New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

[jazzie366]

Hey BadCaps!

I'm starting an electronic component resale business in 2017, and I want to sell all the known good brands of capacitors.
However, when I source out some other brands, I find that there are a lot I haven't heard of before, and are only 1-2 years old. By this I mean the companies are only a few years old, some I have just never heard of before.

Example companies: WMXON, AxBoom, AnXon, Yawei, Asco, TOPMAY, and others.

If I acquired sample of these caps, would you guys like some of them to test or see how good they are? I wouldn't have a problem sending out a few packs of caps if you guys would like to see them.

I don't have any equipment to test them myself, if you guys could point me in some direction as to where to get some that won't cost an arm and a leg, I'd be happy to purchase some myself.

Thanks everyone.

[stj]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

avoid all those.
they will just be the usual junk that regularly changes names.

[retiredcaps]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

avoid all those.
they will just be the usual junk that regularly changes names.

+1. Even if they test okay today, you can't tell how they will work long term. It takes years, sometimes decades to earn a reputation. And only one scandal/screw-up to destroy it.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

"AxBoom"!

[dmill89]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

+1. Even if they test okay today, you can't tell how they will work long term. It takes years, sometimes decades to earn a reputation. And only one scandal/screw-up to destroy it.

+2, the reason "good" caps are considered "good" is that they have reputations proven over decades. Is it possible these "new" caps are good, maybe, but it is far more likely they are cheap junk constantly re-branded (to avoid a "bad reputation" by the time anyone figures out they're junk the name changes) and it would take several years (5+, 10+ would be better) of reliable operation before they could be trusted.

[jazzie366]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Thanks for all the input everyone.

I get that some of the older companies can change names, but even the companies that are 1-2 years old might be bad?

The only reason I'm asking is because some of these have quite good reviews as manufacturers.

I'll try to keep my distance for the most part though, thanks guys.

[momaka]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Let's put it this simple way: if the brands you are being offered are NOT legit Panasonic (Matshushita), Rubycon, Nichicon, United Chemicon, or Suncon (formerly Sanyo)... DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

That said, there are also some other brands that are okay, like EPCOS, CDE (Cornell Dubilier), Elna, Wurth Electronics, and possibly a few others. But some of these don't have suitable low ESR series for motherboards and power supply use. Not to mention some of these are more expensive than the Japanese caps listed above.

Lastly: beware of counterfeits! There are a lot of counterfeit caps online. The most faked brands are typically Sanyo, Rubycon, and United Chemicon. If you are not buying directly from the factory, forget it. You'll likely be selling junk caps just like every other eBay seller.

[bestsystem]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

http://www.wmxon.com/rohs-aluminum-c...00v_p2015.html

10000UF 500V is totally misleading for the title, and look at the data section, their 500V caps are only 82uF

they dont even bother to select a correct product picture, let alone getting the electrolyte formula correct

[Behemot]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Think Topmay is not that new but junk anyway.

BTW I've just cracked open second-generation APC Smart-UPS 450 VA (SU450INET) from 1997, thats 19 years old. All GP 85°C caps. There is one Samsung, one Matsushita and one Cornell Dubilier cap, these all test good. These always test good, maybe once in more than a dozen cases one of them was getting out of spec, but just little. Then six Teapos, half of them measure out of spec. As always.

Where is that Payne fool to tell me again how taiwanese brands make great caps?

[PeteS in CA]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Good quality general purpose caps used intelllligently can last a really long time. I've seen GP caps that had to be replaced that were 30 years old. The impression I get, though, is that GP caps commonly used in PSUs are not good quality, except for higher end PSUs.

[jjne]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

That said, there are also some other brands that are okay, like EPCOS, CDE (Cornell Dubilier), Elna, Wurth Electronics, and possibly a few others.

Is Wurth OK?

I bought one of their caps from Farnell a while back, as I needed a 10,000uF cap for an audio rebuild and Wurth was the only brand available at a reasonable price there. It does the job (it reads OK and it's only a bulk cap so I wasn't overly bothered with the quality) but it didn't exactly scream quality to me -- it had a bullseye-style bung and generally shouted 'cheap' as compared to the Nichicon it replaced. Not sure I'd use them in anything more demanding -- generally it seemed a bit 'meh' even next to something like a Samwha.

[jjne]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Good quality general purpose caps used intelllligently can last a really long time. I've seen GP caps that had to be replaced that were 30 years old. The impression I get, though, is that GP caps commonly used in PSUs are not good quality, except for higher end PSUs.

Old Japanese stuff is generally chock-full of general purpose capacitors and they are rarely bad in my experience even at 30+ years old. It's the surface-mount stuff from this period that tends to go bad.

[stj]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Is Wurth OK?

electrolytics - probably not.
the Poly's look good though - and cheap.

[PeteS in CA]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Old Japanese stuff is generally chock-full of general purpose capacitors and they are rarely bad in my experience even at 30+ years old. It's the surface-mount stuff from this period that tends to go bad.

The cap I had in mind was a Sprague 30D series part made in 1977. I've seen parts in recently used equipment that had date codes in the early 1970s and late 1960s. OTOH, I would not be surprised to find equipment using ancient UCC/NCC SM series GP caps still fully operational.

The low quality modern GP caps I had in mind are the low value GP through-hole parts often found in PWM start-up circuits that result in the PSU being "dead". Given that they're often located sandwiched between the hot inverter heatsink and the hot rectifier heatsinks, I woldn't be surprised if they are operated somewhat closer to their 85°C than is good for PSU life, but they still seem pretty low quality.

[ReeceyBurger123]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

"AxBoom"!

Lol the fact it has boom in its name is a straight up no go

[PeteS in CA]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Lol the fact it has boom in its name is a straight up no go

Kind of like the Korean power supply company I heard of in the mid-80s, "Torch".

[ChaosLegionnaire]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

lol we need a "post funny capacitor names" thread. here's my lame funny name joke: a number of caps have "vent" printed on them. is that capacitor slang for a cap that farts and pisses on itself? i've seen plenty of "vent" caps venting their piss, shit and fart on circuit boards! not a pretty sight! if u wanted a gory capacitor movie, that was it...

[jjne]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

I've seen a few different cheap caps where they can't even spell 'vent' correctly -- these have obviously been OCRd from another capacitor, as they have "VEHT" on them. This isn't a one-off either.

You have to wonder about the quality of any cap which can't even get basic stuff like that right.

[Behemot]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

It has been previously for many years mistaken as manufacturer or serie name. But VENT means they have what it says, a vent. It's the thing on top, usually, made by pressing the aluminium can so it thins in the particular spot. If the cap goes on to die and the pressure risses too much, it is supposed to crack and "vent" the gases out to prevent explosion.

Damn, two of my Rubycon MBZ caps on the PC board I write from are venting again. Wonder if I used wrong voltage or what, think they are the same as I have already replaced twice!

[Wester547]

Re: New Capacitor Brands, Good or Bad?

Well, genuine Rubycon MBZ don't vent for no reason. If they vented twice or thrice, it could be an issue with polarity.