best cheap/free scores 1.1

[Wester547]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I *think* that was a claim made by stj (but please excuse me if I got it wrong). Don't ask me what thread, though, because I can't remember even if my life depended on it.

He said that Panasonic FC leak as they age and Rubycon ZL go out of spec in terms of capacitance.

Actually, speaking of this, I just noticed yesterday that I had some small Nichicon PM 5x11 mm caps leaking a little from both leads (green, puffy corrosion near the bung). So far, it only seems to be a bag of eight 16 V 100 uF caps only. I bought them back in 2010 or 2011 (or possibly early 2012) and used only a few, I think. Hopefully, this is just an isolated case with those caps and not a whole series problem. PM is supposed to be a replacement series for PL, so I wonder if they still have those quaternary ammonium salts problems. Meanwhile, it seems that my various bags of Nichicon PS caps (bought at same time as PM above) seem to be okay. PS is supposedly a replacement series for PR.

Datecodes on the PMs? Modern electrolytics don't use the quaternary ammonium salts anymore excepting double layer electrolytics. Chemi-con issued a noticed on the matter in 2003 (attached) expressly stating that none of their electrolytics use that solution. That being said, I doubt that's the only ammonium salt system that has that problem in electrolytics, just the only one that we know of that does...

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Datecodes on the PMs?

B1044
I guess that means year 2010, week 44. Country of origin (CoO) is Malaysia, IIRC.

[Wester547]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Wow, they leaked just by sitting there in a sealed bag for over 5 years. Bad bungs? Bad leads? Hmm, the PM datasheet says that 100uF 10V and 16V is supposed to come in 6.3x11mm case size and not 5x11mm.

Yes, B means Malaysia, M means Singapore, H means Ohno (Japan), A means Asahi (Japan), and N means Iwate (Japan). C supposedly means China. Source for most of those: the attached excerpt from a very old Nichicon HE datasheet.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i have never seen an old soviet cap leak.
on the large ones they use a plastic bung molded onto the wires and crimped into the can with a rubber gasket.
small caps seem to be epoxy-sealed.
those commies didnt mess around!

probably cost a fortune compared to just a rubber bung with wires punched into it though!!

[momaka]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Wow, they leaked just by sitting there in a sealed bag for over 5 years. Bad bungs? Bad leads?

Beats me. But yes, 5 years sitting in my room (which varies in temperature between 20C and 30C for winter and summer, respectively). I just reformed a few the other day. They do seem to hold a charge, though. I need to buy me an ESR meter, though. I've been postponing the purchase of that for almost a year now. Maybe today will be the day finally.

Hmm, the PM datasheet says that 100uF 10V and 16V is supposed to come in 6.3x11mm case size and not 5x11mm.

You are right once again (lol, you're like my personal spell checker - but I do actually appreciate it )

i have never seen an old soviet cap leak.
on the large ones they use a plastic bung molded onto the wires and crimped into the can with a rubber gasket.
small caps seem to be epoxy-sealed.
those commies didnt mess around!

The soviet block made some really good stuff back in its day. Maybe not the most innovative, but certainly always built with high quality materials, at the very least. This especially applies to home appliances. The only problem is they didn't make enough, so people always had to wait in queues or know someone "on the inside". My grandmother had a 30+ year old washing machine that still worked up until a few years ago, until a water pipe froze and burst, causing water to leak on the mechanical programmer and eating away the traces.

[Wester547]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

You are right once again (lol, you're like my personal spell checker - but I do actually appreciate it )

Thanks. Well, I don't want to impress upon anyone as a buzzkill or someone who thinks himself to be correct on everything (or someone who feels the need to correct everyone on everything, in turn). I don't consider myself that knowledgeable at all - far from it. The reason why I brought up the case size is that if yours really were 5x11, they might be counterfeit, depending on where you sourced your batch (Digikey? Mouser? Farnell? Newark?) from. It could just be down to how they were treated before you bought them. 20*C to 30*C is about the same as the weather where I live - the extremes (in my area) would be 15*C to 34*C room temperature, sometimes a tad lower or higher respectively. Humidity plays a part too, of course.

But it scares me, seeing reputable Nichicons leak after 5 years of storage time, considering the "zero defect" policy Nichicon holds claim to on their website (yet that may as well just be advertising at its finest - Samwha claim the same thing on their website). I understand though that when billions of capacitors are being produced per year, some are bound to be defective. However, I am honestly beginning to think that wet electrolytics are somewhat inherently unreliable (Suncon for an example note in their catalog that even the best liquid electrolytics are not to be considered extremely reliable and that they certainly have their wear out mechanisms, that is drying out by way of rubber seal diffusion or the consumption of electrolyte through self-healing), although by that I am certainly not alluding all capacitors are created equal. But that still makes sense to me, because the "bad" brands make terrible electrolytics but half-decent polymers - go figure! Even so, nothing lasts forever.

Lol, I suppose I have derailed this thread for long enough... sorry for that.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

i bet we could make "forever" caps, but it's not good business.

make them like valves, embed the wires in glass, put a bubble over it, inject the liquid through the top and melt the pip closed.

[diif]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

I got this and an 8 output version for £1
I turned up and the nice bloke said to keep it
Just have to rummage about for some composite cables now.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

12 outputs.

[diif]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

12 outputs.

Yeah I'm going to replace my windows with TVs showing a bright sunny day outside, turn the central heating up to 30 and pretend im on my holidays.

