what are these things?

[scampo77]

i have a Bunch of these things which i originally thought were caps of some kind. but i recently blew up a thermistor and it looks just like these things. where i get confused is the units of measure printed on the side of these things, they all seem different i have K,n,V,J,u and some have strips like a resistor. I'm not sure what they all are or where to start cataloging these things or if i just throw them all away.

K I'm guessing is Resistance?
V volts?
u micro farads?

the J and the n have me most confused and J is on most all of them. any help would go a long way. i need a 2K ohm thermistor (QAD0012-202) and I'm wondering how to go about finding one in this pile.

[Mad_Professor]

Re: what are these things?

Those good sir are ceramic caps.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceramic_capacitor

The labeling defines capacitance, volts and series and sometimes have a manufacturing logo stamp somewhere.

[scampo77]

Re: what are these things?

all of them are? even the ones with stripes on them? can i measure them with a fared meter and just look for 25v,100v, etc... and use them like i would when replaceing a regular cap?

are you sure they aren't thermistors?

[mariushm]

Re: what are these things?

Those bean sizes ones with a L on them could be tantalum capacitors.

[ratdude747]

Re: what are these things?

Those bean sizes ones with a L on them could be tantalum capacitors.

They sure are.

Unlike cermic/mylar caps they ARE polarized... like 'lytics, the stripe marks the negative lead.

[infringer]

Re: what are these things?

some of them may be SCK's or thermistors hard to tell from the picture...

[jsog]

Re: what are these things?

The red rectangular ones are polyester film capacitors.

[Evil Lurker]

Re: what are these things?



Remember, the red L on the tantalum caps indicates polarity. Tantalums are right opposite of aluminum electrolytics... the L indicates "+". NEVER subject a tantalum capacitor to reverse voltage or overvoltage, they WILL explode violently!

[PeteS in CA]

Re: what are these things?

I see a mix with mostly disc ceramic caps, some film caps (probably polyester), some solid tantalum caps (the tear drop shaped parts) and a very few probable monolythic ceramic caps. That white or light mint green part in the center front of the pic may be an R-C snubber. That large brown part at the left marked "105K" is a 1uF, +/-10 film cap.

[scampo77]

Re: what are these things?

can i test them with a esr meter? or a farred meter? to check if they are good?

[Evil Lurker]

Re: what are these things?

Usually the preferred method is to use a DMM with capacitance capability to do the ceramic and foil caps, and use an ESR meter on the tantalums along with a DMM (provided the total capacitance is not over range... I think my DMM tops out at around 20uf).