List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

[Pentium4]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Old. The date code on the Teapo caps are 30th week of 2008.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

4x 470uF 16V Teapo's blown in a MSI board.

1. How old is that?! Haven't seen a red MSI board in years...
Could it be that that's an oldish AM2 Board with an nForce chipset?

2. Teapo SZ -> ultra low ESR caps by the looks of it...

[jazzie366]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

I've never heard of this brand either. This Anodia 1000uF 16V cap was in a dead Telstra TT-300-6B cordless phone wall wart from 1997. Transformer was open on primary (19 ohms on secondary).

The negative stripe is identical to Su'scon. Note the basketball-shaped vent...

Did some digging and asking around, found out that Anodia caps are made by "ANODIA ELECTRONIC CO., LTD", a Taiwanese brand. They are another manufacturer of capacitors, good or bad? Who knows, they seem very uncommon. That vent is insane though, I'd imaging it's probably very effective in the case of a fault.

[Hanatsu]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

My garage computer has been acting up for a while now. Finally took it out and checked the motherboard and guess what...

4x 470uF 16V Teapo's blown in a MSI board.

[grumpy_one]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

I hope this isn't off-topic, but I just bought a couple of packets of cheap electrolytics on ebay. One packet was 125 caps (5 each of 25 types, various brand names, all marked 105 degrees C). I tested their ESR, and found that half of them were higher than the limit specified on my ESR meter. One was defective (open circuit). The other packet was 50 caps, all 220 uF 16 V, marked 105 C, and branded Chenxing. For all but one of them, ESR varied from 0.48 Ohms to 0.64 Ohms, where the limit specified on my meter is 0.4. The one exception was 0.96, which I regard as defective.
These results have made me think that the second batch at least, consisted of factory culls: capacitors which failed the factory quality control tests. The first batch may have been something similar but they may have failed other tests rather than just ESR.

From my point of view, I'd be prepared to use nearly all of these capacitors in home projects for use in my own home, provided whatever I was working on would not cause anyone any problems if it failed. However I would not use any of them in a repair for a friend, nor would I give any of them to anyone else to use. To me they are not horrendously bad - I'm old enough to remember when, here in Australia, some of the caps I bought from well-known trade suppliers were considerably worse than these.

[momaka]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

@ Stefan Payne: you need to read up more about capacitor lifetime. Actually, many datasheets call it endurance time/rating - and for a good reason.

In short, the endurance rating just tells you how many hours you can abuse the cap and still have it perform in spec. It's basically a guarantee of the minimum lifetime the capacitor will have when stressed @ maximum rated temperature, maximum ripple current, and at maximum rated voltage applied. See this:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28479

Thus, a 105C-rated capacitor with an endurance rating of 2000 hours should still be in spec after 2000 hours @ 105C operating temperature, with maximum ripple current and maximum rated voltage applied. This does not necessarily mean that the capacitor will fail right away afterwards - no, the capacitor could last much more. But the endurance rating is the lifetime the manufacturer says the cap will do for sure.

Also, it is commonly accepted that the capacitor lifetime approximately doubles for every decade drop in temperature below the rated maximum. Thus, at 65C (typical temperature inside an LCD monitor, from what I've measured), the same 2000-hour 105C capacitor mentioned above should last at least
2^((105-65)/10) x 2000 hours = (2^4) x 2000 = 32000 hours = about 3.6 years minimum.

Now the sad part is that many CN/TW capacitors will not hold their ratings and usually fail within a much shorter period of time, regardless of the running temperature. That's what makes those cheap caps bad - you just don't know when and why they will fail. So in regards to Per Hansson comment about Fuhjyyu TM: well, I have some Fuhjyyu TM, TMR, and TNR that have all lasted many many years and are still in spec. But I've also seen ones that appeared to fail without much abuse. So the conclusion is, cheap caps are unreliable and their specs should not be trusted.

So yes, we really can (or at least, should) blame crappy cap manufacturers for their early failures. And yes, we can also blame PSU manufactuers for not using better brand of capacitors. But I don't think using a "higher"-end series from a cheap manufacturer will do much good.

[Per Hansson]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

I'm not blaming Ltec, Teapo or CapXon.
I'm blaming the PSU manufacturers that use such shitty crap in their high end designs.
And people who seem hell bent on promoting that there is nothing wrong in doing so.
"Because the spec sheets say it will last for XXX amount of time"
-Guess what, Fuhjyyu TM has a datasheet too, but it does not say that the caps will fail within one year at room temperature but they do.
Then we get fantastic representatives from PSU companies coming here explaining to us how their fantastic PSU's are so great and never fail, and if they do it's absolutely not the Fuhjyyu's fault.
Maybe you should read up a bit on PSU design and you would understand why they use capacitors closer to general purpose than ultra low ESR.

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...5911#post25911

[Stefan Payne]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Right, it's not the caps fault for failing.
It's whoever used such 'low spec caps' in the first place who's to blame.

Take a look at the link I posted...
LZP is the second from the top.
LXY is the first of those 'ultra low ESR' caps.

The List seems to be in that order that the worst caps of a category are on the top.
Also the best ones of that category are under those...

