ChildOfVision
Member
Hi!
I need some expert opinion about connecting two or more polystyrene capacitors in parallel. I must use one 33nF polystyrene (or styroflex) capacitor in an oscillator (for ESR meter) in combination with 100μH inductor. Since I don't have 33nF styro, I used WIMA-FKP1 (poliypropylene) 33nF/2000V, and I got stable oscillations, with some output (i.e. "test") voltage generated about 300mV - that is just for comparison - it is good value but in my case "the higher is better" - so I strive to achieve some optimal 400mV. I tried mylar (polyester), but I got (again, don't bother with this value), for comparison, barely 150 mV. Than I collect three of my largest polystyrenes of different values from some 7nF to 16nF IN PARALLEL (to match 33nf) and got surprisingly high voltage of 400mV - exactly what I want! I don't have enough place for that number of capacitors, so I wonder, should I use one 33nF styroflex capacitor OR, to deliberately use 2 or more styrofex in parallel in order to achieve better overall results? I know that total ESR will be lower, but what about other features (like total inductance)? It is hard to find 33nF styroflex capacitor, but I can (pretty cheap) find 10nF, 15nF or 22nF, so, maybe, I could achieve even better results with e.g. 3x10nF than with one 33nF cap?
TIA!
I need some expert opinion about connecting two or more polystyrene capacitors in parallel. I must use one 33nF polystyrene (or styroflex) capacitor in an oscillator (for ESR meter) in combination with 100μH inductor. Since I don't have 33nF styro, I used WIMA-FKP1 (poliypropylene) 33nF/2000V, and I got stable oscillations, with some output (i.e. "test") voltage generated about 300mV - that is just for comparison - it is good value but in my case "the higher is better" - so I strive to achieve some optimal 400mV. I tried mylar (polyester), but I got (again, don't bother with this value), for comparison, barely 150 mV. Than I collect three of my largest polystyrenes of different values from some 7nF to 16nF IN PARALLEL (to match 33nf) and got surprisingly high voltage of 400mV - exactly what I want! I don't have enough place for that number of capacitors, so I wonder, should I use one 33nF styroflex capacitor OR, to deliberately use 2 or more styrofex in parallel in order to achieve better overall results? I know that total ESR will be lower, but what about other features (like total inductance)? It is hard to find 33nF styroflex capacitor, but I can (pretty cheap) find 10nF, 15nF or 22nF, so, maybe, I could achieve even better results with e.g. 3x10nF than with one 33nF cap?
TIA!
Last edited: