NPO Capacitors: ALI vs Digikey vs. Amazon vs LCSC - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 01:11:02 pm
content: I am moving to SMD for my projects and want to assemble a kit of 1206 NPO caps. Went to Ali and when all was said and done the charges came to around $400 USD. Went to Digikey and unless I misread things, they start at 70 cents@.Searched Amazon. Found a kit of 50pcs of 89 values NPOs for $249. In an Aidetek case ($35 right there). I am guessing it is pre tariff stock. Only a couple left.If looking:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072MRQDJ7?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1It is going to get expensive around here (in the USA).Regards,Dewey

author: mawyatt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 01:23:12 pm
content: Consider trusting LCSC Electronics more than AliX. With AliX you might need to do a temp test on each value NPO cap to be sure it's an NPO and not a higher TC ceramic.Best

author: Zoli
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 01:53:15 pm
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 17, 2025, 01:11:02 pmHmmm...Quote from: Amazon

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 02:00:38 pm
content: Buy an empty SMT component book and buy capacitors separately from LCSC. It will be the cheapest option with knowing what you actually get. Also forget about 1206, 0805 is the largest you should consider for general purpose kit. 0603 would be the first choice for me for hand assembly.Also I do not suggest Aidetek case, I have it and would prefer components still in tape any time.

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 02:41:46 pm
content: 1206 size may be nice for the start, but it is a bit large and often comes with a higher price.It does not take that much practice to work with 0805 and 0603. For a compact layout is really helps to have the smaller 0603 form factor.The higher capacitance values (e.g. > 1 nF NP0 or > 100 nF X7R) may be easier to get in 0805.For a dubious (e.g. AliX of Amazon) souce I would be a bit careful with NP0 capacitors 1 nF and larger - they may be the cheaper X7R or similar version instead.>= 100 nF are rarely NP0 as they get large and expensive. For the typical decoupling capacitor like 100 nF and larger X7R is perfectly fine and may for this use be even better than NP0.So the mixed assortment with NP0 and X7R is OK, the question is only where the cross over is. Some 1 nF-10 nF is common in both types.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:24:53 pm
content: Besides LCSC, also try TME.EU (European distributor, but should ship to US).Here's the SMD capacitors, filter set to show C0G (NP0) only, in stock :https://www.tme.eu/ro/en/katalog/mlcc-smd-capacitors_113537/?params=116:1437254_dielectric:c0g-np0&onlyInStock=1

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:25:18 pm
content: If you need to verify a C0G capacitor (against an X7R or Z5U), the simplest way is to use a decent LCR meter to verify its loss (QorD) at a reasonable frequency (depending on capacitance).Maybe 10 kHz for nominal 1 nF, where there is a good risk of X7R in sheep’s clothing.Normally, a C0G capacitor hasQon the order of 1,000, while an X7R may be only 100.I often use my DE-5000 to verify polypropylene (vs. polyester) TH components, with similarQvalues to those ceramic units.

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:27:34 pm
content: Thank you all. I did not know about LCSC. Cancelled Amazon and ordered 20 of each in stock value for $35 (20 values). Wow, even they have very few tantulums.Once I get my order, I will then try doing a back order. Their range of components is terrific.Thanks again.Yes, I know 1206 is large and I do have 805 and 603 caps and resistors. And I can do 603 ok. But my stuff will be on the prorotype boards and the 1206 bridge the holes nicely. Although I have been playing around with to create Gerbers in Multisim.Is there a bottom to this rabbit hole?Do I wind up meeting Alice?

author: tggzzz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:33:57 pm
content: Quote from: mawyatt on May 17, 2025, 01:23:12 pmAlso a C-vs-Vdctest.

author: TimFox
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:34:08 pm
content: For hobby use, there is little reason to go below 1206 in size.Otherwise, one reason for larger package size is high-resistance (say, 50 megohm) units, where the voltage co-efficient of resistance is better for longer footprints due to lower voltage gradient.

author: mawyatt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 03:41:43 pm
content: A good source for hobby use surplus capacitors is here:https://www.surplussales.com/classifications/73-capacitors/We've used them many times with good results for leaded hard to find Polystyrene, Mica, and Polypropylene types.Best

