rs3232 serial to TTL Cap question ?

[Cj1corbystarlet]

Hi guy's and Gals,

 I'm doing a typical serial to TTL project based around a rs3232 chip, Looking at the data sheet i can use  0.1uf caps(5 in total) since i'm only working with 3.2v, ok got that, the caps are polarised in the data sheet for the chip.

What type of cap should i use ??  Tant/monolithic/ceramic/whatever...... i have a bag of ceramics laying around (non polarised) will they do the job.

Yes a retarded question, but its doing my head in.
regards
Ben

[deephaven]

They will be just fine.

[daedalus]

Ceramic will be ok, but their voltage rating should be higher than 15v, as the chip will act as a charge pump to drive RS-232, and rs232 levels are anywhere from 5v to 15v (the spec goes to 25v, but that's pretty much unheard of these days).

[alm]

It depends on the driver. I think the MAX3232 uses voltage doubler, so peak level should be ~11V max. The average is just above 5V.

[Cj1corbystarlet]

Thanks all for the replies, the ceramic caps i have are a 50v rating, and the rs232 data is at 5v,

regards
Ben