There is no "always" in HVAC or anything else. As others have pointed out, some capacitors have 4 on every terminal, some have different numbers on certain terminals than described here. It's a rule of thumb but it's not 100 percent.

There are some with 4 terminal on all 3

And if all three terminals do have 4 connections, the terminal that is wired directly to the contactor is always going to be the common. Then from there trace your other two wires down. One will go to the fan and one will go to the compressor. Easy pezzie.

The best and professional way is read your wiring diagrams and no cutting corners

It’s easier for me to learn things with a system that makes sense. 1,2 - Fan. 3 Herm. 4 is C. That becomes F, H , C. You can make up a mnemonic or cute little ditty if you want till you get some experience with it.

This is not true

Just replace the capacitors on my condenser. 4 terminals each. Herm, fan & common. careful when somebody says standard across-the-board there’s always exceptions. Look it up for yourself. My capacitor is a GE genteq 97F9042

Not true depending on the age of the unit. Older caps did not follow this format. Ask me how I know.

Im holding the one i just replaced as a home owner not in hvac at all. All three have 4 prongs. One is white the other 2 are black. No other indicators at all.

Chinese brands put whatever they have for terminals

omg, that sound effect is so satisfying!

I just spent hours trying to find anyone to tell me this information online. Thank you thank you so much for showing us this basic capacitor Clues

Good to know

Thank you for making this video. It really helped me out. My old capacitor had no markings on it.

Thank you for the coaching!

Awesome!!! Thanks for making this video my capacitor 12 years old and I couldn't read one thing on that capacitor. My first time changing it out so this helps so much

Thank you so much!

Thank you.

I had a great Uncle Herm....he was a giant guy and farmed never using tractor on his large farm....raised and butchered hogs...beef, cows milk, butter, cheese.... massive crops, orchard etc.Cursed every breath but was a great man....I never could hear the cursing.... Only the knowledge he had...He was a blacksmith, carpenter, tack and saddles,shoded all the Belgium, horse,,, kept up all the wagon equipment etc...

Learn something new all the time. Thx.