Are you kidding me? This guy shares so much great stuff on TH-cam...and for free. I have a college level electricity class, and I learn so much more here! Thanks so much for posting!
Best tutorials on the subject of electronics on youtube bar none! Thank you for sharing part of your life with us. God bless you Amigo. You have quite a gift for teaching.
Well done! I think many people will benefit from watching this clealy presented tutorial. I took electronics way back in High School 50 years ago and have forgotten a whole bunch. Nice review. Wish my instructor back then was as clear in presenting basic electronics...
There are many similar aspects between electrical circuits and hydraulic circuits,for example,battery(or power supply)=pump,wire=tube,resistor=valve,diode=check valve,capacitor=accumulator,zener diode=relief valve,...,thank you for the easy understanding tutorials,they really help!
I have no electronics background but I know all lot about capacitors now... Thank you for making it so simple for a non technical to understand this concept.
If only my physics teachers had this super ability to make the complex simple. Hats off and all my respect for the effort you have put in and the undoubted influence this will have on younger minds, Keep up the good work!
Martin the ESR has nothing to do with the dielectric loss and it the resistance of the metallic parts of the capacitors that include the electrodes and the terminals. Good analogy other than that.
That's excellent! I haven't really touched this stuff in a long time but I managed to make a rudimentary circuit for my car that tells me which lights are on (parking/lowbeam) that auto dims as well. By watching this video, I now know how I will adjust the flash rate (charge curve) of my modified turn signal flasher - It operates in "warning mode" (fast flash) because I've converted the turn signals all to LED, which obviously make the flasher warn you that there is lower resistance so it flashes faster. I used a higher capacitance cap and now I will install a POT to fine tune the charge curve, as per your diagram and demonstration. Thank you for this video, I'm glad I haven't totally forgotten everything since College a decade ago ;)
No worries! The math is still good. Nice thing about metric system, shift the point. This is one of the best vids on capacitors though! They make so much more sense! Thanks for the vids!
Martin, I just made it through your 11 video Electronics Tutorial series, and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to make these videos. Your videos explaining these concepts are some of the best on the internet. THANK YOU!
:) It seems I was wrong dielectric loss is important at high frequency especially in the MHz range and higher. This is a good definition that I just found. The ESR, of a capacitor is the AC impedance of the capacitor when used at high frequencies and includes the resistance of the dielectric material, the DC resistance of the terminal leads, the DC resistance of the connections to the dielectric and the capacitor plate resistance all measured at a particular frequency and temperature.
Kudos, mate. I really love your accent and that you speak clearly. What part of England do you reside? I finally subscribed to your channel 'cause I learn something from watching your video tutorials. :-) W Rusty Lane in eastern Tennessee (Witherington Place Railroad)
Look, one of our teachers of Electrical Systems from last year, is already so good at explaining it. But you made even easier to understand it O.o Why don't you study to become a level 7 college teacher, loads of good colleges may have a job to you. :) But I guess you have a better one at the moment :D Thank you for clarifying the capacitor rules and basics :)
This guy seems like a wanna be EEVBlog to me, but I like how he actually gives us lecture about electronics. EEVBlog doesn't do that. He just does a bunch of tear downs and talking about electronics. Thanks for these theory videos. :) I think I am going to subscribe.
I agree. It's nice to have things explained calmly, rather than being taught/treated like some idiot who didn't get the first time around xD Thank you mjlorton for making this video!
Just Google ESR and dielectric loss. There are many references. From wiki "The ESR, composed out of the dielectric losses caused by the changing field strength in the dielectric" If I'm misunderstanding or not reading it correctly let me know. Thanks for the post Dacian.
That's a REALLY nice meter and scope setup at the end of this video!... How much did both of those meters cost and where did you get them? I've always wanted a test equipment setup like this, but I've never been able to afford anything beyond a simple, basic, handheld multimeter... Very thorough video BTW!
charge buildup: The electrons are attracted to the positive of the battery (electron flow) and the positive plate loses electrons. The negative plate is connected to the negative of the battery which has excess electrons which flow to the negative plate on the capacitor. The negative plate of the capacitor ends up with lots of electrons while the positive plate has few electrons (positive charge). Current flow happens while the electrons are charging the plates. Once they are charged the electron flow stops, voltage is equal to the charging battery.
So what is a capacitor used for in DC Circuits? Did you explain that in your video, because I didn't see or hear the part where you talked about the uses for Capacitors in DC Circuits.
