Color markings on a Capacitor defines its value. You only need to know How to read Capacitor Color Marking Values, its calculation and Identification Codes. This post will give you a brief idea about how to decode capacitor color markings with example.
There are some capacitors in market which has its capacitance printed on it. For example – Electrolytic capacitors. But what about those who have only a number marking printed on it? Or a color marking on it? A Capacitor number or its color stripes can provide us many useful information concealed in it.
Lets revive the basics first. The conversion of Farad to Micro Farad, Nano Farad and Pico Farad is as follows: –
Fig. 1 – Conversion Chart of Farad
We should divide the decoding procedure into two parts for less confusion i.e.
Decoding of capacitor color marking
Decoding of capacitor number marking
In this post, we will discuss about: –
Decoding of Capacitor Color Marking
There are some capacitors which are color marked to specify the capacitance value, tolerance and voltage level. In such capacitors, the upper two color bands denote the first and second digit. The Third color band gives the tolerance value and the last band gives the working level of voltage. The chart for the same is placed below : –
Fig. 2 – Capacitor Color Codes
Let’s take an example to understand it in a better way.
Fig. 3 – An Example to Understand How to Read Capacitor Color Markings
In the above mentioned capacitor :
- The first colour band is Brown. That means the first digit is 1.
- The second colour band is Red. That means the second digit is 2.
- The third colour band is Green. That means the number of zeros are 5.
- The fourth colour band is white. That means the tolerance level of this capacitor is ± 10 %.
- The last colour band is Yellow. That means the working voltage of this capacitor is 400v.
If we compile all the data, we can decode the capacitance value of this capacitor. The compiled data will be 12 x 105 pF ± 10 % tolerance.
