Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

[Zeroexpo]

Hi Guys,

I'm about to buy a PLL Transmitter kit, but the kit comes minus various components including Electrolytic Capacitors.

I've done some reading around, and I'm led to believe that Rubycon, Panasonic, Nichicon, and a couple of others are the best brands - but there are that many different part #s, type codes, and impedance values that things have got a little muddy.

Here is an image of the PLL circuit that the Capacitors are to be used in, and I guess what I'm asking is; What's a decent long life general purpose Capacitor for the job?

As previously said, I can get hold of Rubycon, Panasonic, and Nichicon, but I'm confused as to which model of these is the best to buy.

The circuit works off 12-15VDC by the way.

[selldoor]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

A consideration may be what physical size you need, but I would just go for
panasonic FM or FR ( usually have longer life)
cpc.co.uk have post free offer on all orders but have some minimum orders
of 5 . probably safer not to buy off ebay - many fakes about.

[Zeroexpo]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

Thanks, Selldoor.

I was considering using RS or Farnell anyway, and that way the components would be legit'.
I'm open to other suggestions, but if there are no other replies I'll go for ones you suggest.

[linuxguru]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

Rubycon ZL, ZLG, ZLH, ZLJ, etc.
Nichicon PM, PL, PS, PJ, PW, etc.
Elna RJH, RJJ
Nippon Chemicon LXV, LXY, LXZ, KY, KZE

[stj]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

none of the ones listed so-far are "general purpose", they are all low-impedance.

for general replacements,
rubycon YXA

[Clutchbox]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

none of the ones listed so-far are "general purpose", they are all low-impedance.

for general replacements,
rubycon YXA

And with Panasonic it is 'NHG' or 'FC' for GP-usage. Those are the one's with the stable non-aqueous Electrolyte formula's.
Not 'FM' or 'FR', those are better for longlife 'high frequency' low ESR usage.

[selldoor]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

none of the ones listed so-far are "general purpose", they are all low-impedance.

for general replacements,
rubycon YXA

Maybe , but I believe production of that series was stopped in 2011
The panasonic FM FR are not particularly low ie not extra low and are
usually listed as general purpose on digikey and mouser plus the FRs have
5000 lifetime.(at least some of them do)

[lti]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

These are the series I know of that are not low ESR:
Nichicon: VR (85°C), VZ (105°C)
Panasonic: M (85°C), NHG (105°C), EB (105°C, long life, low ripple current)

I think Nichicon has some more series. I don't know the series names for the other manufacturers.

[mariushm]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

Rubycon :




Nichicon :

http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/pr...ini/pict_f.htm



United/Nippon Chemi Con :

(scroll down a few pages, have tables and charts inside)





Panasonic : http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/...BA0000_AM.html (page may load slow, be patient)


Above you have charts with the series and the recommended usage (well, all except panasonic which is basically a list of what they have now)

Try to avoid very low esr, extra low impedance etc etc, some "low impedance" may be good enough for your needs.
See Standard, Standard, Miniature , High Reliability etc etc

PS. Don't exclude surface mount electrolytic capacitors, if you can't find regular electrolytics you can bend the tabs and remove the bottom brown support easily.. the only issue may be that the tabs are not perfectly round to fit inside holes in pcbs:

[lexwalker]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

Very much depends where the capacitor is going to used. Usually for supply rails and decoupling purposes, ANY capacitor will do even low ESR ones. If the purpose is for filtering in a switching section then you may need to check the original capacitor specifications first to find a similar replacement.

Generally I would prefer long life capacitors, and most of these are low ESR types like Nichicon HE series, Nichicon PW series, Panasonic FR series, Panasonic FM series, Rubycon ZLH series, Rubycon ZLJ series, Nippon Chemicon KZE, etc. Most of my current stock are these, good for all purposes...

As for non-low ESR types, there are plenty to choose from though I would usually prefer those with at least 105C or higher temperature operation, and with good ripple current handling specifications (and preferably long life also!). Excellent examples would be Panasonic ED series and Panasonic EE series...

[c_hegge]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

I often use Panny NHG when I don't need Low ESR parts.

[momaka]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

PS. Don't exclude surface mount electrolytic capacitors, if you can't find regular electrolytics you can bend the tabs and remove the bottom brown support easily.. the only issue may be that the tabs are not perfectly round to fit inside holes in pcbs:
http://i.stack.imgur.com/jKurk.jpg

I know it's late to reply to this thread, but just in case anyone reads this...
No, don't unbend the leads on SMD capacitors. Once you do, they become very weak and easy to snap off. Also, more often than not, the leads won't fit in through-hole boards.

If you really must use an SMD capacitor, then solder new leads (a piece of staple works well, among other things) to the existing leads of the SMD capacitor without unbending them. I've done this several times now, and the joints are secure.

[kc8adu]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

fc is the lowest grade of cap i stock.they do fine for gp.
as for those smd caps i would skip those.much shorter life.

[lexwalker]

Re: Advice on decent GP Electrolytic sought..

fc is the lowest grade of cap i stock.they do fine for gp.

Panasonic FC and FK series would be the equivalent to the usual crappy CapXon GL and KF series (seen boatloads of them going bad). Well, nowadays for Panasonic I stopped buying FC and FK series for standby/stock. Nowadays for Panasonic, I would go for FM and FR series. In the past, very often I got caught out with ultra low impedance capacitors such as Ltec LXY, Samwha WB, Samyoung NXB, Samxon GK, Su'scon SG, Su'scon MG, etc. Even the widely used Elite EJ series is actually equivalent to Nichicon HE series (which is higher than Panasonic FC series). Thus Nichicon HE series would be the "lowest grade" I would buy nowadays. For general purpose capacitors, I tend to go for Nichicon HE or PW series...