Two Capacitors

[George L.]

Hello everyone,

Here is my stupid question:

Lets say you had two capacitors, one 4700 uF rated at 6.3V and another 120 uF capacitor rated at 500V.

If you connect the two capacitors in parallel, the total capacitance becomes 4820 uF (4700+ 120 = 4820).

The part that I am confused about is what voltage can the two handle together. Is it 506.3V (500V + 6.3V) ??? :?

please help,

George

 

[Russlk]

When capacitors are in parallel, the lowest voltage rating applies. Just curious, why would you put 120 uF in parallel with 4700 uF? The value of the smaller cap is less than the tolerance of the larger one.

 

[Pyroandrew]

just the clarify, the arrangement would be rated to 6.3V, anything above this and you would damage the larger capacitor.

I think what he was trying to achive was a large, high voltage capacitor, sorry mate it doesn't work that easy. If you want a high voltage high capacitance capacitor you going to have the shell out a little for one, not just bodge two random ones together.