Bad Cap Collection

[PlasmaRon]

A couple weeks worth of work. Several folks had asked me how to tell if a cap had gone bad. Often it's pretty easy to tell.

[budm]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I am now on second bag, a little bit over a year worth in that bag.

[Glitcher]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I thought I was the only one who collected them lol

[tom66]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I used to collect them but stopped after filling up one of those boxes for takeaways...

[LLLlllou]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I am now on second bag, a little bit over a year worth in that bag.

Don't ya just love the smell?

[momaka]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

Mine are all scattered in different small bags because some are of a crappy brand but not bulged - I use those for testing and breadboard projects every now and then. I think we had a thread on this before, because I remember writing a detailed post how I separated those caps .

[c_hegge]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I categorise my pulls into two cans - one for caps with vent stamps which won't explode unless they are poured into a larger fire, and the other for stuff without vents which can be exploded over a candle. If they are already bulged and leaking and won't explode no matter what, they just go straight in the garbage. I've just recently emptied out the caps with vents into a fire. It sounded like popcorn (only louder)

In case you're wondering, those large light blue ones don't have vent stamps. They're from an old 1950's amplifier I recapped for a friend a few months ago.

[momaka]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

In case you're wondering, those large light blue ones don't have vent stamps. They're from an old 1950's amplifier I recapped for a friend a few months ago.

Sell them on eBay! Audifools love that stuff.
Didn't you know that caps that are broken in like so give off a much softer and more pleasant sound

By the way, why rid the OCRZ? Those are okay. I have never seen them go bad in Xboxes or anything else really. Good enough for temp. ghetto recaps anyways.

[c_hegge]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

^
Because they are made by Lelon, and I don't trust anything from them, poly or electrolytic (and I think there may even be a report of failed lelon polies on here somewhere). They are often used interchangeably with either Fujitsu or Nichicon polies on the ECS MCP61PM-HM. I usually have to recap the TKs on them, but if they have Lelon polies, then I always recap them too.

[PlasmaRon]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

Bud, I see you use the hand held solder sucker. I love those. When I've watched youtube videos online I don't see many folks using them.

[budm]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

I use them for decades. I use both regular and Anti-static one by Solderpullt, avoid the Chinese coped one.

[momaka]

Re: Bad Cap Collection

...and I think there may even be a report of failed lelon polies on here somewhere

You think or you know?
OCRZ are extensively used on the newer 360's and there isn't even a hint of a problem from what I've seen so far.
Yeah, I've seen a bulged Panasonic FJS cap on an ASUS motherboard. The capacitor in question was not in a hotspot or overstressed either. Why it went bad? - who knows.
I think it's acceptable to see a random failure maybe once or twice in 1000s of units.
... but if you don't mind doing the extra work to recap those Lelon polys, more power to you. I'd still save them for the odd project that's not really worth investing $ in new caps, but maybe still worth recapping for fun.