Are bad-cap brands getting better?

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I have compared Xicons and Lelons. They look identical, aside from the sleeve color and brand name. Also, every store that used to sell Xicon now sells Lelon.

I have heard of motherboards that used Xicon caps, but they may have been recapped.

So are Lelons Xicons or are Xicons Lelons?

Are they okay, either way?

[mockingbird]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I have compared Xicons and Lelons. They look identical, aside from the sleeve color and brand name. Also, every store that used to sell Xicon now sells Lelon.

I have heard of motherboards that used Xicon caps, but they may have been recapped.

According to this document, Xicon and Leon have some sort of agreement, it seems as if Lelon has taken over Xicon's electrolytic division.

But according to this, Lelon did not in the past manufacture Xicon caps:

Xicon are good caps but little or none available in the way of low ESR.<snip>

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

According to this document, Xicon and Leon have some sort of agreement, it seems as if Lelon has taken over Xicon's electrolytic division.

But according to this, Lelon did not in the past manufacture Xicon caps:

In which case, should we trust them?

[mockingbird]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I would use old stock Xicon, but I would not touch anything Lelon.

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I would use old stock Xicon, but I would not touch anything Lelon.

Okay then.

Quick! CapXon vs Lelon? ...Lelon,right?

[mockingbird]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Capxon. I can take a low esr Capxon which maybe has a superior ripple ratign and use it for general purpose applications. Lelon low-esr caps are few and in-between.

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Capxon. I can take a low esr Capxon which maybe has a superior ripple ratign and use it for general purpose applications. Lelon low-esr caps are few and in-between.

Hmmph. I'm stumped. I was sure that nothing could be as bad as CapXon (on this tier).

[mockingbird]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Fuhjyuu and Suscon are lesser quality than Capxon.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Fuhjyyu worse than CapXon, yes. Su'scon is better.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I think that Capxon should do a corporate restructure and re-brand themselves as Crapxon, 'cause if you buy anything with them in it, well you get...

CRAPPED ON!

You know I'm almost at the point now where I say screw the warranty, let's pop this [*insert capacitor laden electronic device here*] open and see what's inside. And on that note, I really think that we could provide a great service to the WWW by creating a Wiki with a comprehensive listing of ALL cap manufacturers as well as listing PSU's, MoBo's, and any manner of electronic devices made past and present with caps in them. I mean, as this board grows bigger and older and wiser I think that you may find good information getting lost, old threads dug up (guilty). If cap master sees the wisdom in this, I can and will assist in creating and maintaining said Wiki. Just throwing it out there for consideration

I posted about a capacitor load tester a while back. I'll probably build it in a month or so.

I would like to see this tester Th3_uN1Qu3, perhaps I can build it now that my soldering confidence is building back up!

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

I really think that we could provide a great service to the WWW by creating a Wiki with a comprehensive listing of ALL cap manufacturers as well as listing PSU's, MoBo's, and any manner of electronic devices made past and present with caps in them

http://capacitor.web.fc2.com/

I would like to see this tester Th3_uN1Qu3, perhaps I can build it now that my soldering confidence is building back up!

Well, now that i've got a PIC programmer i can do lots of funky things that would otherwise require a crapload of trimmers to get right. The basic schematic of the meter has been finished quite a while ago, but the micro will make it simpler and more efficient. Now i just need to buy an LCD display.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

http://capacitor.web.fc2.com/



Well, now that i've got a PIC programmer i can do lots of funky things that would otherwise require a crapload of trimmers to get right. The basic schematic of the meter has been finished quite a while ago, but the micro will make it simpler and more efficient. Now i just need to buy an LCD display.

Well that site's a start, only I'm not so great at Japanese and apparently, neither is Google. BUt looking at the site, it seems as though people across the world are pissed off at bad caps! Just looking upon the sheer number of cap manufacturers, makes me wonder...maybe I can make caps too

Seriously, I'd like to see what you come up with the tester. What kind of LCD do you seek? Something like this:
http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/sto...001_2118660_-1
I'd really like an ESR meter, but more so building one to increase my knowledge of electronics would be even better. Make sure to keep us posted, sounds like you're close!

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

http://kaspars.id.lv/?menu_id=32

This guy makes some really neat stuff...especially with power related things.

When I get the nerve , I definitley want to try this thing. It looks like one of the best DIY ESR testers I've ever seen...though I can't be sure.

[lti]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Well that site's a start, only I'm not so great at Japanese and apparently, neither is Google.

It could be worse. IE8's built-in translator thought the site was written in French.

