Tom Bruhns wrote:

It's sad but true that some manufacturers use "560" to indicate 56pF
and some use "560" to indicate 560pF. I've fretted over this same
thing in the past. I have examples of both. Fortunately, the trend
seems to be toward the usage that, as you say, is common sense. Too
bad it has not been universal.

Me, too. I solved the problem some time ago by picking up a really cheap
DMM that measures capacitance as an extra feature. I'm sure it's not
super precise, but it can easily tell the difference between 56 and 560
pF. My capacitors are sorted by decade in plastic drawers. Questionable
ones get checked before going into (or back into) the drawer, so from
then on I can tell which it is by which drawer it's in.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Tom Bruhns wrote:

It's sad but true that some manufacturers use "560" to indicate 56pF
and some use "560" to indicate 560pF. I've fretted over this same
thing in the past. I have examples of both. Fortunately, the trend
seems to be toward the usage that, as you say, is common sense. Too
bad it has not been universal.

Me, too. I solved the problem some time ago by picking up a really cheap
DMM that measures capacitance as an extra feature. I'm sure it's not
super precise, but it can easily tell the difference between 56 and 560
pF. My capacitors are sorted by decade in plastic drawers. Questionable
ones get checked before going into (or back into) the drawer, so from
then on I can tell which it is by which drawer it's in.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

James Shrum
KC9FFX



See the following:

http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/sup...=kbg&pagenum=4

John

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

James Shrum
KC9FFX



I have capacitors marked "330" that are 33pF, and capacitors marked "330"
that are 330pF. If it's xx1, xx2, etc., then you can trust it, but if it's
xx0 and you don't know that manufacturer's numbering scheme then you should
measure it!

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

I agree with everyone else James...

having said that, I don't have a C meter myself and I use a lot of
components recycled from old boards, and I've never yet had a problem. In
fact I've never even thought about it, I just rely on intuition. Seems to
work Ok. I suspect there are a number of subconscious variables that go into
this, like the nature and function of the circuit it came from, and probably
most important, what does the capacitor look like! How big is it, what shape
is it (how fat etc)., and how this compares to some other capacitors found
of supposedly similar value which are unambiguously marked.

73

Hans
G0UPL
http://www.HansSummers.com

It's sad but true that some manufacturers use "560" to indicate 56pF
and some use "560" to indicate 560pF. I've fretted over this same
thing in the past. I have examples of both. Fortunately, the trend
seems to be toward the usage that, as you say, is common sense. Too
bad it has not been universal.

Cheers,
Tom

"J Shrum" wrote in message ...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

James Shrum
KC9FFX

"J Shrum" wrote in message
...
I spent the morning parusing google groups, and found many different
answers
for the same question.

What I'm trying to understand is; on a disk capacitor that is labeled 560,
common sense would tell me 56pf instead of 560pf since 561 on a cap would
be
560pf.

Many have asked, but no one ever gave a definate answer. Can anyone give
me
a definate answer on this?

Thanks for the assistance

I agree with everyone else James...

having said that, I don't have a C meter myself and I use a lot of
components recycled from old boards, and I've never yet had a problem. In
fact I've never even thought about it, I just rely on intuition. Seems to
work Ok. I suspect there are a number of subconscious variables that go into
this, like the nature and function of the circuit it came from, and probably
most important, what does the capacitor look like! How big is it, what shape
is it (how fat etc)., and how this compares to some other capacitors found
of supposedly similar value which are unambiguously marked.

73

Hans
G0UPL
http://www.HansSummers.com