[Dan81]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Well,my cheap scores for today are:

Gigabyte GA-K8NS - nF3 250 chipset,strangely this one was fine as opposed to the first one I had - it has '04 HMs everywhere and KZG on the high VRM side...

G-Alantic ATX-350 P2SC PSU - in case you ask,it's a decent-built CWT ISO - ERL-35 trafo (and a real one!),Teapo caps (even the primaries). Only two caps aren't Teapo - the 12v rail has a Chemicon LXF 2200uF 16v and there's a 2200uF Fuhjyyu near the secondary heatsink of the same rating. Primary switchers are 2SC2625. Came with a COMPLETELY seized Ruillian Science fan,which I replaced with a brand new Globe fan,on which I hillarously pasted the sticker of a Tricod Science (out of a Codegen,that still works) fan
It's now powering a Pentium 4 HT 540 PC,which is basically a Prescott

Orange Tado/ZTE Kis 3 Max - despite it being a wreckage on the front (it's all cracked up...),the screen still works albeit cracked (I can still see stuff on it tho ). The touch is pretty done for,it's chaotic.

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Found a deep socket 3/8" Snapon socket in the road. Not a bad day, I mean these things're $9 on ebay, I can buy an entire harbor freight set for that.

[Compgeke]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Found this on Freecycle this morning:
Tektronix TDS420 oscilloscope w/ two P6138 probes and manuals for a 2215. Stated as non-working, had to verify myself and now the living room reeks of dead fish...but it was turning on normally.



Edit: Bad caps! http://i.imgur.com/qt8BUQh.jpg

[Pentium4]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

Nice score! Might need some refurbishing but worth putting some time into since you got it for free.

[stj]

Re: best cheap/free scores 1.1

the vga output is interesing, i wonder if it's multi-coloured!

[Oglon3r]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

Nothing really... need to start dumpster diving more often.
Remember getting a few old PII desktops that wents straight to scrap $$.
Those old computers i get them every time I can.

[Behemot]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I just found 2A 1-24V DC power supply from Tesla but it seems to not be working, have to check that. As it is old the internals are one giant mess.

[momaka]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I finally felt like I had enough strength (and time) today to go biking and check my usual dumpster spot. Found a bunch of headsets with microphones. Also what looks like a cheap pair of airplane headphones (has a funny-looking jack), along with a Casio 5.3V 1 Amp power adapter with cut cord and a random small industrial circuit board with a bunch of useful components (two bridge rectifiers, two opto-isolators, and some old caps).

Among all of the headsets was also a pair of Genius HS-04V. It's cord is damaged (ripped off). But the rest of the headset seems fine, apart from being dirty. Luckily, the ear muffs on this set are made from cloth, so I can wash them. They are currently sitting soaked in a bucket of water and dish detergent with some other parts and the foam pads from the other headsets. I already scrubbed all of the headsets with a soapy sponge. Reason for that is because they did smell a bit funny and the Genius pair had some dead tiny bugs. They don't look like roaches, but I rather be safe than sorry. They are sitting outside in the backyard. Nothing comes in the house until all of its nooks and crevices have been checked out thoroughly. I will probably finish cleaning them tomorrow, after they stay out for a night.

Now here is the funny part: while biking to that dumpster spot, I also found a headphone cord with a 3.5 mm plug on the way there - basically exactly what I needed to replace the cord on that Genius HS-04V headset! (Well, almost perfect - I still need to find a microphone cord. But then again, I might just remove that and use the headset as a regular pair of headphones).

I'm kind of excited to fix this Genius HS-04V headset, because it has some kind of bass-vibration feature to supposedly improve the listening experience. I'm just curious to see how well (or not) that feature works. I guess we will see. The headphone drivers themselves are 40 mm. So if they are decent, they should sound well enough by themselves.

I also saw two vacuum cleaners in that dumpster. I'm pondering whether or not I should go back there this weekend to take out the motors from those. One is an upright and the other is a "Euro" style -type pull-along. There is also a big fridge in there, but it's starting to get covered with other stuff. Would be nice to get the compressor off of that, though.

Remember getting a few old PII desktops that wents straight to scrap $$.

Should strip them down to pieces and sell each individually.
Some of the parts are actually worth quite a bit. Keep your eyes open for 3DFX video cards and ISA Sound Blaster audio cards. Good quality fans should also be saved too, like Papst, Panaflo, Sanyo Denki, Nidec, NMB, Delta, DC Koala, and a few others.

I just found 2A 1-24V DC power supply from Tesla but it seems to not be working, have to check that. As it is old the internals are one giant mess.

Sounds like my HP 6291A DC power supply restoring project .

[Behemot]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

And decent AT PSU is always usefull to test fans or provide voltage for some some other things.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Your Best Dumpster Finds

I don't know if this could be considered a dumpster find or not. It was at some electronics recycling place in Elmira. We were in High School and we'd go up there slip the guy 20$ or so. He'd let us walk around and buy stuff that people were throwing out. He said they just sell the stuff for metal, by weight. I didn't know as much about electronics as I do now or I would have grabbed a heck of a lot more stuff! One of things I got was an old Sparc IPC "lunch box" machine. It was a real nice find.

Corning, Inc throughout a laptop in their dumpster. It didn't have a hard drive but it worked. Back then, laptops weren't amazing and a lot had black and white screens. This one had a coloured screen, which was really cool.