Author Topic: Capacitor brands?  (Read 44574 times)

0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline kalelTopic starter

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 880
  • Country: 00
Capacitor brands?
« on: November 21, 2017, 06:30:21 pm »
Searching for "Genuine" on Aliexpress, I ran into a few names:

Cnikesin
Ruby
Nichicon
Bolsa
Nzluliyuan
JAmiCON
Soshin
RIFA
KEEZEL
NESSCAP

I am sure there are many others. I did hear about Nichicon but there are tons of other brands out there, and some are relatively expensive. Which are good?

Normally I don't need quality capacitors for simple circuits/learning so I'm just curious for reference.
« Last Edit: November 21, 2017, 06:43:41 pm by kalel »
 

Offline Bashstreet

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2017, 06:36:49 pm »
Never buy capacitors from unreliable sources as there are huge market for fakes.

Ali express is not reliable source of goods.

There are many good capacitor brands.

Not in particular order..

Rubycon
Chemi-Con
Nichicon
Panasonic

Any of those will do and can be trusted (as brand)

I personally prefer Rubycon but for reasons of availability do sometimes use Panasonic/nichicon.

There are also many other ok brands but i prefer the above.
 

Online wraper

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 16794
  • Country: lv
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2017, 07:03:57 pm »
Don't ever buy capacitors from China. Especially top brands from the post above. In addition to those there are:

Suncon (former Sanyo)
TDK (former Epcos)
Kemet
Vishay
Cornell Dubilier - CDE
ELNA

As well there are cheaper but still decent capacitors as:

SAMXON
Jamicon
Lelon
« Last Edit: November 21, 2017, 09:42:30 pm by wraper »
 

Offline Bashstreet

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2017, 07:25:53 pm »
Don't ever buy capacitors from China. Especially top brands from the post above. In addition to those there are:

Suncon (former Sanyo)
Kemet (former Epcos)
Vishay
Cornell Dubilier - CDE

As well there are cheaper but still decent capacitors as:

SAMXON
Jamicon
Lelon

Vishay and Kemet are not "premium" grade electrolytic manufacturers. Kemet makes fine poly's and Vishay makes fine ceramic caps.

I would not recommend ether as first choice for Electrolytics.

Cornell Dubilier makes good very large capacity electrolytics but is not preferable in my opinion in small values.

Point is if you can get superior caps there is no point use second best (unless one has availability issues)
 

Offline nanofrog

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 5446
  • Country: us
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2017, 08:13:34 pm »
FWIW, Mallory made some great aluminum electrolytic capacitors for PSU/UPS types of applications. Fresh units are under the CDE label as Mallory became Cornell Dublier.

Might be helpful if you manage to locate NOS Mallory capacitors.
 

Offline Bashstreet

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2017, 08:19:00 pm »
FWIW, Mallory made some great aluminum electrolytic capacitors for PSU/UPS types of applications. Fresh units are under the CDE label as Mallory became Cornell Dublier.

Might be helpful if you manage to locate NOS Mallory capacitors.

Yeah seen them in some high end PSU/UPS applications.
Reliability is rather good far as i understand.
 

Offline nanofrog

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 5446
  • Country: us
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2017, 08:40:01 pm »
Reliability is rather good far as i understand.
It is. Particularly if you keep the thermals below the cap's thermal rating (the lower the better). Under this condition, I've had them last 30+ years (linear PSU for an amplifier; designed to keep temp on 105C rated caps no higher than 55C).  :o  ;D

Even if pushed to their max temp rating, they're typically rated for 2000hrs of operation.
 

Offline Red Squirrel

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2748
  • Country: ca
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2017, 09:30:23 pm »
Capacitors seem to be one of those things that is counterfeited a lot, so definitely want to buy from good sources like Digikey, Mouser etc. AVoid Ebay, Aliexpress, Amazon etc as you don't know what you're getting.

