Dual-Run Capacitor Basics
0Please Read Description:
Parallel capacitors increase capacitance. The individual plates are increasing the overall surface area value hence capacitance increases. This also has no effect on the individual capacitor voltage rating.
Series capacitors decrease capacitance. The total capacitance is less than any of the individual capacitors' capacitances because the fields of the capacitors oppose each other. Also, series capacitors act as a voltage divider which increases their overall voltage rating.
Voltage Rating (Rule of Thumb)
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Vrms x 1.5 = Minimum Capacitor Voltage Rating
Ex. 240Vrms x 1.5 = 360Vpeak (Round up to actual voltage rating available 370V or more)
Personally, I think you can't go wrong with the 80% method...
Ex. 340Vpeak/0.80 = 425Vpeak (rounds up to 440V)
Parallel - C (total) = C1 + C2 + C3 + ... Cx
Series - 1/C (total) = (1/C1) + (1/C2) + (1/C3) + ... (1/Cx)
Two Capacitor (Series) = (C1 x C2) / (C1+ C2)
Two Capacitor (Series - Equal Capacitance) = (Capacitance) / 2
Calculator Input
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Series - 1/ C (total) = (C1)^ -1 + (C2)^ -1 + (C3)^ -1 + ... + (Cx)^ -1
** To get final answer, you need to take the inverse of the result **
This video in no way covers all aspects of the capacitor. You should consult other resources if the concept you're looking for isn't covered by this video. Also, if I made a mistake in narration in the video the correction will be found here.
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In case you're wondering how some farmer has this kind of knowledge. Well, I finished my first 2 years of Electrical Engineering in which the college gave me an Associates of Science in Engineering. Rather than finishing the BS in EE, I had this crazy thought that Computer Information Technology was someone that I actually wanted to learn more about since the school just started its Cisco Networking Academy. I quickly finished up an Associates in Applied Science - Electrical Engineering Technology then switched over to the CIT program. Funny thing, I also done a short summer school stint in the college's welding program. Looking back, I wish I had gotten my Associates in Welding but felt at the time it was a waste of time since my parents really needing my help with the family business and the rest is history. I guess you could say I'm not your average farmer hence the reason HVAC was sort of easy for me to figure out on my own!