Capacitor rating, current over frequency

General discussion area for tube amps.

Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal

Post Reply
azatplayer
Posts: 556
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:59 pm
Location: Great Southland

Capacitor rating, current over frequency

Post by azatplayer »

Just looking at specs for these little panasonic caps ive been using.
I typically have been looking at the current rating. The 15uf/450V ED series have a rating of 580ma.In comparison to the F&T i have been using that have a rating of 200ma, i figured they were just clever little fellas!
But looking closer the rating for the panasonic cap is given at a frequency of 100khz. The F&T is given at 100hz.
Leading me to wonder which end of the freq range is more taxing on the cap.
Im thinking bottom end needs plenty of supply?
Just looking around if theres a scale on some other data sheets.
azatplayer
Posts: 556
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:59 pm
Location: Great Southland

Re: Capacitor rating, current over frequency

Post by azatplayer »

Ahhh just found another data sheet.
It scales down the lower you go, from 100khz to 120hz is a factor of .4
580ma @100khz, 232ma @ 120hz
So they are still in the same game as F&T's much larger cap.
User avatar
roberto
Posts: 1841
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:45 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Capacitor rating, current over frequency

Post by roberto »

You usually have a coefficient frequency-dependand of the ripple current, that goes something like:
0.8 @50Hz
1.1 @120Hz
1.2 @300Hz
1.3 @1kHz
1.5 @10kHz

With that coefficient equal to 1 at the declared frequency ripple, obviously.
Post Reply