Electronics guide > Capacitors
CapacitorsYou need a number of components to build the circuits in this chapter:
- 1 x 15 k resistor
- 1 x 22 μF electrolytic capacitor
- 1 x 220 μF electrolytic capacitor
- 1 x 470 μF electrolytic capacitor
- 1 x switch
As usual, the resistor power rating and tolerance are of no importance. The capacitor
must, however, have a voltage rating of 10 V or more. The switch can be of any type,
even an old light switch will do if you have one. A slide switch is ideal, however,
both common and cheap.
To make the connections between the switch and your breadboard, you can use common
multi-strand wire if you like, and tin the ends which push into the breadboard —
see last chapter for instructions — but a better idea is to use 22 SWG single-strand
tinned copper wire. This is quite rigid and pushes easily into the breadboard connectors
without breaking up. It’s available in reels, and a reel will last you quite a while,
so it’s worth buying for this and future purposes.
Take note
If short strands break off from multi-strand wire and get stuck in the breadboard
connectors you might get short circuits occurring. Make sure — if you use multi-strand
wire — you tin wire ends properly. Even better — don’t use multi-strand wire, instead
use single-strand wire.
Solder a couple of short lengths of the wire to switch connections and push on
a couple of bits of insulating covering (you can buy this in reels also, but if
you have a few inches of spare mains cable you’ll find you can strip the few centimetres
you need from this) to protect against short circuits.
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