I need help with a capacitor callout

[foos-it]

First off, I'm a newbie to pedal building and this type of electrical projects, and I've been reading a ton on here since joining, trying to learn. My capacitor call out question is on the ROG Thor project. The schematic calls for a 470p. I'm confused what size this is. Is it short for 470pf, or is it the type of call out where I use the first two numbers x the third number which is the multiplier, and the letter is the tolerance. I have seen similar call outs like 100n, and 15n that confuse me too. Also, how do I figure out if it's a film cap, a mica cap, or a ceramic cap?

Foos-it
     

[Perrow]

Semi-newbie myself, but I'd say you can safely assume p and n to be short forms of pF and nF. As for film, mica or ceramic; I'd say use what you have but favor film or mica over ceramic.

[Scruffie]

p is pF, n is nF, it's just shorthand.

Film, Mica or Ceramic, that's your choice, whatever values you can find in whatever material, some people claim to hear a difference but electrically, it wont effect your pedal.
There isn't any particular reason to favour film or certainly mica over ceramic unless you want to pay more or feel you can hear that difference (i.e. you'd say you had 'Golden Ears')

[brett]

Hi
It's a 470pF - not hard to get.

p is for pico, a thousandth of a
n for nano, a thousandth of a
u for micro, a thousandth of a
m for milli.

just like
k for kilo, a thousandth of a
M for mega

Ceramics are useful for 1 to 1000 pF
films are useful for 1000pF/1n to 1000n/1u
electros are good for 1u and up

there's a small area of overlap between films and electros (between 0.5uF and 2.2uF) where experience and reading will help decide
cheers

[twabelljr]

A 470pf ceramic or film cap will have the code 471 stamped on it. Check this cool site that does value to codes and codes to values:
http://www.electronics2000.co.uk/calc/capacitor-code-calculator.php

[chi_boy]

This may help too.  This is the chart I always use.  It doesn't tell you what type to use, but does show how all the sizes relate to each other.  I think the company sells stuff too, but I haven't actually purchased anything from them.  I just like the chart.

http://www.garrettelec.com/misc/design_data.cfm#cap_code

[foos-it]

Thanks for the the help.

[digi2t]

Here is a conversion chart that I use. I printed it out, and have it pasted by my work bench. Very handy. Any non-polar cap with only 2 digits is the value in picofarads.

http://www.hamradio.cc/electronics/capacitance_conversion_chart.php

For resistors, I love this calculator. Does all resistors, both ways.

http://www.hobby-hour.com/electronics/resistorcalculator.php

Cheers,
Dino