be an electrolytic (because 2uFd of Film is just too big and expensive).

Caps under 1nFd 1000pFd may also be Ceramic or Mica, because such small values are awkwardly teeny for Film construction.

There is a sub-type of Electrolytic: Bi-polar or Non-Polar (same thing), BP or NP. These are really two electrolytics in one. They leak a little, but are not polarity sensitive. In audio they are mostly found as tweeter speaker filters, but we sometimes find one in electronics where the designer has determined that polarity is not consistent.

(*)If not stated, all Electrolytics are Aluminum. The main alternate is Tantalum Electrolytic, but that has gone out of fashion. Ta leaks less than Al, but costs more, and sometimes fails with a BANG. Improved Aluminum Electrolytic has driven Tantalum off the mass market. You may find Tant in some old gear; you may usually replace with good modern Aluminum.

This is like the difference between beer, wine, and whiskey. Different drinks for different needs, but "beer is beer". When you get past "make it work" and move into the AudioPhile world of "transparent sonic splendor", it can be like the wine experts who debate the merits of one wine against another. In "film caps", polyester film may sound different from polypropylene or polystyrene. I've never observed that (except with Z5U Ceramic which IS dubious stuff), and don't think it matters much in "effects" pedals like it might in "pure reproduction" systems.

[PRR]

> for a cap listed as .01 uf, would .013 uf suffice or do the values have to be exact with capacitors?

Where did you find a 0.013u cap??

In 95% of situations, it's not critical. Most caps are used for gentle filtering. 50% either way is a maybe-audible difference, maybe no difference at all. Often, in power filtering and DC-blocking, "more is better" but the plan shows 22uFd because the designer feared a 47u or 100u would cost too much or take too much space. (Or because he had a bucket-full of 22u caps.)

[mung]

PRR, I was just throwing out a # as an example.  The actual # was a .05 uf and I got .056 uf.  I got them from smallbear.  I'm definitely still learning as far as what values have what effects in a given circuit and hope that this first "non-kit" build will help me to understand that stuff a little better.  

[roseblood11]

0.047 would have been a bit closer, but it really doesn´t matter in most cases. Most of these caps have very wide tolerances (10 or even 20%).
So your 0.056 µF could in fact be a 0.05...

[jasperoosthoek]

The m stands for milli, always and without exception, so mF means milli farads . The u is widely used instead of the correct µ (Greek mu) but the m is not micro and is confusing. Come on Steve .

The values written on caps themselves are always very clear

[smallbearelec]

The m stands for milli, always and without exception, so mF means milli farads . The u is widely used instead of the correct µ (Greek mu) but the m is not micro and is confusing. Come on Steve .

When I first started using caps (about 50 years ago, gawd help me,) capacitors were nevr spec'd in farads or millifarads, AFAIK. The usage mf = "microfarad" was common at the time. I maintained the custom that I was used to when I started my store. I am aware that common usage has changed in recent years, especially in Europe. (nf, anyone?) You are always welcome to refer beginners to my Product FAQ:

http://www.smallbearelec.com/Ordering/ProdFAQ.htm

which covers this issue among many others.

[jasperoosthoek]

Thanks Steve for the explanation.

I hope I didn't come across as a smart@$$. I would argue that the least confusing way nowadays would be uF given that many of your customers use metric units. As I grew up with the mm, mL, mg, ms etc, I would read mF as millifarads.

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I maintained the custom that I was used to when I started my store. I am aware that common usage has changed in recent years, especially in Europe. (nf, anyone?)

I see where you are coming from Steve but, ... wouldn't it be better to adapt your capacitor labeling to the customer instead of what you are used to. I will be honest that when I first started in the DIY arena, I was going to order from you but could not understand why everyone referred to capacitors in uF but you did not sell them. You only sold mF capacitors 

Just thinking that your labeling would push away new customers who are not familiar with how things went 30+ years ago. 

[zombiwoof]

I don't have any problem with Steve using mf for microfarads, many people do that because it's often difficult to use the correct micro sign online.  I've inserted the micro sign at times when I posted something or in an email, only to have it come out as gobbledy-gook at the receiving end.  So I just use mf or uf when posting or emailing, most people know that this means microfarads these day.  I never see anything that requires the use of millifarads, just about every kind of component can be described with micro, nano, and pico-farads that I've had to deal with.

Al

[jasperoosthoek]

I've never ever seen millifarads before, only farads, microfarads, nanofarads, picofarads and even femtofarads  . I don't see any reason to use mF when you can just use uF. I don't bother going to the character map to get the µ sign and I use u instead. I only used it here because I copy-pasted it from roseblood11's post  .

[Govmnt_Lacky]

I don't have any problem with Steve using mf for microfarads, many people do that because it's often difficult to use the correct micro sign online. 

I don't have a problem with Steve using mF for microfarad either. It is his business and he can use whatever he wants. I am merely stating 3 facts:

1) The suffix "mF" does have a "valid" use and that use when used in referencing a capacitor stands for millifarad... NOT microfarad.
2) Many new builders, users, potential customers, etc. who DO NOT know what you and Steve know WILL mistake "mF" for millifarad.
3) There are very, very few other sites.... that I have come across... that use mF for microfarad. Almost all of the parts suppliers that I use/have seen use "uF" when unable to use the actual Mu character.