Teapo rip-offs?

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

My boss brought in the control board from his washing machine today as something had gone wrong on it.

A LNK304PN and a few associated components let out the magic smoke - a failure apparently so common that the 3rd result on google when you start typing this part number is a repair kit for Whirlpool - but i also saw 2 Teapo capacitors on it so i thought i'd swap those out as well. Rest were Samwha and Nichicon for the small ones.

Only, at a closer look, those Teapo caps... were not. It's funny that some other cap manufacturer would rip off the design of a 2nd tier brand.

[ReeceyBurger123]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Teapo rebadge alot of companies like gluxon etc. So probably just that.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Well we have Teapo colors, Teapo font and Teapo vent, just that instead of saying Teapo, we got that weird "AV" logo. And "ESC" series of capacitors comes from Kemet, Teapo don't even have an "ESC" series. So whoever did these is definitely a counterfeiter.

[ReeceyBurger123]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Ahh yeah maybe so lol cheap junk

[Wester547]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Who in their right mind would try to counterfeit a junk brand like Teapo? IMHO, Teapo is more like a 3rd or 4th tier brand. I'd be more willing to bet they are genuine Teapos that someone resleeved to sell at an even lower price. It looks like that capacitor has a thicker stand-off for the bung as well rather than the el cheapo flat bullseye bung. The vent stamp looks exactly like Teapo's regular vent stamp, down to the most minute detail. Maybe it is a counterfeit, who knows, but a very good one aside from the sleeve. I recall something slightly similar happening with Mallory a while back - the brand name was being used to rebadge Teapo and Jamicon capacitors.

Junk is junk either way.

[pfofit]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Arcotronics bought by kemet

https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...2&postcount=62

have been seeing and replacing a bunch of these crapos in appliances

[Wester547]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

^ Good catch. Yup, those are definitely resleeved Teapo SCs. Look at the ESC datasheet attached and notice how the ripple rating and ESR ratings are identical to the Teapo SC datasheet's ratings for the corresponding case sizes as well as the endurance rating...

[Rulycat]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Is it possible Teapo have set up a sub-brand for tax or other nefarious reasons?

[eccerr0r]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Well, Teapo does sell to NTE to get sleeved...?

[kaboom]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Well, Teapo does sell to NTE to get sleeved...?

Also seen Ltec/Lelon, both as "NTE" and Xicon. These particular Xicons were seen, by me, both at Mouser and Rat-e-o-shack.


FWIW, I recapped some computer speakers about two months ago. Nothing special, just a TEA2025 equivalent and two 2x4 ish drivers. But, the caps inside were both Capxon and Samxon. These had identical print, vent scores and sleeves. And the "bullseye" plug...

Over half had evidence of leakage (smelled bad when desoldering), but had too little electrolye to ruin the traces. A few were "suspiciously" physically small for their claimed value. Not "suspicious" at all- this was no accident. Cheep, mid-late 90's stuff, with caps whose value was "whatever the label said," much like stupid/cheap power supplies with lying labels.

Only, at a closer look, those Teapo caps... were not. It's funny that some other cap manufacturer would rip off the design of a 5th tier brand.

fify

Teapo rebadge alot of companies like gluxon etc. So probably just that.

More like whatever European company stole the rights to the American appliance name "Whirlpool" wanted to disguise the teapos as something else, and had trash-po do a special run with custom sleeves.

I recall something slightly similar happening with Mallory a while back - the brand name was being used to rebadge Teapo and Jamicon capacitors.

Junk is junk either way.

I actually have two of these! The old Mallory name appears in big letters on the sleeve, but the series code is a Jamicon type! They were axial lead caps, and the "roll" inside is smaller than the can- gives the appearance of better thermal coupling to the can than is really the case...

I played with the levels of one of the images- that's a teapo alright...

[eccerr0r]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Oddly enough, RatShack ... the new alacarte caps they have, at least the ones I saw, I've seen a lot of 85C Rubycons/Nichicons... Not that these are the best around, I haven't seen too many Teapos and the like even though the profit margin could be higher.