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 07:16:24 pm
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 17, 2025, 01:11:02 pmUmm… no? I’m looking at it right now and using the pricing quantity of 10 pieces, 1206 NP0 (aka C0G) caps start at 5.5 cents each:https://www.digikey.com/short/hf8hpvmjNo idea where you got 70 cents from.Did you perhaps do a text search instead of a proper parametric search? Perhaps even with “NPO” (that’s three letters: n, p, o) like in your post, instead of the correct “NP0” (that’s the letters n and p, then the numeral zero).With that said, the cost of smaller SMD caps is significantly lower, so unless you need the larger size for some reason, go smaller. Similarly, don’t use C0G except where it’s needed; other tempcos are much cheaper, especially for larger values. For example, for simple power rail bypass caps, C0G is an unnecessary luxury. The other issue with C0G is that the maximum values are quite limited, e.g. at 1206 the biggest is just 470nF.

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 08:51:58 pm
content: Quote from: tooki on May 17, 2025, 07:16:24 pmTooki, Thanks but....Just checked my browser history. Here is what I came up with. Granted I did not look past the first couple.https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/ceramic-capacitors/60?s=N4IgjCBcpgLFoDGUBmBDANgZwKYBoQB7KAbRACYBmADgHYaQBdAgBwBcoQBlNgJwEsAdgHMQAXwJgAbAhDJI6bPiKkQ1SrTARmIdpx4CR4ybVnzFuAsUhlK5WGHVNWHSNz5DRYiRVVhyAAxSAASCLITBiGgsaIj8bIS8WM4gMtAg-AAmnAC0YAEQLpwgBGwAniw4nJlYyN5AA

author: bte
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 10:35:23 pm
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 17, 2025, 08:51:58 pmOn my browser, that link brings up a list sorted by single quantity price descending. So those first couple items you looked at are the most expensive ones. Cheapest one on that list is 3c each. Cheapest one in stock is 20c each. The list is also filtered by voltage (50 V).

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 17, 2025, 11:14:32 pm
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 17, 2025, 08:51:58 pm”Thanks but”:So my theory wasabsolutely correct: you did a text search for “npo” (en pee oh). If you delete that text search (for the wrong spelling no less!), your results list grows from 236 hits to5390— and that iswiththe added 50V filter you did not mention before.“Granted I did not look past the first couple.”So basically, you concluded that DigiKey’s pricing starts at 70 cents because you:- don’t know how to correctly spell the criterion you need (NP0)- ignored the more common alternate name for said criterion (C0G)- don’t know how to use parametric search properly- were too lazy to look farther down your list of results thanthirdout of 236 — a listsorted by price, most expensive firstC’mon man… you can do better than this.

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 am
content: My guess is you had a bad day and do not have a cat to kick. Happens to us all. Maybe a hike?That was harsh and unwarranted.Assuming a simple typing reversal in the GENERAL search box means I cannot spell,Your lack of acknowledgement that in fact I DID do a parametric search when thereYour lack of acknowledgement that I did NOT simply search on "npo" but on "npo/cog" (List title clearly shows "50V C0G, NP0 Ceramic Capacitors")Your blaming ME for YOUR failure to check exactly what I looking for (50V)Your attempt to support your observation by expanding the search BEYOND my parametersYour failure to provide cheaper source than LCSC for what I (EYE) wanted'

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 10:42:25 am
content: Hey, AIs hallucinate sometimes and humans do too. What is the purpose of ranting about that, to "win" a discussion? Well congrats.Anyhow, I upvote Aidetek boxes. A 144 box stores a TON of passives and their lids open and close with a satisfying click. The major downside is that your components will always be in a certain layout, and you can't take 1 bin out. Picking parts from the bins close to the hinge can be a bit more tedious (guess where I put all my 1k, 10k, 100nFs -- you start writing top left on a piece of paper too right?).There are also those cheap component boxes around (tons of rebrands, those light green boxes), which you clip and unclip together. But their lids are horrible. They don't always seal properly, or they get stuck on the hinge and you need to move the lid to fix (or perhaps break) it.I've also seen people using test tubes etc., but never really a fan of those.Finally you have binders with tape, even premade kits. The books are OK, but the component tapes IME have really poor glue, and so you can accidently peel a lot more components than needed (especially if you reput them in the binder). I also personally hate having loose piece of component tapes laying around everywhere. Its easy to mix them up, or you have to write on them what's what, but its not easy to read.As for the kits themselves..249$ for 89x50 doesn't sound too bad, thats about 5.5ct per part. Assuming that is already organized before hand, and preferably, you get a list of MPNs which you can trust. I personally those Aidetek box(es) and add new parts as I go. I typically order 100 for a new value. For odd values those will probably last a lifetime..

