What is a capacitor color code?

Capacitor Color Codes for Identification Chart Capacitors may be marked with 4 or more colored bands or dots. The colors encode the first and second most significant digits of the value, and the third color the decimal multiplier in picofarads. Additional bands have meanings which may vary from one type to another.

How to determine capacitance of a capacitor using colour coding system?

Using this international colour coding system the user can determine the value of capacitance of the capacitor including the tolerances. In this colour coding system the colour bands are used to determine the capacitance value. Table bellow shows the colour bands to determine the value of the capacitor.

Which ring should a capacitor be on?

Usually it is the three leftmost or the three middle rings (the broadest ring, or the one closest to the end should be to the left). As capacitors typically have high tolerances, values from the E12 series is almost invariably used, so the correct reading will yield values beginning with 10, 12, 15, 18, 22, 27, 33, 39, 47, 56, 68 or 82.

What are the color bands of capacitance?

In the following tables, the first three color bands show the value of capacitance, the fourth band as tolerance in percentage and the fifth band shows the temperature coefficient. For example: 1st Color Band = First Number of Value of Capacitor. 2nd Color Band = Second Number of value of Capacitor.

How to identify capacitor values & tolerances?

For identifying the capacitor values and tolerances international colour coding scheme (electronic colour coding) was introduced. Every capacitor has colors or alphanumeric characters on the body which indicates the nominal capacitance value of the capacitor. The capacitance can range from 1pico factor to 1 farad.

What is a compact value labeling code for a capacitor?

There are three commonly used compact value labeling codes for physically small capacitors: the colour ring or bar code, the three-digit numeric code and three character alphanumeric code. The first two codes are equivalent in that each of the ten colours used represent a digit.