1000uF = ?

[zeppenwolf]

How would the values from 1,000µF to 100,000µF be expressed in the floating point style?  "1m0" ?  "1k0" ?

Eden

[niftydog]

1,000µF (microfarad) = 1millifarad.  So I'd say 1m0.  But it's very seldom seen written like this.

as for 100,000µF, well that's 100m0 or 0F1.
But caps this large are rare.

The largest "popular" values are 4700µF (4m7) or 6800µF (6m8)

1k0... sheesh, I'd like to see that cap!  (actually, that sounds more like a battery to me!)

Typically it's only resistors that are labeled in the "floating point" style and using the same system for caps could cause confusion.  Although, a 1milliohm resistor is pretty rare!

[Ge_Whiz]

a 1milliohm resistor is pretty rare!

I call 'em 'wire links'.

[smoguzbenjamin]

And anything with a resistance larger than 100Mohms is likely to be called 'plastic'

[zeppenwolf]

: The largest "popular" values are 4700µF (4m7) or 6800µF (6m8)

  Ok.  Unfortunately, part of the reason I asked is that I've seen some sites claim that the µ symbol was sometimes written as "m", short for "micro" I suppose, so 6m8, on some old military cap, would actually be 6µ8 == 685.  But apparently you're saying that "milli" is the proper prefix so...

:Typically it's only resistors that are labeled in the "floating point" style and using the same system for caps could cause confusion.

  Cause confusion?  By FP, I just mean that style "6n8" = 6.8 nanofarads = 682  I like the "6n8" style because it's unambigous and doesn't have a tiny decimal point written on a dirty cap...

Eden

[Triffid]

I think this is pretty silly at first as well... Stick with one notation style for the love of god.  0.1mF = 0.1uF? I have also seen suppliers just leave off the units to make us guess.  0.0015 = 0.0015 pF or 0.0015uF or  0.0015mF ?  3300 = 3300 pF or 3300uF?  I seem to always end up asking the supplier specifically... and sometimes they don't even know.

[ExpAnonColin]

They actually make those car audio capacitors quiiiite big.  15 farad:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/mobile-emotions/15farcapcaph.html

I'm not even sure if that counts as a capacitor :lol:

-Colin

[smoguzbenjamin]

That's just a rechargeable battery

[R.G.]

I think this is pretty silly at first as well... Stick with one notation style for the love of god.

That would be simple - except for the fact that human beings developed the terminology at isolated places around the world over a period of several hundred years.

The terms are different, and not easily changeable, for the same reason that people in Kurdistan, India, Japan, the USA, Argentina, and Congo have different words that all mean the same thing - "rain" for instance. They all developed a term for the same thing independently, and all regard their own version as the right way to say it. We're just as stuck with the history in getting everyone to write .0047uF/4.7nF/4n7/4700pF in the same way as we are in getting everyone to just instantly start speaking English - or Hindi - or Kurdish - or Ukranian - or Zulu or ....

[niftydog]

: The largest "popular" values are 4700µF (4m7) or 6800µF (6m8)

Ok. Unfortunately, part of the reason I asked is that I've seen some sites claim that the µ symbol was sometimes written as "m", short for "micro" I suppose, so 6m8, on some old military cap, would actually be 6µ8 == 685. But apparently you're saying that "milli" is the proper prefix so...

Yes, it's the "proper" prefix as per SI units.  But that doesn't mean anything as you've discovered!  Being an engineer I'm pedantic about how I use these prefixes.

The best way is experience.  The difference between a 6.8µF cap and a 6.8mF cap should be obvious.

:Typically it's only resistors that are labeled in the "floating point" style and using the same system for caps could cause confusion.

Cause confusion? By FP, I just mean that style "6n8" = 6.8 nanofarads = 682 I like the "6n8" style because it's unambigous and doesn't have a tiny decimal point written on a dirty cap...

Well, you are asking these question because you're confused aren't you?!  Hell, we've all been there at some stage!

You've already seen the problems it can cause (4m7 or 4µ7?)  I don't know why they didn't just use 4u7 for 4µ7...

[zeppenwolf]

Well, you are asking these question because you're confused aren't you?!

Actually, no.  The reason I ask is for the exact point that a couple posters mentioned, viz, all speaking the same language.

I came across this question because I've written out a Capacitor BoM for my amp; having done so, I thought maybe I'd "release" it.  Probably no use to anyone besides me, but it certainly won't hurt.  

So in this strictly text file, with tab oriented columns and constant data widths, just about every cap could be expressed in that non-decimal-point style, except for that 1,000uF cap.  So the idea that I would write "6n8" for about 49 caps, then write "1,000uF" for just one really irked me.  Then also, it gets back to, at a minimum, not wanting to *contribute* to the insanity, (eg. a cap labelled "100" : 100pF? or 10 * 10**0 = 10pF?).  If nothing else, the "6n8" notation is completely unambiguous and needs no decimal point, so perhaps I'll say that those old caps which used "m" for "u" can just take a flying leap.

That's all.  No biggie.  Ok, folks, move along, nothing to see here...

Eden

[Triffid]

in the same way as we are in getting everyone to just instantly start speaking English - or Hindi - or Kurdish - or Ukranian - or Zulu or ....

Oh ya... thanks for reminding me,  everyone should speak English too  :x

[brett]

Excuse me, chaps, do you mean English English or that quite incomprehensible form of the English language that our American friends have devised?

[niftydog]

quite incomprehensible form of the English language that our American friends have devised?

...or the even more incomprehensible form that the internet promotes?

[smoguzbenjamin]

As long as I can read and understand what's being said I don't care what English we use. Just plain old English!

[David]

Excuse me, chaps, do you mean English English or that quite incomprehensible form of the English language that our American friends have devised?

Devised, man from Down Under?  No, we didn't devise it...
We just perfected it!   :mrgreen:

[smoguzbenjamin]

If you perfected it why does 'couch' sound different from 'cough', why does 'queen' sound the same as 'bean', and why do you pronounce 'climb' the same as 'rhyme'? Perfect that! :mrgreen:

[R.G.]

do you mean English English or that quite incomprehensible form of the English language that our American friends have devised?

Ah, England and the US - two countries divided by a common language.

On a business trip to our company's south England affiliate, I was delighted to discover four volumes of English English to American English on the shelves there.

Of course, I'm biased, as a native speaker of Cherokee.

[smoguzbenjamin]

:mrgreen:

[niftydog]

If you perfected it why does 'couch' sound different from 'cough', why does 'queen' sound the same as 'bean', and why do you pronounce 'climb' the same as 'rhyme'?

We normally blame that on either German or Latin... from which, I beleive, most of the English language was derived.

queen, quean, bean and been all sound the same... just spelt differently!

same with climb, clime (clyme), rhyme and rime.

but if you didn't distinguish between these words, it would cause confusion for readers.

which, witch, were, where, wear, their, they're, there...

At least when you look in the Oxford, there's some semblance of a "rule" for each of these grammatical anomalies.  A lot of "American" English seems to have been invented by overzealous product marketing people of the 50's and 60's.