What shall i replace this Capacitor with ? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: Retromat
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2020, 01:55:13 pm
content: Greetings!today i wanted to get a oldISA Graphicscard to work and noticed a broken off, in my opinion, tantal capacitor.The values say its a 10uf Capacitor. Is that correct? I do not own those types of capacitors but i have some ceramic capacitors laying around and wonder if i could replace it with them.also, does 10uF doesnt sound a lil too high for this lil fella?

author: pigrew
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2020, 02:04:04 pm
content: It's a 10uF 16V tantalum capacitor. Without a circuit schematic, it's unclear if a ceramic capacitor would be an acceptable substitute.Be careful with orientation, they'll catch fire if you reverse the polarity.

author: Infrared_Fred
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2020, 03:16:33 pm
content: That capacitor looks to be the correct size for its value and voltage range, i.e. I don't think it is broken off. A capacitor like thishttps://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/avx-corporation/TAP106K016CRW/3661004matches the apparent size of your capacitor.

author: Retromat
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2020, 03:19:14 pm
content: thanks!yes i took a picture of a unbroken one for easier reference. Hmmm os i better get a new tantal one the nand do not replace it with anything else.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 20, 2020, 06:38:31 pm
content: You could replace it with a 47 to 100 microfarad aluminum electrolytic.

author: uli12us
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2020, 10:19:47 am
content: No, replacing with a standard Electrolytic is nearly always ok, but the capacity must be the same, the voltage can be higher.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 21, 2020, 11:17:05 pm
content: Quote from: uli12us on November 21, 2020, 10:19:47 amThat depends on the application. If decoupling applications it is the ESR and impedance which matter and not the capacitance, in which case it takes an aluminum electrolytic of 4 to 10 times the capacitance to yield the same performance.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2020, 04:32:28 am
content: I've measured the ESR of a few different tantalum capacitors and while it was lower than a typical cheap electrolytic it was not THAT low. I would be quite surprised if a reasonable quality aluminum electrolytic of the same value didn't work.

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2020, 10:06:29 am
content: In some circuits a capacitor with a lower ESR can cause problems. Iguessthat isn't the case in your circuit.If using a tanatalum, ensure the rated voltage is at least twice the voltage in the circuit. A 16V tant would be fine for 5V, but 12V would be questionable.With MLCC capacitors, the capacitance isstronglydependent on the applied voltage. It is normal to "lose" 80%-90% of the capacitance when running them at their rated voltage.David Hess' suggestion is sensible for a standard alumimium electrolytic. Some of the new modern polymer electrolytics have a surprisingly low ESR.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2020, 12:24:26 pm
content: I'd use a 10uF 35-50v rated electrolytic capacitor.A 10uF 16-25v electrolytic would probably have a bit too high esr compared to that of the tantalum capacitor (which i assume it would be somewhere around 0.15-0.3 ohm esr)

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2020, 05:28:56 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on November 22, 2020, 12:24:26 pmMy experience has been that electrolytics with a higher voltage rating have higher ESR, all else being equal. Those with the smallest physical size also typically have higher ESR.

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 22, 2020, 05:32:40 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on November 22, 2020, 04:32:28 amThe high frequency performance of solid tantalum capacitors is better than that of aluminum electrolytics which a common ESR test will not reveal, so it takes a larger value of capacitance to get a similar impedance at higher frequencies. This is reflected in application notes for regulators where the suggested output capacitor will be either like a 1 microfarad tantalum or a 10 microfarad aluminum electrolytic:https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/snvs778e/snvs778e.pdf?ts=1606066065524&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252Fhttps://www.ti.com/lit/ds/snosbq7c/snosbq7c.pdf?ts=1605982101539&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F