Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

[Ritalin]

So I found a local hobby store that has a a bunch of capacitors at like $0.15-$0.50 each. Mainly nichicon, but they have 3 other brands I've never heard of and one of them I can't identify. I've done some research, but haven't found anything yet. So any input if I should use them or not would be greatly appreciated.

1.) Sprague
2.) Marcon
3.) Not labeled (see picture below)

[retiredcaps]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

3.) Not labeled (see picture below)

I believe M is Panasonic's parent company. Matsushita.

[yyonline]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

1.) Sprague
Owned by Vishay, which is one of the largest electronics components companies out there. Their website shows only tantalum capacitors. These aren't the usual types of capacitors we deal with on here, so I don't know a whole lot about them.

2.) Marcon
Originally owned by Toshiba, was bought by United Chemi-con. I see Marcon in a lot of old (think 1980s) Japanese audio equipment. Seems to be (or was) decently reliable, as I don't see failures very often. I have no idea if Marcon is still produced, or what the reliability of their current offerings may be.

3.) Not labeled (see picture below)
This is a Panasonic capcacitor. The "M" in the rounded square stands for Matsushita, the parent company of Panasonic. Panasonic capacitors are very reliable. The series you have here is HFQ, which is low impedance, but not that low. It may be useful for some motherboard applications, but other Panasonic series are better suited for motherboard use.

[Ritalin]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

Thanks guys!

I only paid....

$.25 for the Sprague (330uF @25V)
$.20 for the Marcon (47uF @50V)
$.15 for the 3rd one (820uF @25V)

And I'm using them in a LCD monitor that I just repaired and so far so good. Just hope they last awhile.

[momaka]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

The Sprague and Marcon are probably general purpose and not suitable. If your monitor is working fine, though, leave them in.

The Panasonic HFQ are good for power supplies, so your monitor should be fine with those.

[theOracle]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

Marcon is a good Japanese capacitor, you see them more in 70's, 80's & 90's equipment and the cool thing is, they normally have a date code! - for example they might have 9215 which would indicate the 15th week of 1992

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

Pretty sure Nippon Chemicon bought Sprague's electrolytics. Sprague's ceramic disc capacitor group went indy as Ceramite, which is now part of Vishay. I forget who bought Sprague's film capacitors ("Orange Drop") division.

[rievax_60]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

For the last few years, our local mechanic has been bringing me failed injector pump control modules from Same tractors.
The module contains five Marcon capacitors, all of different values.
Always and only one of them, a 100uf/25v on the 5v rail leaks its electrolyte which corrodes open nearby tracks.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: Capacitor Identification and Quality Question

r_60, Marcon was bought by Nippon Chemi-Con in 1995. So those Marcon capacitors may be "bad", in the sense that they have failed, but they are 20 years old or more, which is a fairly long life for an electrolytic capacitor. So Marcon capacitors are not "bad" in the sense of being of poor quality. To the contrary, in the 1980s and first half of the 1990s they were among the best when it came to low impedance electrolytic capacitors.