Best source for capacitors
In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares? Bob Shuster
On 6/27/22 17:11, Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key?
Mouser or DigiKey.
Does anyone have spares?
I have tens of thousands of capacitors here. What do you need? -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares?
Digikey and Mouser are my go-to, usually going for Nichicon and Panasonic only. 105c if it's something that gets warm or I like it. Make sure it's not 3rd party marketplace stuff via Digikey, that is annoying. Unfortunatley axials are getting hard to find, so I often sub in radial for axials so I can get high quality. Newark is another vendor. AVNet used to be the cheapest but I think they quit retail sales? Lastly, I do buy a lot of cap kits from Console5. Not high grade caps but easy. Digikey and Mouser let you build lists of parts in a "Bill of Materials" that you can share or use to order sets of caps for computers over and over. Like all those Mac IIci systems I can't get working. A cool feature. Also, often times 10 cost less than 6. Shipping lots of batches of small quantities hurts due to shipping fees. Also, I wish they had a hobbyist option for less packing material. - Ethan
Mouser or Digi-Key?
Like everyone else says, use big-name vendors only. At this point I'd say no to Jameco, I've had fake IC issues with them.
Nichicon and Panasonic
Also Rubycon, Wurth, and CDE/Illinois Capacitor. We do tend to only order Nichicon for low ESR.
Unfortunatley axials are getting hard to find, so I often sub in radial for axials so I can get high quality.
CDE/Illinois Capacitor still produces a lot of the Mallory part #s for axial, that's 99% of what we order for axial. The rest are Vishay (well, really, other companies Vishay has absorbed!). Sprague still makes caps too. On X/Y safety caps, I actively avoid Kemet nowadays. They seem to have purchased RIFA and make caps that look *exactly* like original RIFAs. For the larger values I use poly caps usually from WIMA. For small values, say 2200 pF and less, I use ceramic X/Y dual rated caps as they're smaller than the originals and means stocking one thing only. Thanks, Jonathan
I was going to suggest harvesting old Apples and Mac's but then I'd probably be beaten up by a few people here ;) On Mon, Jun 27, 2022, 5:12 PM Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares?
Bob Shuster
Well, aside from the obvious reasons, it’s probably not the greatest idea to replace one old-age failed capacitor with another old-age capacitor! ;) Bob
On Jun 27, 2022, at 7:15 PM, John Heritage <john.heritage@gmail.com> wrote:
I was going to suggest harvesting old Apples and Mac's but then I'd probably be beaten up by a few people here ;)
On Mon, Jun 27, 2022, 5:12 PM Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org <mailto:vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org>> wrote: In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares?
Bob Shuster
Micro Center has a DIY section or aisle and they do have capacitors from 470 µF to I think 1500 µF at about 25v to 35 V some at 16 V They do go out of stock quite often and don’t restock occasionally but when I go there I stock up on capacitors I need I need of transistors diode and resistors Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Jun 27, 2022, at 5:11 PM, Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares?
Bob Shuster
Good idea, but these are likely to be the high voltage (275VAC) X2 caps. I’ll know more when I disassemble tomorrow, and I’ll definitely check Microcenter! Bob
On Jun 27, 2022, at 7:30 PM, Sentrytv <sentrytv@yahoo.com> wrote:
Micro Center has a DIY section or aisle and they do have capacitors from 470 µF to I think 1500 µF at about 25v to 35 V some at 16 V They do go out of stock quite often and don’t restock occasionally but when I go there I stock up on capacitors I need I need of transistors diode and resistors
Sent from: My extremely complicated, hand held electronic device.
On Jun 27, 2022, at 5:11 PM, Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
In all my years of collecting and using computers, and that’s 100s of computers and video game systems, I’ve never had a capacitor go or needed to replace one. Until now! Power supply filter cap on a TRS-80 Model 4. So where do you guys go for parts? I’m not looking to stock up, just need some one-offs (probably the X caps.) Do you just go to Mouser or Digi-Key? Does anyone have spares?
Bob Shuster
On 6/27/22 20:06, Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Good idea, but these are likely to be the high voltage (275VAC) X2 caps. I’ll know more when I disassemble tomorrow, and I’ll definitely check Microcenter!
We have a great many safety capacitors in stock over here, about 40,000 of them; a sales effort is slowly coming together. In the meantime, if you let me know what you need, we can check to see if we have them. -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
On Mon, Jun 27, 2022 at 8:08 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 6/27/22 20:06, Bob Shuster via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Good idea, but these are likely to be the high voltage (275VAC) X2 caps. I’ll know more when I disassemble tomorrow, and I’ll definitely check Microcenter!
We have a great many safety capacitors in stock over here, about 40,000 of them; a sales effort is slowly coming together. In the meantime, if you let me know what you need, we can check to see if we have them.
Glad to see you have the capacity for so many. I too have thousands here, and two or three ESR meters. Vintage caps are often fine, but they should as a best practice be tested with a reliable modern ESR meter. b
participants (7)
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Bill Degnan -
Bob Shuster -
Dave McGuire -
Ethan O'Toole -
John Heritage -
Jonathan Chapman -
Sentrytv