Capacitor and resistor colour code

Ceramic Capacitor Codes

How to read a Ceramic capacitor with Numeric coding.

Multiplier Table (Ceramic)Number Multiply By (Additional # of Zeros)0 None (0)1 10 (1)2 100 (2)3 1,000 (3)4 10,000 (4)5 100,000 (5)6 1,000,000 (6)

Common Temperature Coefficient Codes (Ceramic)Code ToleranceC 0.25pFJ 5%K 10%M 20%D 0.5pFZ +80% / -20%

Common Temperature Coefficient Characteristics (Ceramic)Temperature Coefficient Operating Temperature Range Capacitance Change Minimum Capacitor ToleranceY5E -30C ~ +85C 4.7% 10%Y5F -30C ~ +85C 7.5% 20%Y5P -30C ~ +85C 10% 10%Y5U -30C ~ +85C +22% / -56% 20%Y5V -30C ~ +85C +22% / -82% 20%Z5U +10C ~ +85C + 22% / -56% 20%

What do the letters on a capacitor mean?

Letters that follow the number codes (ex: 103J or 252M) are the tolerance, or how much a capacitor may deviate from its official value. Common values are shown below:E +/- 0.5% F +/- 1%G +/- 2% H +/- 3%J +/- 5% K +/- 10%M +/- 20% N +/- 30%P +100% ,-0% Z +80%, -20%

Different classes of capacitors have different meanings for their letter codes. You can find a very good listing of all capacitor codes at TransTronics and more on ceramic codes at wikipedia.