 

Online wraper

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 16794
  • Country: lv
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2017, 10:03:11 am »
Vishay and Kemet are not "premium" grade electrolytic manufacturers. Kemet makes fine poly's and Vishay makes fine ceramic caps.
Kemet also makes fine tantalum and ceramic capacitors. Vishay makes a lot of other fine stuff as well, like semiconductors and precise resistors. But you will rarely find Vishay and Kemet electrolytic caps in consumer equipment. Most of those go into industrial, telecommunication, automotive.
 

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23018
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #9 on: November 22, 2017, 11:47:38 am »
Vishay electrolytics are ex BC components / Philips / Mullard and Sprague which are high end. They bought them out. Also Vishay sell lots of milspec parts, think Dale RN series. Everything they kick out is extremely reliable over their working life, ridiculously long term availability (I can buy same PN's that are 40 years old with manufacture dates of last year), tight specifications. One of the better manufacturers out there.

I always go for TDK/EPCOS, Vishay, Rubycon, Panasonic. Usually cheapest of those gets the business. It's not worth cheaping out these days. If it's twice the cost, it's still nothing in small volumes.

Also never buy anything reputable from Aliexpress. Assured supply chains only like Farnell/Element 14, RS (UK), Digikey, Mouser etc. It's actually cheaper and quicker for me to get new stuff from RS here in the UK delivered next day FOC than it is to wait for crap to arrive from aliexpress.

Kemet has been around for years. I had an HP power supply dated 1969 with good Kemet capacitors in it! Also milspec wet tantalum supplier etc.

I go for AVX for tants as you can pick up part used ex production reels off ebay for bugger all.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2017, 11:52:09 am by bd139 »
 

Offline Bashstreet

  • Frequent Contributor
  • **
  • Posts: 298
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #10 on: November 22, 2017, 12:03:37 pm »
Vishay and Kemet are not "premium" grade electrolytic manufacturers. Kemet makes fine poly's and Vishay makes fine ceramic caps.
Kemet also makes fine tantalum and ceramic capacitors. Vishay makes a lot of other fine stuff as well, like semiconductors and precise resistors. But you will rarely find Vishay and Kemet electrolytic caps in consumer equipment. Most of those go into industrial, telecommunication, automotive.

Good to know...
 

Offline WorldPowerLabs

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 62
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #11 on: November 22, 2017, 02:30:57 pm »
For electrolytics, I generally stick to Nichicon, Panasonic, or Rubycon.  I did once have an issue with Panasonic, where I found a discrepancy between the negative mark on the shrink sleeve, and the negative as indicated by lead length on a part.  At that point, quite a few boards had already been assembled and Panasonic was not terribly interested in either covering rework costs or developing a methodology to identify, in-circuit, if any of the caps were backwards (these boards were hand-assembled and the assembly personnel were using the body markings to tell polarity without double-checking the leads).  They are still top quality parts and I still use and specify them -- I just wish Panasonic had shown a little more accountability in the matter.
 

Offline rdl

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3665
  • Country: us
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #12 on: November 22, 2017, 03:36:46 pm »
I like to use Wima for the various poly type caps, mainly because the red color looks good.
 

Offline Mr. Scram

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 9810
  • Country: 00
  • Display aficionado
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2017, 03:41:41 pm »
I like to use Wima for the various poly type caps, mainly because the red color looks good.
We all know those go faster.. Err. Is that a desirable trait in capacitors?
 

Offline rdl

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 3665
  • Country: us
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2017, 03:50:57 pm »
I prefer to use colorful parts when possible. All else being relatively equal, it never hurts to look good. The makers of audiophile equipment know this is true.
 