Their kits, however, I haven't taken a close look at.

[kaboom]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Oddly enough, RatShack ... the new alacarte caps they have, at least the ones I saw, I've seen a lot of 85C Rubycons/Nichicons... Not that these are the best around, I haven't seen too many Teapos and the like even though the profit margin could be higher.

Still see Nichicons here, too- just a few teapos/ltecs mixed in. The good ones are there, just not in all values. Ex- 470/16 might be ltec, but 1000/10 may be Japanese.

Their kits, however, I haven't taken a close look at.

Back in the day, these were usually a good mix. Sprague, Nichicon, Rubycon, Marcon, Nic, even Delco!

[Behemot]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Anybody thought about Teapo just being OEM? If you take enough of something, any company on the planet will hapily print you your own name on it. Or if you pay for it even when you take low enough volume.

[lti]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

A few were "suspiciously" physically small for their claimed value. Not "suspicious" at all- this was no accident. Cheep, mid-late 90's stuff, with caps whose value was "whatever the label said," much like stupid/cheap power supplies with lying labels.

All of the unusually small caps I've seen were Jackcon or Fujicon brand. One of the Jackcon caps actually had the correct capacitance. The capacitance on a few others was "coincidentally" close to the next lowest standard value (and within tolerance for their labeled capacitance).

I actually have two of these! The old Mallory name appears in big letters on the sleeve, but the series code is a Jamicon type! They were axial lead caps, and the "roll" inside is smaller than the can- gives the appearance of better thermal coupling to the can than is really the case...

I made a thread about those Mallory caps years ago. They were Teapo/G-Luxon (they merged a few years ago) caps back then.

Oddly enough, RatShack ... the new alacarte caps they have, at least the ones I saw, I've seen a lot of 85C Rubycons/Nichicons... Not that these are the best around, I haven't seen too many Teapos and the like even though the profit margin could be higher.

Their kits, however, I haven't taken a close look at.

When I was last in Radio Shack (a few years ago), the cap assortments were nothing but used caps from the early 1990s. Individual caps were new.

[kaboom]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Anybody thought about Teapo just being OEM? If you take enough of something, any company on the planet will hapily print you your own name on it. Or if you pay for it even when you take low enough volume.

Nichicon and Matsushita do OEM caps. Seen custom electros in semi-recent CRT TVs, Nichicon, for the horiz yoke coupling. And weren't there Panasonic caps, not available outside of OEM, used on motherboards? Yes there were, but Nichicon and Matsushita certainly did not disguise those parts.

[Behemot]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

That's not OEM, that's custom series.

OEM is generaly used for these cases when company 1 orders goods made at company 2, with all company 1 naming, logo etc. Look at PSUs, 2/3 of the market is done exactly this way and nobody sees that suspicious.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

When I was last in Radio Shack (a few years ago), the cap assortments were nothing but used caps from the early 1990s. Individual caps were new.

Yes I've seen a lot of cut lead devices but I think they're still new... Might have been taken from an assembly line after their leads were cut probably, but I doubt they were desoldered.

[Stefan Payne]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Well we have Teapo colors, Teapo font and Teapo vent, just that instead of saying Teapo, we got that weird "AV" logo. And "ESC" series of capacitors comes from Kemet, Teapo don't even have an "ESC" series. So whoever did these is definitely a counterfeiter.

No, but an SC series.
And the colors match too...

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Teapo rip-offs?

Nichicon and Matsushita do OEM caps. Seen custom electros in semi-recent CRT TVs, Nichicon, for the horiz yoke coupling. And weren't there Panasonic caps, not available outside of OEM, used on motherboards? Yes there were, but Nichicon and Matsushita certainly did not disguise those parts.

Well, if you buy enough per year they'll probably name the custom series for your significant other.

Matsushita/Panasonic is their own biggest customer, an extra incentive to make reliable parts. OTOH, internal usage gets first priority, resulting in occasional short-term shortages.