[ARC5] Back to basics: Capacitor breakdown voltages

[Scott Robinson]

Hi Jim,

If your B+ sits around 1100V, a 2 KV capacitor should do fine by itself. 
If you want series combinations, you need shunt resistors to be sure the 
voltage is evenly divided between the caps that are in series.

Regards,

Scott

On 1/24/16 6:14 PM, Jim Falls wrote:
> OK, I can calculate series/parallel combos, but how does the breakdown voltage work?
>
> My BC -375 has a leaky trio of 1uF oil filled bypass caps that have 3kV ratings. Mouser has pricey ($20) 1uF and .47uF units rated at 2kV. How does that breakdown work?
>
> One shorted, and the plate current meter went up like a sparkler. Other 2 are making my PSU lug down, B+ dropping to 900 from the usual 1100 VDC it idles at. I get 800 while transmitting instead of 1kV like it usually does.
>
> Cheers!
> Jim K6FWT
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