Capacitor Colour Codes




	

Capacitor colour codes are a simple and effective visual way of identifying
the capacitance value of a capacitor

There are two common ways to know the capacitive value of a capacitor, by
measuring it using a digital multimeter, or by reading the capacitor colour
codes printed on it. These coloured bands represent the capacitance value as
per the colour code including voltage rating and tolerance.

Sometimes the actual values of capacitance, voltage or tolerance are marked
onto the body of a capacitor in the form of alphanumeric characters.
However, when the value of the capacitance is of a decimal value problems
arise with the marking of the “Decimal Point” as it could easily not be
noticed resulting in a misreading of the actual capacitance value.

Instead letters such as p (pico) or n (nano) are used in place of the
decimal point to identify its position and the weight of the number. For
example, a capacitor can be labelled as, n47 = 0.47nF, 4n7 = 4.7nF or 47n =
47nF and so on.

Also, sometimes capacitors are marked with the capital letter K to signify a
value of one thousand pico-Farads, so for example, a capacitor with the
markings of 100K would be 100 x 1000pF or 100nF.

To reduce the confusion regarding letters, numbers and decimal points, an
International colour coding scheme was developed many years ago as a simple
way of identifying capacitor values and tolerances. It consists of coloured
bands (in spectral order) known commonly as a Capacitor Colour Codes system
and whose meanings are illustrated below:



Capacitor Colour Code Table


Band Colour
Digit A
Digit B
Multiplier D
Tolerance (T) > 10pf
Tolerance (T) < 10pf
Temperature Coefficient (TC)
Black 
0 
0 
x1 
± 20% 
± 2.0pF 
 
Brown 
1 
1 
x10 
± 1% 
± 0.1pF 
-33×10-6
Red 
2 
2 
x100 
± 2% 
± 0.25pF 
-75×10-6
Orange 
3 
3 
x1,000 
± 3% 
  
-150×10-6
Yellow 
4 
4 
x10,000 
± 4% 
  
-220×10-6
Green 
5 
5 
x100,000 
± 5% 
± 0.5pF 
-330×10-6
Blue 
6 
6 
x1,000,000 
  
  
-470×10-6
Violet 
7 
7 
  
  
  
-750×10-6
Grey 
8 
8 
x0.01 
+80%,-20% 
  
 
White 
9 
9 
x0.1 
± 10% 
± 1.0pF 
 
Gold 
  
  
x0.1 
± 5% 
  
 
Silver 
  
  
x0.01 
± 10% 
  
 




Capacitor Voltage Colour Code Table


Band
Colour
Voltage Rating (V)

Type J
Type K
Type L
Type M
Type N
Black 
4 
100 
  
10 
10
Brown 
6 
200 
100 
1.6 
 
Red 
10 
300 
250 
4 
35
Orange 
15 
400 
  
40 
 
Yellow 
20 
500 
400 
6.3 
6
Green 
25 
600 
  
16 
15
Blue 
35 
700 
630 
  
20
Violet 
50 
800 
  
  
 
Grey 
  
900 
  
25 
25
White 
3 
1000 
  
2.5 
3
Gold 
  
2000 
  
  
 
Silver 
  
  
  
  
 

Capacitor Voltage Reference

Type J  –  Dipped Tantalum Capacitors.
Type K  –  Mica Capacitors.
Type L  –  Polyester/Polystyrene Capacitors.
Type M  –  Electrolytic 4 Band Capacitors.
Type N  –  Electrolytic 3 Band Capacitors.

An example of the use of capacitor colour codes is given as:
Metalised Polyester Capacitor
	
	capacitor colour coding
Disc & Ceramic Capacitor
	
	capacitor colour codes

The Capacitor Colour Codes system was used for many years on unpolarised
polyester and mica moulded capacitors. This system of colour coding is now
obsolete but there are still many “old” capacitors around. Nowadays,
small capacitors such as film or disk types conform to the BS1852 Standard
and its new replacement, BS EN 60062, were the colours have been replaced by
a letter or number coded system.

Generally the code consists of 2 or 3 numbers and an optional tolerance
letter code to identify the tolerance. Where a two number code is used the
value of the capacitor only is given in picofarads, for example, 47 = 47 pF
and 100 = 100pF etc. A three letter code consists of the two value digits
and a multiplier much like the resistor colour codes in the resistors
section.

For example, the digits 471 = 47*10 = 470pF. Three digit codes are often
accompanied by an additional tolerance letter code as given below.



Capacitor Tolerance Letter Codes Table



Letter
B
C
D
F
G
J
K
M
Z

Tolerance
C <10pF ±pF
0.1
0.25
0.5
1
2

C >10pF ±%
0.5
1
2
5
10
20
+80
-20


Consider the capacitor below:





	

The capacitor on the left is of a ceramic disc type capacitor that has the
code 473J printed onto its body. Then the 4 = 1st digit, the 7 = 2nd digit,
the 3 is the multiplier in pico-Farads, pF and the letter J is the tolerance
and this translates to:  47pF * 1,000 (3 zero’s) = 47,000 pF, 47nF or
0.047uF the J indicates a tolerance of +/- 5%


Then by just using numbers and letters as codes on the body of the capacitor
we can easily determine the value of its capacitance either in Pico-farad’s, 
Nano-farads or Micro-farads and a list of these “international” codes is given
in the following table along with their equivalent capacitances.


Capacitor Letter Codes Table


Picofarad (pF)
Nanofarad (nF)
Microfarad (uF)
Code
Picofarad (pF)
Nanofarad (nF)
Microfarad (uF)
Code
10 
0.01 
0.00001 
100 
4700 
4.7 
0.0047 
472
15 
0.015 
0.000015 
150 
5000 
5.0 
0.005 
502
22 
0.022 
0.000022 
220 
5600 
5.6 
0.0056 
562
33 
0.033 
0.000033 
330 
6800 
6.8 
0.0068 
682
47 
0.047 
0.000047 
470 
10000 
10 
0.01 
103
100 
0.1 
0.0001 
101 
15000 
15 
0.015 
153
120 
0.12 
0.00012 
121 
22000 
22 
0.022 
223
130 
0.13 
0.00013 
131 
33000 
33 
0.033 
333
150 
0.15 
0.00015 
151 
47000 
47 
0.047 
473
180 
0.18 
0.00018 
181 
68000 
68 
0.068 
683
220 
0.22 
0.00022 
221 
100000 
100 
0.1 
104
330 
0.33 
0.00033 
331 
150000 
150 
0.15 
154
470 
0.47 
0.00047 
471 
200000 
200 
0.2 
254
560 
0.56 
0.00056 
561 
220000 
220 
0.22 
224
680 
0.68 
0.00068 
681 
330000 
330 
0.33 
334
750 
0.75 
0.00075 
751 
470000 
470 
0.47 
474
820 
0.82 
0.00082 
821 
680000 
680 
0.68 
684
1000 
1.0 
0.001 
102 
1000000 
1000 
1.0 
105
1500 
1.5 
0.0015 
152 
1500000 
1500 
1.5 
155
2000 
2.0 
0.002 
202 
2000000 
2000 
2.0 
205
2200 
2.2 
0.0022 
222 
2200000 
2200 
2.2 
225
3300 
3.3 
0.0033 
332 
3300000 
3300 
3.3 
335


The next tutorial in our section about Capacitors, we look at connecting
together Capacitor in Parallel and see that the total capacitance is the sum
of the individual capacitors.