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 10:44:37 am
content: I started with 1206 and a few 1210 sizes many years ago and got typical kits for the 1206. After a few years, I switched to 805 and barely touch the 1206's anymore. Both sizes will solder to a 0.1" pitch breadboard easily. I recommend considering that size too.EDIT: In light of later comments, my kits were from Digikey.@mawyattI second Surplus Center in Nebraska (previously Burden's Surplus, Lincoln , NE). I started buying from it in the 1980's. Here's a link to its history:https://www.surpluscenter.com/Pages/About-Us/I love places like that. Here's one that's near Cleveland, OH (Mentor, OH):https://www.electronicsurplus.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqxYvT9XkM-OszesNuvPboaUiQadESyWnmOxrMjmWRJ7pdYDba9It used to be near downtown ("Slavic Village"). I had business meetings nearby about twice a month, and they'd let me just browse.

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 11:20:33 am
content: Quote from: jpanhalt on May 18, 2025, 10:44:37 am0603 is long enough to be soldered to adjacent pads too. In fact they're great for this because you can solder TH parts and 0603 to the same pads as they do not obstruct holes.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 11:28:44 am
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amNot at all.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amAnimal abuse isn't funny, not even in jest.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amI don't actually think it was. My first reply to you gave you plenty of benefit of the doubt and gave you concrete suggestions. You didn't respond to any of it, other than to defend your search skills ("thanks but"), even though you had, in fact, madetwoof the errors I theorized could be the problem.And then you explained that you'd only looked at the first few resultsof a sorted list(so in no way a representative random sample, even), and from that drew a broad conclusion. It'sliterally"I looked at the three most expensive ones and from that deduced that their pricing starts at the price of #3." Do you not understand how crazy that is?!?The rest of your response only strengthens my belief that my response was not even slightly off the mark.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amYou still aren't getting it, man! It's not a reversal (transposition). It's that you typed the LETTER "o" instead of the NUMERAL "0" (zero).Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amI didn't say you that you didn't use a parametric search. I said that you don't know how to do themproperly.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amAdding a parametric search to a text search onlyfurther limitsthe results, not expands them.You entered the search text "1206 npo capacitors". That means thateveryresultmustcontainallof those terms. So even if you subsequently select "C0G, NP0" in the parameters, the list won't expand, because all of the terms "1206", "npo", and "capacitors" arestillrequired. So any cap whose description doesn't contain "npo" remains invisible, because all the ones that contain the correctly-spelled "NP0" and/or "C0G" won't be found.The fact that you typed "npo/cog" there implies to me that youstillaren't understanding the problem with the difference between the letter "o" and the numeral "0". Yes, in English we frequently speak the numeral as "oh", but when typing for a search, they are not the same thing. Some search engines may allow substitution, but you can't count on that.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amThe 50V requirement that younever stated anywhere!? Do you actually expect us to be mind readers? That is awildtake!!I only know that you wanted 50V ones because of the parameter you applied to your search.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amI did no such thing. In my reply, I did NOT remove the 50V filter you had applied. The 5390 hits is the number of 50V 1206 NP0/C0G caps in the catalog. All I removed is the search TEXT, leaving behind the parametric filters you added on after the fact, namely 1206 package, 50V, and NP0/C0G tempco.All that your search text did was to restrict you to the resultswhose descriptions contain the specific typo you made. That certainly isn't what you wanted. Right?Moreover, selecting "50V" will select only the parts with that exact value, even though a cap voltage is something where you can always go up, so what we are really specifying is aminimumvoltage rating. So you also need to select higher voltages, since some values may be available only in higher voltages.All of this only reinforces my impression that you don't fully understand how to use the parametric search.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amI'm not under any obligation to do so. What I was trying to impress on you is that Digikey pricing is literally an order of magnitude smaller than you thought.Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 10:07:39 amI spelled things out phonetically because in the forum font, the difference between the capital letter O and the numeral 0 is not obvious, and that difference is precisely what I was trying to get across. (It's not like one of the fonts that puts a slash through the numeral).

