FM's at Mouser vs. HE's at Future Electronics.

[Evil Lurker]

It seems as though FM pannies are pretty much jellybean when it comes to SMPS output filtering caps. Problem is the darn things are very expensive from Mouser plus you have to buy a ton of them to get the price break.

The thing is HE nichicons can be had at almost a quarter of the price at Future Electronics. The kicker is the ripple current rating on the HE's is too low to mach the crap caps specs on most applications. Now if they had HD's it would probably be a good fit but unfortunately they don't carry them.

Can I get away with going up in capacitance to the next size made in the same voltage, or should I go up in voltage and keep the capacitance the same to meet or exceed the ripple current ratings of the cap being replaced?

Don't get me wrong I think pannies are great, its just why buy them when you can get three caps that will work in a pinch for the price of one?

[mariushm]

Re: FM's at Mouser vs. HE's at Future Electronics.

Why don't you get from Digikey, since you're in US ?

Prices get pretty good when you're buying a minimum of 50 or better.

Usually as you go up with the voltage, the ripple and impedance are better but it's not always 100% true.
I'm not sure what to say about going up in capacitance.

[Mad_Professor]

Re: FM's at Mouser vs. HE's at Future Electronics.

no, go up in voltage keep capacitance the same. Match or exceed ripple and ESR values and be sure it can fit on the pcb.

I'm not experience enough to tell ya about changing capacitance, but from my low knowledge I think you could change the capacitance but you would have to figure out/eliminate un-needed caps. If the circuit requires a cap there to complete the circuit or not. If it does, could a jump wire to the replacement cap work? or does the circuit need several caps to filter/smooth out the ripple. But I could be wrong. *Waits for someone to yell "HEY STUPID!"


IMO the HE are too low. Have you try at digikey for HD?

[brethin]

Re: FM's at Mouser vs. HE's at Future Electronics.

Going up in votage is fine.
Going up in capacitance a small amount is sometimes ok, but avoid it if at all possable.
Always match or exceed ripple.
Always match or go lower on ESR.
As for can size I tend to use the largest that will fit.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: FM's at Mouser vs. HE's at Future Electronics.

KZE = HD and Digikey lists both.