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Sprague 715p polarity

216.244.12.51

Posted on May 31, 2003 at 05:01:20
Pat


 
Are the orange drops bi-polar, and if not...what are the orientation conventions? The figure in the manual shows a positive terminal, and I thought these coupling caps were bipolar. How about the xicon's on the cap board...black stripe running down the side denote the negative leg? Boards are already stuffed, and now I am sweating about it. Thanks, Pat.

 

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Re: Sprague 715p polarity, posted on May 31, 2003 at 05:23:38
airtime
Audiophile

Posts: 11287
Location: Arizona
Joined: February 4, 2003
I beleive the Spraques are NON polar. If they were one leg would be marked + or -. As for the Xicons usually they mark the - leg with a white strip with little - signs running down it. If the board came pre-packed and was tested don't sweat it. contact the "packer" and ask if there was any reason they substituted polar for non polar.
charles

 

Cap Polarity, posted on May 31, 2003 at 10:09:47
Joe Curcio
Manufacturer

Posts: 1261
Location: Northern CA
Joined: October 10, 2001
In general - electrolytic caps (aluminum and tantalum) are polar while film caps (mylar, polys, metalized films) are not. Non polar caps can be installed in either direction.

However, many non-polar caps show a "negative" lead frequently referring to the outer foil electrode and it is reported in some circles that placing the outer lead close to the signal source (if I remember this correctly) has a preferred effect on the sonic performance of the cap. I haven't been able to discern a difference however it is not something I've studied extensively.

 

Re: Sprague 715p polarity, posted on May 31, 2003 at 12:26:11
Pat


 
I built the boards Wed night after reading all the pertinent info....I thought. Went in Friday to pick up a few things for this weekends project, and was told that the Sprague caps ARE polar. When I got home, I looked at the manual I downloaded for the boards (3-02) and indeed saw orientation marks (+) on Figure 1. Crap! The shop owner concurs with Joe C. that it is more a "tendency" towards polarization, and really pretty esoteric. His counter help (EE at the local university) said i should take advantage of every possible refineement. However, they are "packed", and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. I got all the Xircon's oriented correctly. Thanks for helping a newbie. This electronics stuff is really fun.

-Pat

 

Re: The lowdown on film cap polarity, posted on June 2, 2003 at 07:10:18
Russ57


 
First off, film caps do not have a polarity....period. However, film and foil wrapped capacitors do have an outer foil connection and an inner foil connection. Not all film caps are film and foil wrapped construction. Some are stacked film for example. So be sure of what you have to begin with. But anyhow, as far as wrapped caps go the deal is this; The outer foil can be taken advantage of to act like a shield. IMO this was more important in the old days and with radio (ham) and high Hz equipment. At audio Hz and with todays dielectric materials I doubt it would make any difference with most circuits. But it doesn't hurt to try I guess. For a coupling cap the inner foil would go to the grid of the output tube.


Hope this helps,
Russ

 

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