Using higher voltage caps with same capacitance. How bad is it?

[xrror]

I was wondering if there are any bad side effects of using higher voltage rated caps in place of an original. For example if I replaced a 10v 3300uF capacitor with one rated for 16v 3300uF.

I've done it before, when I can't find exactly matching capacitors in the salvage tub. I was just wondering if doing this is a Bad Thing (tm).

I'm going to re-cap some power supplies I have, and in my enthusiam of removing the bad caps, I kinda didn't take note of where they went back exactly (oops).

So if I replaced an assortment of 10v and 16v 3300uF Fuhjyyu caps with 16v 3300uf across the board it shouldn't get too cranky, right?

[Scenic]

Re: Using higher voltage caps with same capacitance. How bad is it?

shouldn't cause any issues, but doesn't really improve things either...

oh and for computer equipment (mainly mainboards and PSUs) you can go down in voltage if you see 10V caps.
there are only 12V, 5V and 3.3V as the main rails. a 10V cap can't be on 12V, so it must be on 5V or 3.3V, for which you could use 6.3V caps without a problem (if the ESR/ripple matches or it's better of course)
but if in doubt: measure voltage first

[xrror]

Re: Using higher voltage caps with same capacitance. How bad is it?

Yea I didn't think it would really improve anything. I was more wondering if it could cause ESR or ripple problems or something. Of course the dying caps I'm replacing probably weren't so awesome in their death throws and it still worked, so I'm probably being paranoid

And I wondered that myself with the 3.3v, 5v, 12v in computers. I just figured they had a reason for 10v on a 5v line, since they otherwise cost reduce everything else Or maybe they just have a nice bulk discount for 10v caps. Kinda what i'm going for hehe...

The nightmare will be the old Enermaxx 431w, that thing has like 13 bad caps or something ridiculous, I'm waiting to get my butane torch back to desolder that heatsinked mess

[xrror]

Re: Using higher voltage caps with same capacitance. How bad is it?

Just a tidbit - the PSU with the "bad cap farm" wasn't the Enermax after all. It only had 5 visible bad. Must have been another one that got scrapped.

And wow, talk about a power supply from a different era. It's definitely from the pre-12v era - No P4 connector and only 12A on the 12v. But you get 44A on the 5v rail, and 35A on the 3.3v?!

Now I'm really hoping it works again, it's like the ultimate retro-ATX system PSU. Your ISA cards will never want for power with this thing!

[xrror]

Re: Using higher voltage caps with same capacitance. How bad is it?

Just a much delayed follow up on this. My butane torch I use for desoldering big stuff/highly heatsinked stuff was finally returned this past weekend, so I finally got to tear into the bigger recapping stuff.

The Rosewill 500w I was going to recap, well... I guess when it went out, it went out hard. I found shattered mosfet =( I guess I could replace the mosfet and hope for the best, except the part that blew off and shattered also had the specifications. I'm sure it's a common part, but ugh. I also didn't realize that power supply was like 6 years old now, so I can't complain too much.

The Enermax it turns out I stupidly ordered the wrong diameter/value caps. So I'll need to do another order when I get back to it. Of course now I'm not sure where the caps I took out of it went... (hyper-kitty decided they made awesome playthings, so who knows where they are scattered now) which makes it a problem on knowing what to order

On a good note, the caps I did order have been getting used up quickly. I finally was able to recap the LeadTek Winfast 939 motherboard I'd been putting off for WAY too long. That'll be a new thread