sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

[Louiscar]

Hi,

I'm new here, have read as much of the FAQs as I can find and am still having problems sourcing the right caps. As I'm in the UK it's not an economic or practical solution to send the board in. I've emailed a question to the main site - hopefully an answer soon but none as of yet so I started looking.

In the FAQ the parts shown for the low-ESR caps don't seem to show up on RS components site for the manufacturer or they are not showing them in the series shown on the FAQ.

I wonder if someone could scan RS components for the good makes and tell me which ones I should get or avoid. I'm finding the Cap business mighty confusing.

http://uk.rs-online.com/

or perhaps it's easier to order them from the site (not sure if you deal internationally).

As a side note (and I've added this to the MSI motherboard section - I have a MSI K2N2 Delta 2 LSR socket A motherboard. I have 5 blown caps which appear to be 2200uf 6.3V with no visible manufacturer mark (it's hard to see without actually taking them out). They are redish /brown in colour, closely resmbling some pictures in the Hall of shame area and marked as KZG but that's not certain.

I'm also finding it hard to know what all the other values I should get are - so a kit would be great to avoid taking them out. The computer is still in use, it had become unstable suddenly with all the symptoms listed and I've managed to get it stable only by removing 1gb or my 2gb memory. I'd like to therefore keep it running so can't really take them out.

If anyone has an data on the k2n2 Delta2 I'd be grateful for the info on all the values. Failing that I could just replace the bulging that I already know the values of ones and hope. Others that I've managed to id are 1500uf / 1000uf these are 8mm and I'm assuming all of them may be the 1000s. Some even smaller ones - one I manage to id as 470uf.

[yyonline]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

Hello and welcome to the forum. Post photos of your board. Myself and other members can help you with identification and finding the proper replacements. You'll likely have to remove the board from the case. Can't see much of anything with it in the case. You will also need to look at your specific board. Another one of the same model won't always suffice, as manufacturers often have different revisions of the same board. Different revisions may use different parts.

[Scenic]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

He already opened up a new thread for that board.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14061

[Louiscar]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

Hello and welcome to the forum. Post photos of your board. Myself and other members can help you with identification and finding the proper replacements. You'll likely have to remove the board from the case. Can't see much of anything with it in the case. You will also need to look at your specific board. Another one of the same model won't always suffice, as manufacturers often have different revisions of the same board. Different revisions may use different parts.

Thanks for the welcome. I didn't want to take it out as this is what I'm using right now. Kind of hoping that I could get the caps first and shorten the out time.

Anyway, what's amazed me is that I've just phoned the place I bought it from and quite surprisingly they have the exact board still in stock! So what I'll do is get that and replace it. I can then take the other out and photograph it. It'll also allow me to do this at a more leisurly pace.

I'll post some pics up when I've got the board out.

[Scenic]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

problem is that the replacement board is most likely to have the same crappy caps

[Louiscar]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

problem is that the replacement board is most likely to have the same crappy caps

Yes, I figured if cheap enough I'd use it to give me some breathing space but all I can say after having been to the shop is ... wow!

He had 3 of these boards. Every single one out of the packet had at least one cap that was clearly venting. On two of them it was the one next to the memory, and the third had about 3 bulging caps.

I couldn't believe the guy who still asked 55 GBP (89$) for it and of course I could return it if it was unstable. I made him fire one up just out of interest and it wouldn't post past the memory count. Unblelievable that the guy was hsppy not only to sell it after I pointed out the bulge but that he wouldn't even reduce the price he was asking.

Needless to say I exited the shop hastily. :-)

So at least we know that these caps go in time rather than in use as these boards were clearly unused.

[Agent24]

Re: sourcing caps in the uK - some help appreciated

I have bought all my Low-ESR capacitors from RS Components in the past (Although the NZ site of course)

The way I do it, is to go to the electrolytic capacitor section and plug in these 4 things:

*) Capacitance
*) Voltage
*) Radial leaded
*) 105 Degrees

That will bring up usually 10 or so candidates for your purchase.

Then, I sort them by price (Cheapest to highest a.k.a. Ascending)

Then, discounting anything that clearly doesn't fit (like 30mm diameter when only 10mm will fit, or ones that would require you buy in packs of 100, ones that aren't Low-ESR etc) look at the leftovers.

You will have about 5 or so models (usually the best ones from each brand) left.

For me, I usually end up with Panasonic FC\FM, Nichicon HE(D?) or Rubycon something.


Finally, I match whichever of those meets or exceeds specifications for ESR and Ripple current rating by comparison to the original capacitor datasheet. (If this is not available then choose the "best" one, going by educated guess or help on the forum)

If there is more than one which matches, I go for the cheapest.

That is then the capacitor I will use.


Sounds a complicated process but it's not difficult and actually works very well.