FSBUS COM - component / electronics question

[Guest luckas]

Hi,A coupld of quick electronics questions for those gifted electronics people among us.I'm making and FSBUS COM. So far so good - success with press-n-peel etc.I have just purchased the components according to mikkila.org (exellent web site.)1. Diode 4 - The 1N4002. Can this be a 1N4004 ? I was assured by the shop attendant that this version can be used instead.2. My ceramic capacitor - the 100n. The most likely one that I could find was actually called a 100p ? Is this likely to be the same one ?3. Does commmon sense prevail for those Voltages and Wattages which have not been specified in the parts list ? I'm using 0.5 watt and 1 watt resistors, and the unspecified capacitors are predominantly 16v and 50v.Finally, are there any other areas I should be concerned about (it's been a few years since I dabbled in electronics) ?Lashings of thanks in advance,Paul

[Guest Ceawlin BSX029]

If the diode can cope with the forward voltage (in this case 9v) then it should be sufficient. It's only there to prevent surge back to the power supply.Secondly, the 100n capacitor must be 100n, as 100p can blow. The n is for nano-Farads, whereas p is for pico-Farads. pico-Farads is pretty much 1,000 times smaller than nano-Farads, so you can see the margin for error ;)As for the resistors, 0.5 watt and 1 watt resistors are fine, so you'll have no problems there. The value is just the current they can withstand before giving up. The capacitors voltage denomination is the maximum voltage they can hold. Imagine a litre jug, that jug holds up to 1 litre. If you supply a glass with 400ml, the jug will hold that 400ml without any problem. The same goes for the capacitor. If you have a 50v capacitor and give it 20v, it will store the 20v. If you over-charge it ie give it more voltage than it can take, it'll pop. Simple as that really!

[Guest luckas]

Thanks for the info - much appreciated. It's all starting to come back to me now.Paul