To display both on the scope just probe across the resistor. V=IR. R is constant. So voltage across the resistor will be proportional to the current. Easy a pie.
it is nice video to understand the analogies Thank you, you mentioned capacitor charge time is RC x 5 m seconds. The supply source does not play any role in connection to charging ?? I am just curious
Lots deep electronics knowledge. May I ask what will happen if I run AC current to DC capacitor? Vise versa, DC current through AC capacitor such microwave
I don't get it. In a DC current, how the negative "bladder" can fulfill of negative charge since there's an insulator between the two "bladders"? The current is supposed to only one way so how does it reach the second badder? I know I'm wrong but I just want to understand
+JVP The bladder empties back out the same 'door way' it came in through. To do that, it has to go backwards. Think of the + as the forward, stand generated DC direction and the - as the backwards. Imagine a car driving into a space (+, going forward), to come back out, it has to reverse (-). The release or emptying of the bladder isn't created by the DC current. It happens once the DC has ceased. You blow air into a ballon, once your forward pressure pushing the air in ceases, if the balloon isn't closed, the pressure inside the balloon will push the air back out, which is the - direction. The - current isn't a product of the - current on the other side of the capacitor, which, as you stated, is separated by an insulator. It's just the charge that was initially DC (+) in it's motion, falling back and running in the other direction (only when there's no forward pressure present, the DC power supply's pressure is removed).
I'm actually sorry I made a comment it seems I do not understand the ESR. Is essay to use the ESR from tables but did not understood the major part the dielectric plays in his value and I still don't. I will need to reed on this when I get the time since now I'm curios about the underling effect. I'm a bit disappointed with the turbine but maybe it will work better once installed on a proper tower. Hope to do more videos once the work on the house is done for this year.
Right , so , Goldilocks is in the pipe hiding ( i presume from the 3 bears ), and having tried to follow all this, how do I know what value or type of capacitor I want in a given circuit ?. Very confused , but not because of you Martin.
I would like to use super capacitors to start a car as seen on TH-cam. However I noticed a big drop in compacity when wiring 6 of the 100f 2.5v in series. I was wondering if a car audio capacitor has 2.5v capacitors and I could then take advantage of the circuit and wire the 6 in parallel???
So now we know that capacitor can be charged and once charged block the current flow. I can't really find a good explanation what benefits we get from it, specially how the filtering works. Lets say we have simple circuit, a cap hooked up with resistor in parallel. Once a cap is fully charged then a current flow goes through resistor, so what a cap does in this moment. I know, it filters things but what actually happening there. Can you explain ? Thank you. I love your videos.
What you say is right but only partially. Capacitors do not allow any DC or low frequency current to flow through it once charged. High frequency AC current will pass with no problems. This frequency value under which all the current is blocked depends on the impedance of the capacitor. Now lets say your capacitor is in series with your circuit, it will pass high frequencies and will thus be a high pass filter. If you ground the capacitor before your circuit, it will pass all the high frequencies to ground. The low frequencies will not be able to pass through the capacitor and will go to the circuit, thus making a low pass filter.
question tht still has not been answered because is not like the cap acts as a npn transistor or a pnp for this matter so how does this cap actually come into play? in a arduino uno you will notice those 2 big cap by the power jack and they are connected obvsly but when do they work ? if i power the uno with 5v(usb), 9v(jack) or 12v (VIN) what are this caps doing in place? when a transistor or voltage divider can and will do the same job?! and if im not mistaking there is a voltage divider in place for 3.3v (PWR Pin) and a resistor in place for regulating energy down to 5v (PWR Pin) so again why the CAP? and two at that if i was able to connect a motor directly to its GPP and work just fine then i wud have made a guess and said that those CAP are there to act as a reservoir of energy to contain the power needed to energize its motors like Servo Stepper or DC motors but i know that Arduino aren't good at powering motors directly after its a Micro controller not a Driver Controller right and on those you do see this big Caps you notice in the Arduino uno so can someone share some knowledge and shine light on this topic? thanks in advance
... and it will be better to ignore my response since I know how to use the ESR but I was never interested in the science behind so I will need to study and understand more the relation of different type of dielectrics with the ESR. From what I see in the graphs of frequency vs ESR on different type of capacitors it seems that electrolytic have a much falter curve with frequency vs the ceramic ones.
Are you kidding me? This guy shares so much great stuff on TH-cam...and for free. I have a college level electricity class, and I learn so much more here!
Thanks so much for posting!
This is by FAAAR the best explaination on capacitors I've ever seen. Thank you very much for the awesome video!
I went to school for Electronics and this is a 100x better explanation than what I ever heard from any book or professor.
