Author Topic: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors  (Read 26574 times)

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Offline Johnny5Topic starter

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Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« on: April 07, 2014, 02:53:54 pm »
Hi folks

My first post, but have been looking at the forum for weeks and watching Dave's fantastic videos. :-+
But thanks to Dave i now have another hobby  :-DD
I have done a few repairs and made a few kits, but now i have set myself a goal.
I have in the garage some old 90's retro intelligent lights which i picked up from a job hoping to repair, sat in the garage for years.
My goal is to repair these for our family NYE party and show off my new slowly aquiring skill.
So far i have managed to test and replace most of the faulty components.... BUT
Now i have the task of checking those damn SMD capacitors
Firstly they have no markings on them what so ever!
I did get a schematic for the board , but that only tells me the values, but not the size or type of smd
How do i find out what caps i have and whats the best way to test them?

Sorry for the long ramble but i just thought it would be a good way to introduce myself

All the best
Johnny


Number 5 is Alive!
 

Offline peter.mitchell

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Re: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2014, 03:10:45 pm »
There are a few types of SMD capacitors, ceramics chip capacitors, tantalum capacitors, electrolytic capacitors and film capacitors.
Ceramic capacitors are pretty easy to identify, they look like a brown block with metal ends - they look burnt if they are bad, generally and will pass most tests unless this is the case.
Tantalum capacitors vary in looks, but here is what they can usually look like; , they usually look a-OK until they go pop and then they look like this;
Electrolytic capacitors look like little cans. The surface mount ones usually don't show any signs when they are bad, although they do get physically hot.
Film capacitors are pretty uncommon in surface mount devices, so you can fairly safely ignore them, but for identification purposes, they look something like this;

The ceramics/tants/films will all be pretty much perfect until they catastrophically fail, electrolytics slowly go up in ESR, getting hotter and hotter until either they pop or just become completely useless.
 

Offline theatrus

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Re: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2014, 03:17:15 pm »
Ceramics and to some extent tantalum and certain polymer caps come in a range of standardized sizes:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/34/SMT_sizes,_based_on_original_by_Zureks.svg/330px-SMT_sizes,_based_on_original_by_Zureks.svg.png

(Do note that a metric 0402 is nowhere near in size to an imperial 0402 - I have accidentally ordered the "grains of sand" 01005 (metric 0402) parts before)

Its common for a board to pick one size and stick with it, unless voltage or capacitance dictates otherwise.
Software by day, hardware by night; blueAcro.com
 

Offline Johnny5Topic starter

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Re: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2014, 03:31:24 pm »
Thanks Peter

sorry i should have been a bit more specific  |O

I did mean ceramic capacitors ..  the ones i have on the board have no markings, i would like to find out how to identify whether they are class 1 or 2 or if they're X7R etc etc and what package size
I have managed to suss the other types due to Daves great video .. but these damn ceramics are a pain in the ass  :-DD
Number 5 is Alive!
 

Offline theatrus

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Re: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2014, 03:43:49 pm »
In general, buy the best dielectric you can (NP0 > X7R > Y5V) for the capacitance and voltage needed for the size of the part. Voltage would need to be determined in the circuit, and capacitance of a good cap via an LCR meter. There are no reliable indicators of what properties they have without testing.

However, ceramic caps rarely fail - its not something you need to watch for unlike bursting electrolytics.
Software by day, hardware by night; blueAcro.com
 

Offline Johnny5Topic starter

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Re: Identifying and testing SMD capacitors
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2014, 04:19:46 pm »
Thanks theatrus

Some of the ceramic caps are coupled with the electrolytic caps, so i was going to replace them in case i heat damaged them .
I am going to replace all the ceramic caps, just basicly down to the age ... they are all Samwha SD and have manged to get the same spec to replace with .
would i be safe with X7R caps or would it be best to over spec to something else?
Also what brands are the good ones ?
With regards to LCR meters, what is a good hobbyist one to go for ?
btw that's a great chart, i shall rint that off later and use it for reference in future

Thanks for the help, i'm really starting to get into working with boards now, i've always managed to shy away from it until i got hooked on the eevblog videos :-DD

Even my other half said Dave's slogan " Dont turn it on , take it apart " is me all over

Must order a t'shirt haha
Number 5 is Alive!
 


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