So with this info, we know that whoever made this PSU used the worst ltec caps there are...
Of course they would fail sooner than later...
And of course they fail sooner than japanese capacitors. Because japanese companys don't make such low end capacitors! (well, besides Nichicon UPS series maybe)...

The buttom line is:
If they used better caps, even if they are from ltec, they would have lasted longer.
BUT: They would also have cost more.
And that's the point...
Don't blame the cap maker for the shit the one soldering the caps down is responsible...

And for the 5 major japanese brands:
They don't make such low spec/quality caps no more...
Well, besides Nichicon UPS series, wich seem to be really shitty (look at the datasheet and compare them to Teapo SC)...

And now we are at the 'you get what you paid for' point...
If you want better quality, you have to pay more.
If you want less quality, you don't have to pay as much...

So you shoudn't blame ltec for whoever made this PSU cheapening out on caps...
It's their fault those caps bulged...

Well, at least in this case it's pretty obvious, don't you think?

PS: PLS stop talking about cap makers and start talking about cap series.
Like the ltec LXY & LZP aren't good. That's something I'd agree on.
Also when you'd say Teapo SC and SZ don't last that long. Nothing to disagree here either.

But: Every half way decent cap manufacturer has better series than that in their cataloges and also something that's on par with the 'japanese' capacitors...
For Teapo that would be TA, TB, TC or ST, depending on what you want...
All 4 are up to 10.000h lifetime...

And also some PSU manufacturers say, that the manufacturers matter not.
But what you are willing to pay (and what you want).
Here someone wantet cheapish capacitors and got them...

[Per Hansson]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

^^Yes yes, must be something else than the caps.
I mean Ltec, Teapo, CapXon and your other favorite brands they never lied in the specification sheets.
And their quality is always comparable with the 5 major Japanese brands.

Let's all blame the heatsink, or the cable blocking the airflow, or the choice of Pi filters.

Remark: there is some possibility that the above text was meant to be ironic.

Edit: Quick Google search:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=27655
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33442

[Stefan Payne]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

So in the PSU I delved, loads of crusty caps

- Ltech? 2200uf 10v LZP's, Ltech 1500uf 10v LXY's and a Ltech 680uf 16v LXY

I don't think you should blame the caps...

ltec LZP are 2000-4000h Lifetime ones, with the 10mm diametre ones with just 3000h lifetime.
That LXY is a tad better than LZP with 2000-5000h Lifetime, but the cap you mentioned is also smaller, so nothing won, also 3000h Lifetime...


Here their datasheets with specs...
http://www.ltec.com.tw/product_e.html

So you can't blame the cap for failing at all...
Because it lasted according to their specifications.

If you want to blame someone, pls blame DELL (or whoever made that PSU) for using cheapish caps instead of more reliable ones...
Using 10mm or more caps on the secondary side helps a lot...

Also using better series like LZF (5-8kh) or LXU...

With using something specified for 2000 or 3000h failing after a couple of years is something you'd expect...

[ben7]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Got one, rudoycon. Makes a better resistror than cap. 27pF, ESR retarded high!

LOL, I've seen that brand before. I figured they were garbage XD

Did you take it apart? Is it really lightweight? I wonder what it's like inside. 27pF? ... That's like REALLY crap XD

-Ben

[goontron]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Got one, rudoycon. Makes a better resistror than cap. 27pF, ESR retarded high!

[MaXwELL]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Hitachi HP3 85C 390uf 400v
PSU=> IN-WIN Commander 1500

[Bungz]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Had a sift through the pile of "dead bits" in the office today

One dead Dell 745 and one dead GX620

The 745 looked perfect motherboard wise, power light was on but nothing when power button pressed.

So in the PSU I delved, loads of crusty caps

- Ltech? 2200uf 10v LZP's, Ltech 1500uf 10v LXY's and a Ltech 680uf 16v LXY

The GX620 was easy to diagnose, all 4 caps around the 12v CPU power are mega crusty 1800uf 6.3v KZJ's

No real need to fix them but have ordered the caps because they will only end up on the tip otherwise and are both quite serviceable machines.

[Neelix]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Can't remember the make though, but I'm reminded of a few years when back I came across some caps who's capacitance was not even close to what it said on the outside of the can. Opened the can up and it was empty inside, except for a tiny ass cap soldered in at the botton. Sneaky bastards

[amu]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

TLs are CD81 and CD110 series, BTW.

[amu]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

I have some interesting info about TL. The full name is Jiangxi Telexon, and it is a subsidiary of Man Yue, maybe an OEM supplier for Samxon. http://www.tl4321.com
Also, there is a legend that their products are used in military and aerospace tech.

UPD: Oh, I see you already have its datasheets. So, add also sheets from zeasset.com, maybe someone will find ZSTE in some chinese fleamarketware.

[stj]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

nice link.

[amu]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Also, there are some "TL" (http://capacitor.web.fc2.com/t.html#tl).

[amu]

Re: List of Bad Cap Manufacturers

Hi folks. What can you say about Zeasset aka ZSTE caps? I've found them in a Chinese domestic market welding machine, input filter.

Sorry if offtop.