Mr Lorton, this video series is PURE GOLD for begginers like me. Thank you a lot for the amazing job you are doing.
its people like you who make youtube worth watching
Best tutorials on the subject of electronics on youtube bar none! Thank you for sharing part of your life with us. God bless you Amigo. You have quite a gift for teaching.
Well done! I think many people will benefit from watching this clealy presented tutorial. I took electronics way back in High School 50 years ago and have forgotten a whole bunch. Nice review. Wish my instructor back then was as clear in presenting basic electronics...
There are many similar aspects between electrical circuits and hydraulic circuits,for example,battery(or power supply)=pump,wire=tube,resistor=valve,diode=check valve,capacitor=accumulator,zener diode=relief valve,...,thank you for the easy understanding tutorials,they really help!
I have no electronics background but I know all lot about capacitors now... Thank you for making it so simple for a non technical to understand this concept.
Finally after watching what feels like 1000 videos, one I can understand..Thanks for keeping it simple :)
If only my physics teachers had this super ability to make the complex simple. Hats off and all my respect for the effort you have put in and the undoubted influence this will have on younger minds, Keep up the good work!
cocis My pleasure and thanks very much for the feedback.
Great - one of the very best tutorials I hva seen on TH-cam. Many thanks.
Thank you for making these videos. it is always helpful to keep the basics in mind.
While I was doing engineering this kind of facilities were limited, its a good work keep it up.
Really interesting analogy. Makes sense. The first time ever for me to take notes while watching a TH-cam video.
Thanks very much for coming back with the definition. I hope the turbine is spinning and home is keeping you warm. Thanks for all the updates.
Martin the ESR has nothing to do with the dielectric loss and it the resistance of the metallic parts of the capacitors that include the electrodes and the terminals.
Good analogy other than that.
This is the best explanation on capacitors I've seen; Thank you for the hard work
Awesome video as usual, I'm a softmore in electrical engineering and I learn a lot from ur videos. Thanks for you hard work :)
My pleasure Adam, thanks for the feedback.
Great explanation, nice to see the different effects visually. Thanks for taking the the time to share your knowledge and equipment.
This is an intuitive way to think about capacitors. I like it. Thx
My pleasure, thanks for watching. Cheers, Martin.
That's excellent! I haven't really touched this stuff in a long time but I managed to make a rudimentary circuit for my car that tells me which lights are on (parking/lowbeam) that auto dims as well.
By watching this video, I now know how I will adjust the flash rate (charge curve) of my modified turn signal flasher - It operates in "warning mode" (fast flash) because I've converted the turn signals all to LED, which obviously make the flasher warn you that there is lower resistance so it flashes faster. I used a higher capacitance cap and now I will install a POT to fine tune the charge curve, as per your diagram and demonstration.
Thank you for this video, I'm glad I haven't totally forgotten everything since College a decade ago ;)
Jed Misiek My pleasure, thanks for the feedback and post.
I had to watch this video twice to get the concept still very good.
Thanks for this post. As a beginner I really want to know how these components work. Keep up the good work.
Yes, if only my physics teacher had had the same ability as well. Lovely explanation.
My pleasure, thanks for the feedback.
No worries! The math is still good. Nice thing about metric system, shift the point. This is one of the best vids on capacitors though! They make so much more sense! Thanks for the vids!
Best explanation and analogy of capacitance I've experienced
Martin, I just made it through your 11 video Electronics Tutorial series, and I wanted to thank you for taking the time to make these videos. Your videos explaining these concepts are some of the best on the internet. THANK YOU!
Brings me right back to my days maintaining avionics systems on F-16's
Thanks for putting together a great series :)
LOL....that put a smile on my face! Thanks for the feedback.
Very explanatory as always. Thank you Martin!
Yes...true...and I did have a shunt as well which I forgot about...next time. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the feedback.
Yeah, tantalum -- not like aluminum (American) and aluminium (RotW) -- we all agree on tantalum!
Love your vids Martin.
I really like the "Bladder" reference..... makes sense to me, thx for the video!
@ 24:10 nano is 10 to the power of -9, not -12. Nice work with the videos. Keep it up
Thank you very much mjlorton this is the best video about capacitor I have ever seen
Dody Henawy My pleasure, thanks for the post.
mjlorton What type of capacitor is one that has a resistor in the circuit built in.Great videoCheersRob
mjlorton Oh i forgot to mention that the symbol for that capacitor is CPThank you
+Dody Henawy Why would anyone want to have "a bladder" in their circuit?
This has really helped me. Thank you.
Lucas Astorian My pleasure, thanks for the post.
Amazing video. Love your beginner series so much. When will we be carrying on?!