[Digital Technophile]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

http://kaspars.id.lv/?menu_id=32

This guy makes some really neat stuff...especially with power related things.

When I get the nerve , I definitley want to try this thing. It looks like one of the best DIY ESR testers I've ever seen...though I can't be sure.

Oh yeah, nice find! When I looked for ESR testers, I saw the page @ http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/esrmeter.html. At the time, I wasn't sure (and still a bit so) I would be capable of such a project. And though analog readouts are nice for certain applications, I like digital in this instance for size and precision (c & c welcome). I see a couple of road blocks in this endeavor, mainly PIC programming (uhh, Th3_uN1Qu3???) and/or calibration. I do however feel fortunate to live in a town (albeit a small one) that just so happens to have a PCB manufacturer in it
Perhaps some more reading and info digging are in order.

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Oh yeah, nice find! When I looked for ESR testers, I saw the page @ http://members.shaw.ca/swstuff/esrmeter.html. At the time, I wasn't sure (and still a bit so) I would be capable of such a project. And though analog readouts are nice for certain applications, I like digital in this instance for size and precision (c & c welcome). I see a couple of road blocks in this endeavor, mainly PIC programming (uhh, Th3_uN1Qu3???) and/or calibration. I do however feel fortunate to live in a town (albeit a small one) that just so happens to have a PCB manufacturer in it
Perhaps some more reading and info digging are in order.

I put together a possible build on Mouser, and with the best possible parts I could fine, the cost of the ESR meter is a whopping $30. If you went with cheaper film capacitors, carbon film resistors etc., you could probably get the price down to around $20-25.

I don't have a PIC programmer, though I suppose it would be a good thing to have. He has all of the files for the PIC as well. He provides the board layout, schematic files, and how to calibrate it. Pretty sweet honestly.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

http://kaspars.id.lv/?menu_id=32

This guy makes some really neat stuff...especially with power related things.

When I get the nerve , I definitley want to try this thing. It looks like one of the best DIY ESR testers I've ever seen...though I can't be sure.

Yeah, that meter looks really neat. Also he has the same DMM as i do. However, i'm not too sure about the measuring method used... looks like too many parts involved in the "calibration". I am going to do large signal measurements - analyzing the behavior of the cap in a real world application. Since the ripple currents involved will be large, the accompanying voltage drop due to ESR will be high, thus easier to measure.

I see a couple of road blocks in this endeavor, mainly PIC programming (uhh, Th3_uN1Qu3???) and/or calibration. I do however feel fortunate to live in a town (albeit a small one) that just so happens to have a PCB manufacturer in it
Perhaps some more reading and info digging are in order.

The analog meters aren't up to snuff. You either get large useful range but low precision or high precision but limited range. As far as PIC programming goes... i managed to learn the basics in 3 days. And that's in assembly language not BASIC or C. Their limited instruction set makes them really trivial to code for. It also means that you have to use a lot of tricks however, but you can make subroutines that you call to make those tricks... Once you've written all your subroutines the code pretty much becomes "call this, call that".

I'll be getting two 28-pin PICs along with two 16x2 LCD displays today. 5 output pins really aren't enough for anything more than dimming/blinking/spinning a few LEDs.

[severach]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Once you've written all your subroutines the code pretty much becomes "call this, call that".

Isn't that what the BASIC already does?

[TheLaw]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Yeah, that meter looks really neat. Also he has the same DMM as i do. However, i'm not too sure about the measuring method used... looks like too many parts involved in the "calibration". I am going to do large signal measurements - analyzing the behavior of the cap in a real world application. Since the ripple currents involved will be large, the accompanying voltage drop due to ESR will be high, thus easier to measure.



The analog meters aren't up to snuff. You either get large useful range but low precision or high precision but limited range. As far as PIC programming goes... i managed to learn the basics in 3 days. And that's in assembly language not BASIC or C. Their limited instruction set makes them really trivial to code for. It also means that you have to use a lot of tricks however, but you can make subroutines that you call to make those tricks... Once you've written all your subroutines the code pretty much becomes "call this, call that".

I'll be getting two 28-pin PICs along with two 16x2 LCD displays today. 5 output pins really aren't enough for anything more than dimming/blinking/spinning a few LEDs.

Well good luck on that. MCUs kind of turn me off unless the code is right there for me. I really should learn about them more....If only I had time.

[moola]

Re: Are bad-cap brands getting better?

Pretty complicated stuff. I don't blame you for being too lazy to figure that stuff out