10 µF/25V Tantal Instead of 22µF/16V - In circuit

May 31, 2005 1 Replies

Hi All,



I am building a PIC programmer (JDM Programmer) described here:

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It uses a 22=B5F/16V Tantal Capacitor in the circuit.



I am unable to get this capacitor in the town where I live;



By any chance I can use a 10 =B5F/25V instead? or maybe 2 in paralell?



I really do not know What Tantals are- for that matter my general electronics knowledge is pretty limited.



I'd appreciate if anyone could throw some light on that too.



Many Thanks Suraj



The 22uF capacitor is not particularly critical. The real issue with tantalums is surge currents. In this case, those currents would be rather minimal.

One of the advantages of tantalums over electrolytics is their low ESR (there are threads about it). For this circuit you could probably use

10uF at 25V (this is being connected to a RS232 circuit which is why the voltage rating is a little high) as nothing in it is particularly critical.

So go ahead and use the 10uF/25V part - you should be fine. If you get issues, then just drop a second one in parallel, although I don't think you'll need it. (IMO)

Cheers

PeteS

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