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what does or is a m1 capacitor

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harry j

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hi im trying to build a small circuit it for a kwp2000 i have all the rest of the component but dont seem to be able to figure out what this one is your help would be much appreciated

reguards h j
 
is it a 1 microfarad or 1uf cap. can we please see the circuit this capacitor is in
 
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No idea.

Can you post a schematic or a picture?

EDIT:
Yes, it might be a 1µF capacitor but there's no guarantee. I would feel much more confident if I had a picture to look at. Unless you're absolutely sure and have seen a capacitor marked in this manner before?
 
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As already noted, the initial information is not enough to go on. Post schematics, layout diagrams and any PCB images where possible.

'KWP2000'.....Automotive ODB application?

Minimal information gets minimal results.....
 
So I had the exact same question, after being given a schematic that my retired colleague had designed on a version of orchad running on windows 2000, so obviously that PC doesn't exist now so i hadn't a hope of checking the parts list. Anyway after a lot of time on google and other forums I turned to another colleague of mine with considerably more experience than me.. He explained to me that this is the way uF were sometimes represented in old computer programs as the 'micro' sign was not available, I guess this was before extended ASCII (why they didnt use 'uF' like i just previously used i don't know). Any way it breaks down like this:
if 10^3 pF = 1nF (written as such, i presume);
10^3 nF = 1000nF = 1 microFarrad, which was written as 1M
so it stands to reason that M1 is 100nF.

So in summation my colleague explained to me that the 'M' in 1M can stand for 'micro', but to now confuse things he also carried on to explain that;
10^3 microFarrads = (1 milliFarrad) = which would have been written as 1G.
So the other bizarrely labeled capacitor, in my circuit schematic, labeled '2G2' represented 2200-microFarrads.

This brings me to think that maybe a 1M capacitor could be thought of as analogous to a 1M resistor where the unit is Ohms and the value is 1,000,000 (million) ohms. Except that in the case of the capacitor the unit would be pF (picoFarrad), which would fall in line with the standard way of labelling small value capacitors. I.e a '103' capacitor means 10*10^3 picoFarrads (or 10+3 zeroes, same thing).

Hopefully this helps anyone else who finds this forum page searching for a similar answer. Also, just to add some more letter number combinations for capacitors i have come across;
22J = 22pF (pico Farrad), here the J just represents pF very simple. So 2J2 = 2.2pF.
4n7 = 4.7nF (nano Farrad), like the J, except here the 'n' just represents nano.

If any one disagrees please let me know. I believe it may be a convention but just not one i've ever met before.
 
Many film capacitors have their tolerance printed on them: J is 5%, K is 10% and M is 20%.
Years ago a decimal point did not print properly so 4.7nF was printed 4n7 and 6.8k ohms was 6k8.
 
ok that makes a lot more sense. I had guessed originally that they might be tolerance values, as i have found many with different letters printed after the value (Vs, Ks and J). Still I believe the M1 and 2G2 example (at least in my case) are representing 100nF and 2200uF as it makes sense in the context of the circuit I have found them in. Thanks.
 
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