capacitor voltage

[Hairy Harry]

Hi Corneel:

It depends on what the highest possible voltage the cap could
ever see is... and whether you need the added safety margin.

I like to go double... so on a +/- 15 volt supply I use
35V caps. Should there be a short circuit, I will probably
not have worse than 30V across the cap, still within its rating.

Remember some supplies have higher voltages when lightly loaded...
Line voltage could be unusually high.
Modulars might be plugged into other, higher voltage supplies...

If AC waveforms or lots of ripple current are expected, the caps
may need a higher voltage rating. This usually applies to things
like power amplifiers, switch mode power supplies, and not to
common DIY stuff.

For the 12V example... I'd go with the 25, but would not lose sleep
if I had to use 16V for some reason (size, availablilty...etc)

H^)  harry


>From: Kyn Si <kynsi at boomboomclap.demon.nl>
>Reply-To: kynsi at boomboomclap.demon.nl
>To: synth-diy at node12b53.a2000.nl
>Subject: capacitor voltage
>Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 17:47:51 +0100
>
>Hi,
>
>How do you determine the voltage a capacitor should have? I the power is
>for instance 12V can I use 16V caps or should I use 25V?
>
>thanks,
>
>corneel.
>
>
>
>
>_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.
>
>"the modern day composer refuses to die" - E. Varese
>
>             "real music never will" - K.S.
>
>         http://www.boomboomclap.demon.nl/kynsi
>
>_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._.

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