author: watchmaker
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 11:44:38 am
content: I suggest you go for a walk, prove your competence someplace else, or take a pill. I do follow things you write because you almost always provide accurate technical information.If you read my OP, you will learn I allowed for misreading the Digikey page. I am but a fallible old human being.Young man, when someone wants to help another LEARN, they strike a neutral tone.Your tone primarily expresses disapproval and simply obstructs any attempt to teach.Your disapproval is meaningless to me and I write it off as the attitude of immature self importance.

author: shabaz
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 12:35:24 pm
content: Mine are in a variety of storage methods, some through legacy mistakes : ), some in tiny vials (which is quite a time-waste to organize and prepare tiny labels for, etc), some in the original packaging just thrown into a 'capacitors'-labeled shoe-box, and some where I placed the strips into florist envelopes, and stored in a card record organizer; I find that last method super-convenient. I keep some popular values in several sizes (e.g. 0402 and 0603) in that florist envelope setup, and it's compact, takes up little space, and easy to thumb through to find what you need.But I also have some ready-made kits, some in books of strips, which is really convenient too.There are some really nice Johanson kits, they come in snap-lid setups, but individual columns are removable if desired. Internally, the capacitors are in a tiny folded plastic bag, so it is easy to lift out and remove several parts at a time with tweezers if desired. It's extremely affordable too; the S-0805 kit in the foreground in the photo, is about $50, and contains 1400 capacitors total, with the values up to 1 nF being NP0, and the remainder are X7R.Incidentally, 0603 will also fit across stripboard/Perfboard pads, and 0603 and 0805 are often physically interchangeable on typical-sized 0603 or 0805 SMD pads, so sometimes I'm not too fussy about whether I have an 0603 or an 0805 sized part available to prototype with. Both 0805 and 0603 are just as easy to hand-solder as 1206. Just needs a good pair of tweezers.If you're keen to spend on capacitors, at that very good price, with no effort needed to self-organize the parts, and that well thought out kit design, that S-0805 kit from Johanson is quite attractive, it's obsolete but a few are in stock at Mouser (maybe there's a non-obsolete replacement at a similar price). For sure the S-0805 doesn't have the full range of values, but if you're into (say) RF, or filters, and need more values, you could create a separate kit for that.

author: jpanhalt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2025, 05:01:42 pm
content: This is a bit redundant, but when dealing with SMD's on protoboards (0.1" pitch), I had a brain fart and thought, maybe square pads would give more area to touch with the iron tip to for soldering SMD's. So, I had some made at JLCPC.Here's a picture (pardon the mess, I didn't bother to clean the flux for that project):Stacking ceramics (those are 805's 0.1 uF and 1.0 uF) works for decoupling and saves space. I have also used that method to tweek resistors. The jury is still out on whether square pads make it easier.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 19, 2025, 02:55:44 pm
content: I wouldn't buy a kit but just the values I need for a project. IMHO kits are mostly wasted money. And I always buy quality brand parts for prototyping. Not random parts from Aliexpress, Ebay, etc or rebranded parts (like RS-pro and Multicompcrap )Also, where it comes to ceramic capacitors, the dielectric and V/C characteristics are important. So even with an extensive kit on hand, you'll likely find yourself needing to order parts for a specific project.

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2025, 06:47:02 pm
content: Quote from: TimFox on May 17, 2025, 03:25:18 pmAnother simple check, though not scientific or 100% reliable, is to check the color of the ceramic material. NP0 is almost always white, light gray or a blue-ish purple-ish color. X7R, etc. are almost always a tan or brown color. Don't think I've ever seen a cap which didn't obey this. Of course, only applies to SMT.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2025, 04:58:49 pm
content: Quote from: watchmaker on May 18, 2025, 11:44:38 amMy initial responsewasentirely neutral, with concrete ideas* that you didn’t really follow up on. You just defended the search without actually trying to understand what I said.The claws came out when it became clear that the root problem was laziness.*i.e. concrete suspicions which proved to be entirely correct