[ARC5] Back to basics: Capacitor breakdown voltages

[Jim Falls]

Thanks for the input! Back to the catalog!

Cheers!
Jim K6FWT

> On Jan 24, 2016, at 18:25, Scott Robinson <spr at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> 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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