RE: Maxwell cap oil is....

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-compaq-dot-com>

I would think that the dielectric constant of whatever oil fills Maxwell
caps is of little actual importance.  The dielectric material is
polyproplylene, and it's this that determines how much capacitance/volume
you get.

Gary Lau
Wellesley, MA USA


Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>"
<jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Which, of course, is what Maxwell advertises in their literature (No PCB's,
we use Castor oil) (and on the labels of some of the capacitors)... As a
practical matter, Castor oil has a dielectric constant of around 4-6,
roughly double what mineral oil has, at the same breakdown voltage, so you
get twice the capacitance in the same size.

<snip>