Thanks Aaron.
Great job, man. As always.
Excellent tutorial, thanks for sharing.
Nice video on capacitors. Thanks.
Thank you for the great videos. 😊
great work man. Keep going. M watching.
Thank you very much for your effort here. Good job.
you're Awesome....!! thanks for the video +mjlorton...
:) It seems I was wrong dielectric loss is important at high frequency especially in the MHz range and higher.
This is a good definition that I just found.
The ESR, of a capacitor is the AC impedance of the capacitor when used at high frequencies and includes the resistance of the dielectric material, the DC resistance of the terminal leads, the DC resistance of the connections to the dielectric and the capacitor plate resistance all measured at a particular frequency and temperature.
Kudos, mate. I really love your accent and that you speak clearly. What part of England do you reside? I finally subscribed to your channel 'cause I learn something from watching your video tutorials. :-)
W Rusty Lane in eastern Tennessee (Witherington Place Railroad)
Look, one of our teachers of Electrical Systems from last year, is already so good at explaining it. But you made even easier to understand it O.o Why don't you study to become a level 7 college teacher, loads of good colleges may have a job to you. :) But I guess you have a better one at the moment :D Thank you for clarifying the capacitor rules and basics :)
Thanks for the video. Ready for part 2. I hope it shows capacitor using ac. I want to understand how ac start capacitor works on ac motor
Very good presentation. Thank you very much.
Thanks, I love the way you teach. Awesome!
My pleasure, thanks for the feedback.
Now, that's a class!
Yup....I wanted to do that but did not have a DC CT at hand.
This guy seems like a wanna be EEVBlog to me, but I like how he actually gives us lecture about electronics. EEVBlog doesn't do that. He just does a bunch of tear downs and talking about electronics.
Thanks for these theory videos. :)
I think I am going to subscribe.
I think this is much better than EEVBlog
I agree. It's nice to have things explained calmly, rather than being taught/treated like some idiot who didn't get the first time around xD Thank you mjlorton for making this video!
another excellent video. Thanks
Great video and very well explained.
My pleasure, thanks for watching. Cheers, Martin.
Je suis du Québec et j'apprends beaucoup, merci !
Are you doing any more? watched all up to #9. Transistors, op amps, inductors would be good
Excellent tutorial!
Just Google ESR and dielectric loss. There are many references. From wiki "The ESR, composed out of the dielectric losses caused by the changing field strength in the dielectric"
If I'm misunderstanding or not reading it correctly let me know.
Thanks for the post Dacian.
I really understand it because of you Thank you.
+BABLE PRINT My pleasure, thanks for your post.
That's a REALLY nice meter and scope setup at the end of this video!... How much did both of those meters cost and where did you get them? I've always wanted a test equipment setup like this, but I've never been able to afford anything beyond a simple, basic, handheld multimeter... Very thorough video BTW!
charge buildup: The electrons are attracted to the positive of the battery (electron flow) and the positive plate loses electrons. The negative plate is connected to the negative of the battery which has excess electrons which flow to the negative plate on the capacitor. The negative plate of the capacitor ends up with lots of electrons while the positive plate has few electrons (positive charge). Current flow happens while the electrons are charging the plates. Once they are charged the electron flow stops, voltage is equal to the charging battery.
So what is a capacitor used for in DC Circuits? Did you explain that in your video, because I didn't see or hear the part where you talked about the uses for Capacitors in DC Circuits.
Capacitors block DC they are used sometimes to bias transistors. In that function they block the DC bias current while allowing the AC signal to pass.
I love this guy!!!
Great tutorial!
To display both on the scope just probe across the resistor. V=IR. R is constant. So voltage across the resistor will be proportional to the current. Easy a pie.
Thanks man great job
but i think there is a mistake that 274nF is 274e-9 not -12
thanks again ;)
Great tutorial.
it is nice video to understand the analogies Thank you, you mentioned capacitor charge time is RC x 5 m seconds. The supply source does not play any role in connection to charging ?? I am just curious
Thanks.
btw it's called Displacement Current! Thank You James Clerk Maxwell
Lots deep electronics knowledge.
May I ask what will happen if I run AC current to DC capacitor?
Vise versa,
DC current through AC capacitor such microwave
Thank you for this video,it is really helpfull !
A hydraulic accumulator is an ideal analogy in fluid terms for what you're saying.
AWESOME JOB
I don't get it. In a DC current, how the negative "bladder" can fulfill of negative charge since there's an insulator between the two "bladders"?
The current is supposed to only one way so how does it reach the second badder?
I know I'm wrong but I just want to understand
+JVP The bladder empties back out the same 'door way' it came in through. To do that, it has to go backwards. Think of the + as the forward, stand generated DC direction and the - as the backwards.
Imagine a car driving into a space (+, going forward), to come back out, it has to reverse (-). The release or emptying of the bladder isn't created by the DC current. It happens once the DC has ceased.
You blow air into a ballon, once your forward pressure pushing the air in ceases, if the balloon isn't closed, the pressure inside the balloon will push the air back out, which is the - direction.
The - current isn't a product of the - current on the other side of the capacitor, which, as you stated, is separated by an insulator. It's just the charge that was initially DC (+) in it's motion, falling back and running in the other direction (only when there's no forward pressure present, the DC power supply's pressure is removed).
I'm actually sorry I made a comment it seems I do not understand the ESR.
Is essay to use the ESR from tables but did not understood the major part the dielectric plays in his value and I still don't.
I will need to reed on this when I get the time since now I'm curios about the underling effect.
I'm a bit disappointed with the turbine but maybe it will work better once installed on a proper tower.
Hope to do more videos once the work on the house is done for this year.
Thanks so much ,well understood
very educative.thank you
i have a projection /Mitsubishi TV. i want to scrap-could you tell me how to discharge the capacitor
Right , so , Goldilocks is in the pipe hiding ( i presume from the 3 bears ), and having tried to follow all this, how do I know what value or type of capacitor I want in a given circuit ?. Very confused , but not because of you Martin.
Just to make some corrections if you allow me...
At 23:47, nano is E-9, pico is E-12.
But this lesson is very good.
+Illawarra1 Sorry. You already made a correction after that.
I would like to use super capacitors to start a car as seen on TH-cam. However I noticed a big drop in compacity when wiring 6 of the 100f 2.5v in series. I was wondering if a car audio capacitor has 2.5v capacitors and I could then take advantage of the circuit and wire the 6 in parallel???
The link you have for the playlist brings up the viewers personal playlist not yours for the video.
I really learned a lot . thanks
Mohammad Alshokan My pleasure, thanks for the feedback.
I just want to say Thank you
thank you for this kind sir!
u r the best
So now we know that capacitor can be charged and once charged block the current flow. I can't really find a good explanation what benefits we get from it, specially how the filtering works. Lets say we have simple circuit, a cap hooked up with resistor in parallel. Once a cap is fully charged then a current flow goes through resistor, so what a cap does in this moment. I know, it filters things but what actually happening there. Can you explain ? Thank you. I love your videos.
What you say is right but only partially. Capacitors do not allow any DC or low frequency current to flow through it once charged. High frequency AC current will pass with no problems. This frequency value under which all the current is blocked depends on the impedance of the capacitor. Now lets say your capacitor is in series with your circuit, it will pass high frequencies and will thus be a high pass filter. If you ground the capacitor before your circuit, it will pass all the high frequencies to ground. The low frequencies will not be able to pass through the capacitor and will go to the circuit, thus making a low pass filter.
LetMeRetort That's the best explanantion yet.It was the that aspect I could not grasp. Thank you.
Hi, why is there only 5 time constants? Is that conventional when getting the total time of a capactior?
question tht still has not been answered because is not like the cap acts as a npn transistor or a pnp for this matter so how does this cap actually come into play? in a arduino uno you will notice those 2 big cap by the power jack and they are connected obvsly but when do they work ? if i power the uno with 5v(usb), 9v(jack) or 12v (VIN) what are this caps doing in place? when a transistor or voltage divider can and will do the same job?! and if im not mistaking there is a voltage divider in place for 3.3v (PWR Pin) and a resistor in place for regulating energy down to 5v (PWR Pin) so again why the CAP? and two at that if i was able to connect a motor directly to its GPP and work just fine then i wud have made a guess and said that those CAP are there to act as a reservoir of energy to contain the power needed to energize its motors like Servo Stepper or DC motors but i know that Arduino aren't good at powering motors directly after its a Micro controller not a Driver Controller right and on those you do see this big Caps you notice in the Arduino uno so can someone share some knowledge and shine light on this topic? thanks in advance
... and it will be better to ignore my response since I know how to use the ESR but I was never interested in the science behind so I will need to study and understand more the relation of different type of dielectrics with the ESR.
From what I see in the graphs of frequency vs ESR on different type of capacitors it seems that electrolytic have a much falter curve with frequency vs the ceramic ones.
God bless you
i gain from it. thank you so much!!!
Why do some electrolytic capacitors have four legs,? like a SI TYPE.I have heard that two legs are for stability on the pcb.?
regards