Alt-BEAM Archive

Message #00782



To: beam@corp.sgi.com
From: Justin jaf60@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 06:34:51 +1300
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: Capacitors


> I'm still new at this (abviously).
>
> I feel like this is the absollute most stupid question ever. Can
> capacitors go in backwards or does it not matter which way they go in.

Depends on the type of cap. I could give a list of types and how to
differentiate them, and whether their polarity matters, but that would
take effort, so I won't :-)
Here is the abridged version:

1) The cap must be inserted the correct way around.

2) Most likely, this is indicated by a marking (usually a black stripe
and/or arrow) indicating the negative lead.

3) In the absence of (or in addition to) the black stripe, the negative
lead is the shorter of the two leads.

4) If there is no mark and both leads are the same length, it can
probably go in either way around.

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