Nichicon FW 10,000uf 50V - Fake?

[LosNir]

Hi,

I've bought the following capacitors from eBay:

Nichicon FW 10,000uf 50V

http://www.ebay.com/itm/JAPAN-1PCS-N...item20bd6614a8



The top looks like this:




I have a suspicion that they are fake - I tried to disassemble one capacitor and all I found inside was the capacitor itself (dielectric & gel):



However it wasn't neatly packed like the picture above - there was about 20% free space.

Any comments?

Thanks.

[mariushm]

It's dubious. The datasheet shows them with the bottom made like all the other Nichicons... not perfectly flat like in the ebay picture.

The Digikey picture is also with a nicer gold shade but that may just be the flash or the guy's camera.

http://media.digikey.com/photos/Nich...FW2A470MPD.JPG
http://media.digikey.com/photos/Nich...222MHD_sml.jpg
http://media.digikey.com/photos/Nich...FW2A102MHD.JPG

but the eBay price is adequate, they're about 5$ on digikey (the 10k uF ones)

[999999999]

I would guess fake, the seller claims production date of 2010 but Nichicon hasn't made any with a phenolic disc at the bottom for many years, have they?

[mockingbird]

I say real. Date looks ok, 0518 - week 18 of 2005, dimension matches the datasheet (25x50mm), and looking at the sellers other listings, I think he only sells legit stuff. New old stock. It's not unusual for the weird color and material on some Nichicon series... I have some Nichicon caps from way way back that have white bunges with a hard, acryllic-like bunge.

[PeteS in CA]

The bottom looks like epoxy seal rather than a rubber bung. If I understand the online catalog info, it looks like epoxy end seal is standard for diameters larger than 18mm.

[LosNir]

Thanks guys. I've took some pictures so it may be easier to identify the capacitor as fake / real.
The bottom is some kind of a thick rubber ring with wood on the end.

[mockingbird]

2009 Week 22... So it's been sitting in storage for about 3 years and it hasn't bulged and the innards are still moist with electrolyte... Looks good to me. I'll have to remember to order one of those from a trusted Nichicon supplier to dissect and compare.

[Th3_uN1Qu3]

Looks real to me. That white font the date of manufacture is printed in - it always looks dodgy on the fakes (or it's not even there to begin with). Compare it with a Nichicon from a motherboard and you'll see it's the same font on yours.

[Uranium-235]

um, how is there supposed to be an indication its bad? its supposed to bloat when bad, right? but it looks like all the gas would leak out where the leads go out

[Scenic]

^ The larger diameter Nichicons have a rubber bung at the bottom and on top of that sits a disk (disc?) of some sort of PCB material, probably as a kind of reinforcement or something.

I've seen that quite a few times before.

When they go bad, they always pop their top vent, as the disk at the bottom is pretty solid. I think it's to prevent the rubber bung from getting pushed out (sending the can flying) instead of the top vent bulging and eventually popping open.

[PeteS in CA]

That disc is probably phenolic, which is used for PCBs. FR4 is much better. IMO.

[ben7]

These are real, I also have some similar to these, if anyone wants to see them, i can take pics.

-Ben

[miepa]

Hi Guys,
i got exact same looking Nichicon FW 2200uF / 100V caps by a friend of mine
as they are shown here in post #6

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20587

i`m also a little bit confused/worried about the disc on the ground of the Nichicon FW.

do you really think these are original Nichicon Caps?

@PeteS: could you tell me where you found that info "The bottom looks like epoxy seal rather than a rubber bung. If I understand the online catalog info, it looks like epoxy end seal is standard for diameters larger than 18mm. "

thanks,
michael

[ben7]

Originally Posted by miepa

Hi Guys,
i got exact same looking Nichicon FW 2200uF / 100V caps by a friend of mine
as they are shown here in post #6

http://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20587

i`m also a little bit confused/worried about the disc on the ground of the Nichicon FW.

do you really think these are original Nichicon Caps?

@PeteS: could you tell me where you found that info "The bottom looks like epoxy seal rather than a rubber bung. If I understand the online catalog info, it looks like epoxy end seal is standard for diameters larger than 18mm. "

thanks,
michael

They are real.

The disc is to give the rubber bung some extra strength.

[miepa]

Hi Ben7,
where did you find that info that nichicon uses that "disc"
is there any official statement of nichicon anywhere?

[ben7]

Originally Posted by miepa

Hi Ben7,
where did you find that info that nichicon uses that "disc"
is there any official statement of nichicon anywhere?

No, I havent seen anything about them saying that. But I have seen plenty of large nichicon caps - old and new - with the reinforcing disc. I have seen some Marcon caps like this too.

[Heihachi_73]

I have a Nichicon SE 330µF 50V cap which also has a PCB disc over the bung. The dimensions are 13x20mm, which could hardly be called a large cap! This cap also has an interesting 8-section pie chart style design on the top instead of the usual X shape vent, and over the top is an extension of the plastic sleeve, which is a translucent blue (this cap is most likely not vented). The date code is H8130, making it over 30 years old (this was salvaged from a smashed 12V portable Philips TV set found on the road, and unfortunately the cap has two dents on the side).