if a cap is labeled "BP"

[danelectro]

in a schematic, what does that mean?

[niftydog]

Either British Petroleum is making capacitors... or you have a Bipolar cap on your diagram.

Regular caps are polarised, ie; they have a +ve and a -ve terminal.

AKA "NP" or non-polarised.

[danelectro]

yep, after looking at the bill of materials for that part it says non polarized.. and there i have a tantalum cap! i  hope this is the solution to my problem. ive been trying to debug this damn pedal all day

thanks

[niftydog]

use the search tool on this forum... there was a thread a couple of weeks back about making a make shift BP cap.

It's not great, and it won't work like the real thing.. but it'll get you out of trouble until you can get the real thing!

[danelectro]

excellent! because i just realized i dont have one.

[danelectro]

i tried a 1uf electrolytic with a 1uf tantalum.. the only 1ufs i had. wired ibackwards together.. no luck. well atleast my pedal still doesnt work. no tellin if thats the reason or not.

[danelectro]

is a poly film considered nonpolarized? i know has no polarity.. but im just checking. im using a poly film 1uf for a different BP spot

[niftydog]

ah, yeah I guess so... there are significant differences between a poly film and a BP electrolytic... but it may work just as well.