Online Zero999

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 19345
  • Country: gb
  • 0999
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #15 on: November 22, 2017, 03:57:44 pm »
For electrolytics, I generally stick to Nichicon, Panasonic, or Rubycon.  I did once have an issue with Panasonic, where I found a discrepancy between the negative mark on the shrink sleeve, and the negative as indicated by lead length on a part.  At that point, quite a few boards had already been assembled and Panasonic was not terribly interested in either covering rework costs or developing a methodology to identify, in-circuit, if any of the caps were backwards (these boards were hand-assembled and the assembly personnel were using the body markings to tell polarity without double-checking the leads).  They are still top quality parts and I still use and specify them -- I just wish Panasonic had shown a little more accountability in the matter.
It's usually fairly easy to tell the polarity of an electrolytic capacitor. It will behave like a poor quality diode junction. It should look like a capacitor when connected correctly and a diode with a relatively high voltage, about 1.5V to 3V, when connected backwards.

I've just tested a capacitor using my meter's diode test function. When connected correctly, the voltage slowly increases, until it goes out of range >2V, but when connected backwards, it settles at around 1.7V. The test didn't work with all capacitors. Some will charge to a higher voltage, when reversed biased. Use a 5V power supply and a suitable resistor to limit the current, to a safe level. After reverse charging a capacitor, always reform it by recharging it to near the rated voltage.
 
The following users thanked this post: DCEnginerding

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23018
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #16 on: November 22, 2017, 04:07:01 pm »
Interesting. Will try that here quick as well.
 

Offline WorldPowerLabs

  • Regular Contributor
  • *
  • Posts: 62
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #17 on: November 22, 2017, 04:09:08 pm »
I've definitely noticed the same behavior (usually when troubleshooting equipment), and I'd asked if a simple test like that would, in their opinion, be adequate to determine whether I had any reversed caps -- but the "official" reply was that they wouldn't "guarantee" any in-circuit test at all.

For electrolytics, I generally stick to Nichicon, Panasonic, or Rubycon.  I did once have an issue with Panasonic, where I found a discrepancy between the negative mark on the shrink sleeve, and the negative as indicated by lead length on a part.  At that point, quite a few boards had already been assembled and Panasonic was not terribly interested in either covering rework costs or developing a methodology to identify, in-circuit, if any of the caps were backwards (these boards were hand-assembled and the assembly personnel were using the body markings to tell polarity without double-checking the leads).  They are still top quality parts and I still use and specify them -- I just wish Panasonic had shown a little more accountability in the matter.
It's usually fairly easy to tell the polarity of an electrolytic capacitor. It will behave like a poor quality diode junction. It should look like a capacitor when connected correctly and a diode with a relatively high voltage, about 1.5V to 3V, when connected backwards.

I've just tested a capacitor using my meter's diode test function. When connected correctly, the voltage slowly increases, until it goes out of range >2V, but when connected backwards, it settles at around 1.7V. The test didn't work with all capacitors. Some will charge to a higher voltage, when reversed biased. Use a 5V power supply and a suitable resistor to limit the current, to a safe level. After reverse charging a capacitor, always reform it by recharging it to near the rated voltage.
 

Offline bd139

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 23018
  • Country: gb
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #18 on: November 22, 2017, 04:13:54 pm »
It does indeed work. Very handy.
 

Online Zero999

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 19345
  • Country: gb
  • 0999
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #19 on: November 22, 2017, 07:08:03 pm »
Before there were electrolytic capacitors and silicon rectifiers, there were electrolytic rectifiers, which were pretty poor, even compared to the mechanical and mercury rectifiers of the day. Someone somewhere (anyone know?) realised that an electrolytic rectifier has a high reverse capacitance, which led to the development of the electrolytic capacitor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rectifier#Electrolytic
 
The following users thanked this post: tooki

Offline lisafig

  • Contributor
  • Posts: 19
  • Country: fr
Re: Capacitor brands?
« Reply #20 on: March 16, 2020, 06:13:03 pm »
just a feedback about changxin capacitor bought on aliexpress:

They look like this:


Quality :


 
The following users thanked this post: MyHeadHz


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf