At 02:31 PM 12/28/2010, you wrote: >David VanHorn wrote: > > I need about 10mJ energy storage, with a peak voltage of 16V, that can > > withstand some fairly high temperatures. > > ... > > I need something that works like an electrolytic, tolerates much wider > > temperature extremes, and costs roughly the same. > >It's going to cost what it costs, but ceramic capacitors can have much wid= er >operating temperatures. Just to add to Olin's good suggestions, note that=20 there are ceramics, and there are ceramics. Avoid X5/Y5 parts. For example, the Z5V parts are=20 rated to operate at -30 to 85=B0C, which doesn't sound too bad, but the tolerance over=20 that range is +22/-82%. At BOTH ends of the temperature range they practically disappear=20 electrically, with but 1/5 of the nominal capacitance remaining. They also age. And they=20 have a voltage coefficient. Pretty much everything seems to make the value lower. X7R/X8R are good for wide temperature range and they don't change very much= in value. X5R are a bit more narrow temp range but also reasonably stable. >Best regards, Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the rewar= d" speff@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.co= m Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.co= m --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .