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Polarity on Surface Mount Capacitors

M

md262626

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Messages
1,259
Trivia question? I'm replacing a SM cap with a regular electrolytic cap on a videocard. The surface mount cap has a black stripe on one side but no polarity markings. The circuit board also doesn't denote which side is which. My question: on an SM cap is the side with the black mark the negative side? Any help is appreciated. I want to make sure I have correct polarity when I solder it to the board.
 
There are a few different surface mount packages, what does it look like?

Normally the negative side is marked black though, yes.

In fact, normally the negative side is the only one marked at all, but not always.

As you look at the cap, is the band on the left or right side of the part number as it is read? Left side is more probably the anode, and right side is more likely the cathode.

Here's a fun little PPT file about passive components from www.niccomp.com
 
The band is on the LH side of the lettering. The cap is cylindrical in shape and the leads run through a small plastic base plate. The cap is surface mount, but I'm going to solder a regular electrolytic to the solder pads.
 
Have you tried looking up the part number?

But since it's a cylindrical package I will say it seems more likely that it is a negative marking.
 
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