capacitor substitutions for max232 IC

[mik3ca]

I was looking at the datasheet for max232 because I'm going to try the standard way of interfacing the PC serial port to an 8051 microcontroller. From what I read in the sheet and online, I found out it works if the external capacitors I use with it are 10uF each with 50V rating.

Of all the capacitors I have on hand, The 10uF I have are rated for up to 16V. I do have 22uF rated for 50V. Is it possible to use the 22uF capacitors and expect the same behaviour out of the chip? I'll also be using 5VDC fed out of a 7805 voltage regulator (as VCC) to power the chip and I will connect unused inputs to VCC.

 

[Pommie]

I've only ever used 1μF ceramic capacitors and I'm pretty sure 16V will be fine as they are used to generate the ±12V signals for RS232.

However, most PC these days don't have a RS232 port and (nearly) everyone uses USB to TTL converters that don't need a MAX232.

Mike.

 

[mik3ca]

Well my PC does and my project will use a PC that does even if it means me ordering an old one online. I guess I could go with 1uF then. After all, I will be using anywhere between 19.2kbps and 115kbps speed depending on how well I code the software in my micro.