Electrolytic capacitor brands question

[Siwastaja]

Just a stupid remark; Since mostly very old stock electrolytic caps die out even before you even use them,why Is It there is no label marked on them stating the date of manufacture??  I know this too can be faked.

Because electronic components are primarily manufactured for original equipment manufacturers. The idea is, you build million gadgets and buy a million electrolytic caps for the batch. As they are populated immediately, no dates are needed.

Repair shops and hobbyists are a tiny market and get little support, if any. Trusting that a distributor does not sell you ages old stuff and writing down the purchase date is your responsibility.

[EEVblog_Fan]

Quote from: Siwastaja on Today at 02:37:52 am>Quote from: EEVblog_Fan on September 20, 2022, 12:14:40 pm

Just a stupid remark; Since mostly very old stock electrolytic caps die out even before you even use them,why Is It there is no label marked on them stating the date of manufacture??  I know this too can be faked.

Because electronic components are primarily manufactured for original equipment manufacturers. The idea is, you build million gadgets and buy a million electrolytic caps for the batch. As they are populated immediately, no dates are needed.

Repair shops and hobbyists are a tiny market and get little support, if any. Trusting that a distributor does not sell you ages old stuff and writing down the purchase date is your responsibility.


OK sir.....I will not dwell on electrolytic caps not having an expiration date.  I will bring with me an ESR meter when I buy in person to check if they are dead. Thanks

[wraper]

It's pointless to check ESR when buying. It will be OK unless those capacitors are 30+ years old. Also capacitors which stayed at the shelf a long time work just fine. If they are very old, like 20+ years, they may need reforming to not blow up on first device powerup.

[DarkAngel]

I'll try here before posting a new one.
Anyone disagree with the following line of thought?
When you said "although generally substitute with a higher value" I'm assuming you mean something like 470uF to 680uF ?
Also, if the tolerance is sloppy, like 20% I think I'd be reasonably comfortable going with a 680uF as long as I confirm a reasonable value thru measuring it.
I'd also be going from 16V to 25V.

Also, the particular cap I'm looking at is used in an LED strip power circuit, so again I think I'm reasonably ok going with the 680uF 25V as a replacement for the 470uF 16V +/-20% (470uF+20%~564uF) as long as I measure the 680uF and it's on the low side of its tolerance (for example 680uF - 20% ~544uF which is within the +20% value of a 470uF cap).
Pretty sure I also won't have a problem going from 16V to 25V.