Help me verify the date code on this electrolytic?  Counterfeits? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / repair

author: cvanc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2019, 12:06:42 pm
content: 1986, right? Thanks...(also, that's pretty ratty silkscreening, do you think these might be counterfeit?)

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2019, 11:03:13 pm
content: Where did you buy it from, was it advertised as new or NOS?It looks like a newer style than an 86 capacitor.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 10, 2019, 11:14:10 pm
content: Not likely to be 1986. I suspect it’s the 86th day of 2018 (March 27), the 86th day of 2008 (March 26), or the 86th day of 1998 (March 26) if it’s exceptionally old stock.I think the code is the last digit of the year, followed by the day number. E.g. 2018on day086=>8086

author: fzabkar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2019, 01:39:14 am
content: Could this be the part number -- ECOS2AP102AA ?Large Can Aluminum Electrolytic Capacitors (Year 2000 issue):http://www.farnell.com/datasheets/18866.pdfPanasonic TS-UP series aluminium electrolytic capacitors:https://media.digikey.com/pdf/Data%20Sheets/Panasonic%20Capacitors%20PDFs/TS-UP_Rev2010.pdfThis notice states that the package style was changed in 2013:https://media.digikey.com/pdf/PCNs/Panasonic/PG25.05.07.2013_Materials.pdf"Panasonic is going to make its entire Snap-In Al. Electrolytic lineup REACH compliant. All Snap-In Lytic capacitors are required to follow this REACH standard on or before January 1st, 2015.Effective Date: Product produced by Panasonic on and after October 1, 2013.The Sleeve material on these capacitors will change from PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) to PET(Polyethylene terephthalate). Please see before and after picture below."Edit: I agree that the silkscreening looks counterfeit.Edit #2: Could the zero be an oh (for October)??http://web.archive.org/web/20131228072117/http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/components/pdf/dc103.pdf

author: cvanc
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2019, 02:59:24 pm
content: Thanks everyone.These are not new, they are pulls from a product with an overall manufacture date of 1996. Which is why the date code confuses me - it seems all possible interpretations are really divergent from the known date the product was assembled.What I *don't* know for sure is has anyone been in here before me and swapped in some old parts at these locations. The board doesn't appear to have been reworked before but sometimes you can't be sure.Oh well, I'm replacing them in any case.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2019, 08:54:27 pm
content: Oh my. I think it'd be unlikely that the cap was made in 1988 and not used until 1996, so it's either a replacement, or uses a date code system I can't find a decoding key to. (None of the date code formats I found in any Panasonic documents would work with the code on this cap.)

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 11, 2019, 08:56:43 pm
content: Quote from: fzabkar on July 11, 2019, 01:39:14 amIn theory, yes. (I saw all those documents in my own research, too.) But the rest of the date could doesn't match any of those schemas, in that the O would have to be followed by another letter, or a roman numeral, but not arabic numerals.