Capacitors for repair - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: joel16
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 12:46:52 pm
content: I have been repairing some equipment and want to build up a standard stock of electrolytic capacitors. Is there a good brand/series I should stick with that has the best price to reliability, or should I just buy the cheapest on Digi-Key that meets my requirements. From looking around it appears the Nichicon UPW series has good specs and availability, should I go with those? They are also 105C rated, which I think is a good standard to maintain. Looking at the "From no parts to decent stockpile" it is suggested to buy what value you need and get extra, but I would rather have a decent stockpile and not have to pay for unnecessary shipping. Am I better off doing this or should I buy a cheap kit of Ebay and stick with those. Thanks.

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 12:58:21 pm
content: This appears to be a good kit:https://www.ebay.com/itm/333638247107?hash=item4dae63a2c3:g:xcMAAOSwFdRe-J3n&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAsDGK%2BY%2Fg9Q9AesWW7JVt9JFsMp8VsOS%2F2oQeYzGDgZi8NHwOFpvIAMeT0ONpu%2ByXrC731JMs1oVYcsCWPE3lVm9AekQnaI4eQNyYoFU8iWUEaQdKaRTO9heeV2nYWDANHZR7%2BD%2BQOR%2B12EIVgnbXobeESr6CLdPdUtz9P%2Fg7tgTYDrjYp5UYV%2FU8N1p3Rh0lh1k7Hlypk1PASEdEBkOvsbJ9yTTFN9D4Z1r3sx96fQfn%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5Ko5NiHYQ

author: joel16
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 01:11:10 pm
content: Yes, that looks good thank you. The only kits I could find on Ebay were straight from China, these look much more trustworthy.

author: Wallace Gasiewicz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 01:20:59 pm
content: If you need a stock of resistors, buy the 1 % tolerance ones, in a kit.Odds are that they are better and do not cost much anyway.

author: Haenk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 01:50:23 pm
content: "no" to cheap kitI still recommend only getting the parts you need - good caps are not exactly cheap and you really don't want to have hundreds of Dollars of unsuited parts in your drawers.

author: joel16
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: November 03, 2022, 03:02:52 pm
content: I recently acquired a rather large pile of old TE, and much of it needs repair. I don't have the time to go through everything (100's of items) individually and find all the cap's that will need replacing and order replacements. It seems much easier to go through each piece of equipment individually, replace whatever needs it with parts on hand, and move on.

author: tkamiya
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2022, 05:53:58 pm
content: If you are buying from Digi-Key, at least you can avoid counterfeit or reject pieces. But, unless you are buying thousands for production, why not get known good ones with good reputations? It won't cost you that much more in big scheme of things. I like Panasonic, Nippon Chemicon, and Nichicon and I try to stick with them. I usually buy 105C variety because (again) they don't cost that much more than 85C.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 06, 2022, 07:03:29 pm
content: The temperature rating is not the only thing you need to be aware of.Some circuits require capacitors that have very low ESR ... I'm talking switching power supplies, VRMs on motherboard, high frequency dc-dc converters.For linear regulators, for audio, for lots of generic things, more basic capacitors will do fine.For those you can't just use any electrolytic capacitor like Nichicon PW because it would be too outside specifications.Look at capacitor charts to see where particular series fall into..United Chemi Con :https://www.chemi-con.co.jp/en/products/aluminum/chart/#aecLeadSecRubycon :https://www.newark.com/wcsstore/ExtendedSitesCatalogAssetStore/cms/asset/images/americas/common/storefront/rubycon/AluminumElectrolyticCapacitorsSeriesSelectionChart.pdfPanasonic :https://industrial.panasonic.com/ww/products/pt/aluminum-cap-lead/lineup#systemNichicon :https://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/products/alm_mini/index.htmlI buy from these brands ... Panasonic FM and FR for low esr, FC for more general purpose and audio (it's considered low ESR but no longer low enough for modern VRMs and high frequency switching),United Chemi Con KZE , KZH , KY , KYA , LXY, LXZRubycon ZLG, ZLH, ZL , YXF , YX* , RX30 where 130c rating is importantand so onIf there's some device where you don't need these brands and could go with cheaper stuff, I like buying from TME.eu from brands like Samxon or Aishi or Samwha (Samwha has a bad rep because of lots of monitor power supply failures, but if you use series properly and mostly for lower frequency stuff like audio, linear regulators etc it's fine)My advice would be to buy some of the most common capacitance and voltages you'd find in devices or the ones a hobbyist may need, and buy them in packs of 10 or whatever is the lowest amount for which you'd get a better price.Ex 10uF 25v/50v , 47uF 25-50v (even if circuit only has 5-12v, usually you don't gain anything by going with lower voltage ratings, 35v or 50v rated caps will use same volume100 uF / 220uF / 470uF / 680uF / 820uF ( 470 uF 25v and 820uF 25v were very common in CFFL monitor power supplies) ,1000uF / 1200uF / 1500uF 16v and maybe 6.3v/10v (for when 16v rated caps would be too big) - in some repairs you could replace these with solid / polymer capacitors