I am doing some repairs and need to replace a worn out film capacitor. However, all I have are ceramic capacitors and I don‘t feel like ordering more just to replace one (My town sucks and doesn‘t sell components, so I order them online).They are both 0.1uF capacitors and are both rated for 15v. Neither of them have polarity either. It‘ll probably be okay, but I don‘t want to risk damaging my circuit.
It depends.What is your application? Any capacitor can handle DC, but not any capacitor can handle AC. Some capacitors (such as electrolytic) have a specific polarity, and will be damaged, burn, or blow up if this is reversed. Thus, a capacitor with a polarity on it would not be suitable for AC (since the voltage changes polarity every 1/2 lambda) If a capacitor specifically says DC is likely has a polarity (because an AC capacitor could be used for either). Therefore, the only way you can replace the caps if it you were using the AC one for DC anyway. Watch out, I burned myself pretty good with a 150uF tantalum cap that I put in backwards, and blew up in my hand. On another note - are these caps of the same value?
There IS a difference between these capacitor types. The fact that a film cap was used originally (more expensive usually) instead of ceramic, implies that those properties were desirable. It depends where in your circuit it is being used. The usual properties relevant to choose film vs ceramic are -- Temperature stability Long-term stability Accuracy lumped inductance leakage resistance Size Pulsed High voltage tolerance etc. So if it's a critical location in your circuit where the cap plays a crucial role (e.g. as the element in an LO for a receiver), then you have to replace with a well-selected alternative. If the role is NOT crucial - e.g. bypass cap for emitter-resistor, or coupling cap between stages, then it's not so critical. So bottom line - need to know more about your circuit where the cap is used.
go for it 0.1 uf is 0.1 uf
