Epox 8kha+

[tazwegion]

Hello all, this is my current project which by it's sheer volume of capacitors required, is the largest repair I've performed thus far. Epox used to be a favourite of mine (back in the days of the EP-MVP3C2), but they're loosing my repsect rather rapidly for their choice of capacitance used on the s462 offerings

Australia's Rubycon dealer RS-online unfortunately doesn't offer a full selection, and I've had to resort to other makes (Hitano & IRH) from alternative sources, it appears Epox didn't learn anything from their capacitor issues (GSC) with the 8KHA+ when they opted for Teapo's instead on the 8K3A+ (another project)

Any suggested alternative sources and/or manufacturers would be welcomed

[Per Hansson]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thxn for the pics and good luck!

Keep us updated on your progress

GSC=

Here is a list of resellers by country: https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=613

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thanks Per Hansson, I'd already checked out the Australian Rubycon stockist, but I hadn't checked out Farnell's

Oh here's the latest instalment, I ran out of 2200uF 10V & I wanted to have a uniformed look to the board as much as practicable (so that's it for the weekend)... the remaining GSC's appear to be in mint condition, but then they're still GSC's right?

[Per Hansson]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Looking very good, great job!

I've got an old dead 8KHA+ here, killed it myself with a overvoltage failure (all my fault)

Anyway when I retired it none of the caps where bulging, but now after a couple years 3 of the GSC caps has started bulging; tells you something about their quality no?

With my board I was lucky though; all the VRM caps are TEAPO, still doing ok, I scavenged a few when repairing an old Deer PSU just for fun, use it when tesing fans

Mostly though GSC caps do bulge when they fail, so it is easy to spot... Atleast now you have bought some time to source good caps for the rest of the board...

[Shroomie]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Well, most of their 462 boards were good except for the caps. The later ones, to this day, use Rubycon and Panasonic except for the smallest caps which are G-Luxon. I don't anticipate this one failing...

When I swap cases I'll get the models on the caps for you folks.

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Well the 1200uF 10v Panny's are on order @ $3.00 a pop

Still I have to admit, the layout of this Epox motherboard is 'soldering friendly'... and in no way as cluttered as some of those PC Chips/ECS platforms I've encountered over the years

Out of pocket a total of $29.00 for this refit so far... oh well even though it's only a KT-266A chipset, it was still too good to throw away

[yanz]

Re: Epox 8kha+

the layout of 8KHA is very similar to the 8K3A/+. the solder is easy to be removed and the holes is easy to clean, not like ECS with black/dark pcb and harder solder points.

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Definitely correct there yanz, but thankfully the 8K3A+ I have is 'brand new' (old warehouse stock) so I expect at least some life outta' the Teapos before I have to recap

The Panny's I ordered have arrived, so all that's left to do is swap out the 'duds' and do a smoke test

I'm really curious to see how the Low ESR Hitano's perform over the next 6 ~ 12 months

[davmax]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Taz, I will be interested in the Hitano results. As you are aware these caps are not ultra low ESR. I was astonished to read the data sheet specs for these Hitanos on the Aussie distributor web site. The life testing stated conditions are 105C with rated voltage applied, no mention of rated rippled also applied as in other brands (even Samxon).

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Well I'll keep the forum informed of their reliability status, but alas... I have not got an ESR meter, so for the moment I'll have to rely on visual inspections & system stability running F@H 24/7

[yanz]

Re: Epox 8kha+

i have impression that you guys in australia are so difficult to find lesr caps from jap manufacturers. here in indonesia we can easily get chemycon kzg, lxz; nichicon pw, he; sanyo wg; panasonic fc, fj; rubycon zl, yxg, mbz, -- on almost every local electronic shop.

given the fact that we live in close area (ind & aus) i have thought your local distributor can source them from singapore...hope that will happen in the future..

@taz, 8kha are very well design/layout so i think even if it use general purpose caps (not too low esr) it will make good long usage times. hope so..

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thanks yanz, to be fair they aren't exactly 'general purpose' capacitors that I've used, they are marketed as Low ESR (Hitano), though in truth they're 0.02Ohms greater in resistance than their SamXon equivalent (stocked by Jaycar Electronics)

As for Quality Japanese Ultra Low ESR capacitors, they can be sourced through both Farnell's & RS-online but neither IME stock a complete selection

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Well, I've finished at last... all GSC above 100uF have been replaced and the motherboard passed a 12 hour torture/burn in test, additionally I'm pleased with the motherboards' asthetic uniformity, as both the Hitano and SamXon capacitors have black/gold sleeving

Thanks to all those who assisted

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

I've realised that this thread was a little ambiguous in relation to components etc. so for sake of posterity, I'd like to update the specifics as best I can

Replacement Components
12 x Hitano (EXR series) 2200uF 10v 0.052 Ohms @ 100Khz (10x21mm)
-2 x Hitano (EXR series) 1000uF 10v 0.08 Ohms @ 100Khz (10x12.5mm)
-7 x SamXon (GD series) 1200uF 6.3v 0.028 Ohms @ 100Khz (10x11mm)
-4 x SamXon (GD series) 1200uF 10v (10x13mm)
-3 x SamXon (GC series) 1000uF 6.3v @ 0.018 Ohms @ 100Khz (10x12.5mm)

For what it's worth... the repaired motherboard is 13 days into 24/7 F@H crunching and both the SamXon & Hitano's are holding up perfectly, but it's only early days yet eh?

For those of you in Oz who are also experiencing great difficulty locating replacement items & are curious where I obtained these Hitano EXR series capacitors, you might wanna' try Wiltronics Research Pty Ltd

[Big Pope]

Re: Epox 8kha+

I want to make some corrections for th size of Samxon GD and GC as following.

-7 x SamXon (GD series) 1200uF 6.3v 0.028 Ohms @ 100Khz (10x12.5mm)
-4 x SamXon (GD series) 1200uF 10v (10x16mm)
-3 x SamXon (GC series) 1000uF 6.3v @ 0.018 Ohms @ 100Khz (8x14mm)

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thanks for the clarification Big Pope, what Ohm rating does the 1200uF 10v have?

[Big Pope]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thanks for the clarification Big Pope, what Ohm rating does the 1200uF 10v have?

It is same spec. as 1500uF 10v D10x16mm. Here is the details for your reference.

http://www.samxon.com/PDF/prodPDF_38.pdf

[starfury1]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Hi all

Ok david

Got the caps 10 of each

The 2,200 uF 10 Volt Hitano EXR105 C
Can size is the same 18x10mm aprox

On ESR Meter (DS MKII kit meter)

Measured at 0.03

Capacitance was measured at aprox 2,500 uF for the 10 units tested

1,000 uf 10 volt (measured at up to 1,100 uF)

Ditto 0.02 ~ 0.03


These were taken straight from the bag and from what I understand not really the ideal way to do it.

Also not million dollar test equipment,
ESR meter only as good as me and resistor used to calibrate it


Note: 0. added for clarity ESR, also on last pic of cap meter at 0 2470 = 2,470 uF

[tazwegion]

Re: Epox 8kha+

Thanks for that starfury1, hopefully they'll have at least the longevity of the SamXon's that they populate the motherboard with

I'm very pleased they've shown a better rating than their advertised spec of 0.05Ohms @ 100Khz

[starfury1]

Re: Epox 8kha+

BTW the can is more like 20mm X 10mm (L,D) for both values

You raise a point I should check...how does the meter test...will re-read the construction
sheets as how it does this, I think it should be included for clarity