Rubycon capacitors from lcsc.com - possibly counterfeit? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: futurist
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 10:32:31 am
content: Hi everyone,I ordered Rubycon capacitors from lcsc.com multiple times and every capacitor had a low quality silkscreen marking so I thought that was normalFew days ago I received similar capacitors from mouser, however their marking was different. I wonder if ones from lcsc.com might be counterfeit?Check attached photos, bottom capacitor is from mouser, top one is from lcsc. They are of a different type, ZLH from lcsc and PK from mouser, but I also have PK type from lcsc with the same marking.

author: SteveyG
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 10:42:52 am
content: Definitely looks suspect, I would raise it with them. They have a counterfeit guarantee, so will either refund or supply the correct part.I've ordered many Rubycon capacitors from LCSC and they all look like the bottom capacitor.

author: voltsandjolts
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 11:08:55 am
content: It's hard to know for sure.Being different types, they could well be manufactured at a different location and legitimately have a different 'look n feel'.It's the same problem with ICs but at least you can crack them open and check the die looks legit.Although that's no absolute guarantee either

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 11:26:35 am
content: I have genuine Rubycon ZL and they look somewhere in between but closer to crappier one. Post pictures of top and bottom, it's quite important when distinguishing counterfeits.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 11:28:49 am
content: Can you post fotos of the top?The (forget the english name) in case of over temp vent cuttings in the top are pretty unique per brand.

author: Whales
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 11:29:43 am
content: You might be able to test some of the capacitor specs and see if they match up.http://www.rubycon.cc/SPEC/DIP/ZLH.pdfLeakage current should be doable: charge cap, measure (quickly) with dmm, leave for X minutes, measure with DMM again, repeat a few times and graph the slow descent.ESR is a bit more complicated.Lifetime would be annoying to setup for measurement.

author: futurist
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 12:08:04 pm
content: Here are the photos of the same PK type capacitors, bottom one is from mouser on all photosClearly the one from lcsc looks crappier

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 12:40:50 pm
content: My non expert opinion would be that they are genuine which is based on the typical K vent shape on the top.The fake Rubycons I have seen lack this specific mark and also often have crappier sleevings.

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 04, 2021, 02:00:42 pm
content: I could understand that, if each was made in a different Rubycon factory, then there could be some slight variation in tooling/equipment used to stamp the vent or print the markings.However, I would not expect the font of "PK" to be different between factories. Would think the sleeving artwork would be consistent.You can try to take the capacitors apart, unroll them, and see if anything looks vastly different. To be honest, most capacitors I've unrolled look basically the same, so you'd have to look hard for small details.