Ceramic capacitors with Z as tolerance. What does it means?

[sean87]

Hi all,

In one of my expiriment boards a ceramic capacitor with written value of "104Z" is broken and I have to replace it. I think this is a 0.1µF Cap, but I am not sure what is that Z is standing for. On the net it is written +80% and -20% tolerance also it says these capacitors are Assymetric?? Can somone explain this please and can I replace this with a 104K cap?

Thanks.

[Zero999]

Tolerance is the acceptable range of values the component can have, in order for it to pass QA.

K is 10% so is a suitable replacement for +80% -20%

[sean87]

So Z means it can be +80% more or -20% less than actual value?

[ejeffrey]

Yes.  That is a common tolerance rating on capacitors intended for power supply filtering, including a lot of aluminum electrolytics.  The tolerance doesn't matter much, and especially extra capacitance almost never hurts.