Ceramic Disc Capacitor Markings

There are several tolerance marking systems used.

Ceramic disc capacitor markings.

The above image shows a pair of ceramic disk capacitors labeled only as 10 and 15 these capacitors and all those under 1000pf directly show their capacitance in picofarads. Capacitor tolerance markings in addition to the capacitance value and possibly the working voltage or breakdown voltage the capacitor may be marked by its tolerance. Ceramic disc capacitor code label will normally consist of three numbers followed by a letter. The first is used with small ceramic capacitors and appears as a single letter.

The first two numbers describe the value of the capacitor and the third number is the number of zeros in the multiplier. Ceramic capacitors are generally smaller than types like electrolytic capacitors and therefore the markings need to be more concise. Ceramic disc capacitors have two to three digits code printed on them. Two of the most common are shown here.

A variety of schemes may be used. Typically the markings on a capacitor may give the figures like 22 and 6v. Ceramic disc capacitors markings are a two or three digit value this tutorial explains how use the code to determine the capacitance in farads. This letter represents the tolerance of the capacitor meaning how close the actual value of the capacitor can be expected to be to the indicated value of the capacitor.

The third digit is the multiplier which is 1000. They are very easy to decode to find the value. The first two significant digits represent the first two digits of the actual value which is 47. When the first two numbers are multiplied with the multiplier the resulting value is the value of the capacitor in picofarads.

A guide to understanding ceramic disc capacitor values.