How to Read a Capacitor

Capacitors are elements of a circuit that react to rapidly changing signals, rather than slowly
changing or static signals. Capacitors can store the energy from strong rapidly changing signals
and return that energy to the circuit as desired. The most common usage of capacitors is to
absorb noise, which is by definition a rapidly changing signal, and divert it away from the signal
of interest. Different capacitor values are needed to trap different types of noise. Use these tips to
learn how to read capacitor designations and determine the value of the capacitor.

Steps

1.
1
Understand the units of measurement used for capacitors. The base unit of
capacitance is the Farad (F). This value is too large to be of use in a circuit. Smaller
denominations of capacitance are used by electronic circuits.

o
o

Read uF as microFarad. 1 microFarad is 1 times 10 to the -6 power Farad.

Read pF as picoFarad. 1 picoFarad is 1 times 10 to the -12 power Farad.

2.
2
Read the value directly on larger bodied capacitors. If the surface of the body is large
enough, the value will be printed directly on the capacitor. For example, 47 uF indicates
47 microFarads.

3.
3
Read the capacitance of smaller bodied capacitors as two or three numbers. The
designators uF or pF will not appear due to the small size of the capacitor body.
Read two digit numbers as being in picoFarads (pF). For example, 47 would be
read as 47 pF.
o Read three digit numbers as a base capacitance value in picoFarads and a
multiplier. The first two digits will indicate the base capacitor value in
picoFarads. The third digit will indicate a multiplier to be used on the base
number to find the actual value of the capacitor.
o Use a third digit of 0 through 5 to place the corresponding number of 0s behind
the base value. A third digit of 8 means multiply the base value by .01. A third
digit of 9 means to multiply the base value by 0.1. For example, 472 would
indicate a 4700 pF capacitor and 479 would indicate a 4.7 pF capacitor.
o Digit-Character-Digit. Some small capacitors are marked with codes like 1n0. The
digits are the values before and after the decimal point and the the character tells
you the dimension; so the example given is 1.0 nF (nano-Farad).
o

4.
4
Look for a letter code. Some capacitors are defined by a three number code followed by
a letter. 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
tolerances are indicated as follows.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Read B as 0.10 percent.

Read C as 0.25 percent.
Read D as 0.5 percent.
Read E as 0.5 percent. This is a duplication of a D code.
Read F as 1 percent.
Read G as 2 percent.
Read H as 3 percent.
Read J as 5 percent.
Read K as 10 percent.
Read M as 20 percent.
Read N as 0.05 percent.

o
o

Read P as plus 100 percent to minus 0 percent.

Read Z as plus 80 percent to minus 20 percent.