Capacitor Wiring

[Agfoxflyer]

This might be a dumb question, but I have asked the "Experts" at my home airport and got different answers. I believe that the Chevrons point to the positive side. But some say no negative. Any comments


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[Dave S]

agfox,

This is one of those things you need to sure of in your own head....a person ends up buying more parts if it is connected the wrong way.

Here is one reference on the subject of capacitor polarity ID.

http://denethor.wlu.ca/common/capacitor_polarity.pdf

Not saying I am an electrical engineer...however after studying the subject during my build I found that capacitors are generally marked (confusingly) in two ways. The logical one uses a "+" by the terminal which is supposed to be connected to the positive side of the system. The illogical one identifies the negative terminal which is suposed to be connected to negative side of the system with either an arrow or a series of chevrons pointing to the negative terminal up the side of the capacitor.

FWIW - I connected the terminal with the chevrons pointing to it to the negative side of the system - been running flawlessly for 300 hours - no smoke or fires.

To make it really confusing - some capacitors can be hooked up either way - the one used on Rotax Charging system is an electrolytic capacitor which has ony one right way.

It's a variable marking system designed to confuse a person - so it's not a dumb question - it's a smart question - be sure you have it correct - one way it will work, the other way you will end up burning up some expensive parts.

Sincerely,

[Av8r_Sed]

As Dave surmised, polarity bar (Chevron stripe) is negative. Tie it to ground and you should be good to go.

[Agfoxflyer]

Thanks Guys. Don't ask me how I know but if you connect wrong you get a loud bang, smoke, and oil dripping out of the thing.

[t j]

Thanks Guys. Don't ask me how I know but if you connect wrong you get a loud bang, smoke, and oil dripping out of the thing.

...and it stinks like crazy too.

[Agfoxflyer]

Wired it up. Flipped switches. No pop, smoke, oil, or smell. Good to go!