Recognizing capacitors and levels of quality?

[Sphere]

Guys,

Can someone either post or link me to a current comprehensive *chart/list* of what color/markings distinguish the caps to their manufacturers.

It would be much appreciated as I can't find the charts that I was looking at yesterday.

Also, if you fellas could rank(give your opinions) the caps by their *quality* good/bad that would help out quite a bit.

Thanks,

Sphere

[GalvanizedYankee]

Sphere,
You will have to register to see attachments over at http://www.badcaps.net/ but it will be worth it. Give me the referral please. I am Galvanized over there.
Most of the bad and recommended caps are posted in thier forums with pics.
willawake, a Mod over at badcaps has just registered here. :) He is a very knowledgable tech.

[jonnyGURU]

Sphere, I'm going to change your title to "official thread derailer"

:D

[Sphere]

Alright, lemme have it :D

Thanks 'Yankee, I'll head over there...

Sphere

[Bbq]

Nichicon : PM , PW , HE , HD , HV , HM , HN , HZ
http://www.nichicon.co.jp

United Chemicon : LXZ , KY , KZE , KZH , KZG , KZJ
http://www.chemi-con.com/

Rubycon : YXG , YXH , ZT , ZL , ZLH , ZLG , MCZ
http://www.rubycon.com/
Series Chart, List of Substitutes for Old Series
ZL is probably the easiest to find and our badcaps.net can supply top Rubycon caps or similar, please PM Topcat

Sanyo : WX , WG
http://www.sanyo.com/components/

Panasonic : FC , FM
FM is sometimes cheaper than FC and better. Both are great though.

NIC Components - NRSZ , NRSJ , NRSG , NRSX , NRSK
http://www.low-esr.com

Aluminium Electrolytic Polymer Capacitors

Sanyo (OS-CON Polymers) : SP , SEPC
Be careful with SP series as lead can be too thick for some motherboards / graphics cards

United Chemicon Polymers : PS , PSA, PSC

Nichicon Polymers : LF

List shamelessly stolen from badcaps

[jonnyGURU]

FYI: Enhance built Silverstone ST75F modular PSU I have here is Teapo primary and Teapo and Su'Scon secondary.

The Su'Scon's had me fooled. They're the exact same brown color as Nippon/United Chemi-Con! :eek:

[GalvanizedYankee]

The Enhance ENS-0560G/ST60F I have is all Teapo for the larger caps, the little guys, 50V 10uF, plus some other little ones I couldn't read are Jamicon. Or so my notes say. :D
Jamicon are not good'ens but at least they are not stressed componets...I hope ;)

[Super Nade]

Zippy and Seasonic use Hitachi as part of their Primary cap set. I have not seen Hitachi being used on the secondary side.

[irev210]

nothing is worse than the RULYCONS

stupid knockoffs

[krampak]

The Enhance ENS-0560G/ST60F I have is all Teapo for the larger caps
Enhance built Silverstone ST75F modular PSU I have here is Teapo primary and Teapo and Su'Scon secondary.

Aren't Teapo supposed to be bad capacitors ? (that says badcaps.net), and Enhance use them ?

[jonnyGURU]

Teapos are also used in PC Power and Cooling and server grade Andyson.

Go figure.

I think to say "Teapos are bad" is a generalization like, "Coolmax is bad."

I know certain Teapos have given people problems on motherboards. But they're widely used, without issue, in power supplies.

[GalvanizedYankee]

Heat is the killer of caps. In a properly ventilated PSU they are a non-issue. On mainboards with little or no direct cooling air flow, thier lives can be shortened.
The bitch about Teapo is, when they go out of spec, there is no physical sign of failure. No bulging, venting or tilting to indicate problems.
FETs can operate/live at 100C. The caps that serve them are close by and on the same copper traces. Several of the newer motherboards use heat pipe cooling for the NB and FETs around the CPU ;)

[ianm2]

my opinion of teapo is that they are shite, about the same as jamicon, mind you, I used jamicons almost exclusively elsewhere, and they do work fine.

however, if used by pcp, perhaps they ain't as bad as I thought.

you can't go far wrong with rubycon and nichicon, and panny's.

bbq's list I would say I know of most of the makers, and they are all pretty good.

If they will fit, you can safely over spec voltage, highest that will fit/afford,

I am not sure what raising capacitance in mobos would do, it may cause problems, as it may draw too much current to charge the plates, and cause instability at best, bangs at worst.

Theoretically, it should give a smoother voltage after the cap. its been a while since a looked at AC theory, so couldn't say about ill effects. another problem, not very well known, is that too higher capacitance can combine with inductances and cause electical oscillations, esp. under load(stress).

higher voltage rating should give longer life, along with of course, higher temp. at rated life,etc.

With caps, apart from some bizarre niche markets, price is a very good guide to quality.

[GalvanizedYankee]

Over at badcaps.net I think Teapo would rate over Jamicon.
Teapo do very well in properly cooled PSUs, like all the Enhance units and the PCP&C Turbo Cooled models.
The big issue with Teapo on mainboards is they can go bad w/o any external signs of failure.
This makes diagnosis a royal PITA when stability problems arise. (not everyone has an ESR meter)

The top model Sound Blaster sound card uses Jamicon, they do go bad. Trodas over at badcaps had to recap his.
It's an interesting thread that won't be hard to find. His gaming stability went to crappola because of sound card malfunction.
If your interested and can't find it, PM me for it, ianm2.

[ianm2]

yes perhaps, I have used caps greatly in other applications,but never computers, and its very likely the demands and performance differ greatly, even on differing places as you allude to.

so I have no specific experience other than brand knowledge and a fair bit about ratings, certainly no consensual experience of in situ performance like at badcaps

computer demands, thinking about it, are quite, well, demanding, the thing is almost always on, so the rated life in hours will actually be quite short in terms of weeks, etc., it can be a hi temp environment, voltages aren't much of an issue, I have used 450 volt caps as big as a beer can, and yes, had a shock of a 330 volter, across both hands, charged, even after switched of for over an hour, wasn't drained, and nearly killed me. It was charged quite hi, I don't know if it had drained a bit, but I have also had around 10 240volt mains shocks, and those, whilst, shocking and painful, and I don't care for another, weren't nearly as bad. bad enuff tho

just had a peak over at badcaps, thanks, interesting site, VERY informative.

There are a couple I have thought of, that I haven't seen mentioned much,

elna, japanese, probably similarish to nichis and rubys and chemis

and samwha, not sure, korean or taiwanese perhaps, probably similar to teapo from the top of my head...

there may be a good few more.

[GalvanizedYankee]

Audio freaks swear by Elna.

Very low ESR is a MUST for motherboard use.
This is why caps that serve the VRM are in parallel.

RubyCon states that for every 10C drop from rated temp, cap life doubles.
So a cap rated for 2000 hours @ 85C will serve for 32k hours if kept below 45C.
So running temp is very important.

Traces of copper in the aluminum foil is what generates the hydrogen gas in caps.
Cheap electrolyte has little or no additives to help stabilize this reaction.
Nipponese caps have just about 100% pure aluminum in thier foil.:cool:

Register at badcaps and please give the referral to Galvanized (my nick over there).
You must register to view attachments. The crew there is VERY sharp.
I bought my first soldering station 6 months ago. I'm thier clown mod.:p

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I have a JVC receiver awaiting repairs that's full of Elna. It needs a new mulitplexer IC (for switching audio inputs), but no new caps :)