Elna Bad Cap?

[nsx29]

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/nsx29c...?.dir=/4d64scd
hmmm... img attach not working.
This Elna looks bulging. As far as i can see it's general purpose and surface mount so recap is impossible. This is very rare stuff. hmm.

feedback welcome

[UraBahn]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

Ugh. Not Elna now!?

Damnit! So much for me wanting to get Cerafines to replace the Scatronics in my speakers.

It is possible to replace surface-mounted caps without the proper equipment... if you don't mind running the risk of tearing up the solder pads.

BTW where did you find this cap?

[arneson]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

With an exacto knife and a moderatly hot fine tip chissel, that cap should be easy to replace.

[nsx29]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

This cap is on a Elsa X1300 video card pci-e. Very recent stuff but according to date code. The elna cap is manufactured in 2004 which is very old stuff. I have no clue why it was used. I thought most computer stuff uses low esr stuff not general purpose.

By the way, the system is running a zippy powersupply with chemicon ky caps. so i am confident that this must be some sort of manufacture defect or expired capacitor (not likely but i heard caps are good for 2yrs shelf life.)

[japlytic]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

Even the best capacitors are not immune from failure...

[kc8adu]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

its no big deal to replace that cap.i replace sometimes 50 tiny ones at a time in old sony camcorders.
10 minute job for me to replace that one and all others like it.

[whiz]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

Ugh. Not Elna now!?

Damnit! So much for me wanting to get Cerafines to replace the Scatronics in my speakers.

From where??? is it possible to get some Elna RFS (silmic II) and buy them from you?

[linuxguru]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

It's probably a misapplication of a general-purpose, 85c cap instead of a low-ESR, 105c cap. Even Pannies and Rubies will fail quickly in such situations.

There are probably no better caps than Elna R** for most small-signal audio use. For large caps in the Power Amp, Elna RJH works fine - but Panny FCs or Nichicon P* probably have a small edge for high dynamic-range performance. The differences are slight and highly subjective.

Black Gates, Cerafines, etc. are probably wasted money, but if you've got a well-heeled customer who wants them, you might as well take the money first, and skip the common-sense explanations.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Elna Bad Cap?

I consider Elna as good cap. They are long in business and have good Q/S.
And those SMD typs are very easy to desolder. Have replaced alot of them from a charging unit for Motorola GP900. Never needed something else than a soldering iron and something to pick up the hot cap.