Bob Roberts cap-kits....no more for me

[philt80]

I make a complete "required cap" list before ordering(including filter cap if I need it) and Bob always fills the complete order. Have never had probs doing it this way instead of just ordering "off the shelf" based on a model number.
I can see where this could be time prohibitive to others with lots of monitors to cap or those who order for future projects...

 

[Level42]

I've ordered from Zanen and have had a cap missing. I ordered from him again and told him one was missing and he added the cap to the next order. Shit happens. No biggie.

Juan

It IS a biggie when it happens three times and simply stalls your work on that monitor...

I have to order that specific cap now separately, wait for it, get the monitor to work on again etc.
It _IS_ annoying.

 

[Robotron]

Personally, I always try to buy a couple of each cap kit, whether I need it at the time or not. I figure that if I encountered this type of monitor once, I will probably see another one sooner or later. (this comes in handy if you are ever short a cap or need to rob a cap kit to fix something else)

Of course some monitors you run into all the time, so you might as well have a extra cap kit setting around for that rainy day.

Which reminds me that I need to order some stuff from Bob.

 

[ArcRevival]

It IS a biggie when it happens three times and simply stalls your work on that monitor...

I have to order that specific cap now separately, wait for it, get the monitor to work on again etc.
It _IS_ annoying.

Did you even bother to mention it to Bob the first time it happened ? The second time ? The third time ? Because it seems pretty chicken shit to me to mention it here but not letting him know.

 

[DarrenF]

I've twice thought I was missing a cap from one of Bob's kits. BUT, in both cases I turned out to be wrong. Once, I had simply mis-placed it (rolled off of the table onto the floor). The other time, I had acidentally already installed it in the wrong place.

It can be a little confusing sometimes when, say, a higher voltage rating has been substituted. Now I take a full inventory before starting, and identify where each one of the batards will be going.

And to echo other a couple of other sentiments I've seen expressed:
1) I wish someone would sell "premium" kits with all quality-branded, 105°C caps.
2) I wish someone would sell kits that included the main power filter cap.
3) I wish all suppliers of the damn things would simply TELL YOU EXACTLY WTF YOU'RE GOING TO GET IN THE KIT! It's frustrating to have to rely on tribal-knowledge that certain suppliers include certain things in the kit, and others don't. I know they have documents with the contents, because they send them in the kits. Why can't they just make these available to potential customers?

Oh well, just the frustrations I have to deal with 'cause I'm not a big boy yet, ordering my own caps in bulk, but still a wanna-be who orders these "kits"...

 

[RetroHacker]

Over the years I've tried to keep track of the capacitor values I use the most, and I just order caps in bulk. I use the 105 degree parts, and order enough to get the price breaks on the various values. Last time I bought caps I spent something like $200.

That said, I have lately run into capacitor values I don't have, as I've been tasked with fixing newer monitors that I've not worked with before, so I've ordered some kits. The kits for the newer monitors are even more annoying, because there are often so many different sub-revisions of the monitor, and some of them have different capacitors in different places. For example, the U2000. The one I have has a 1500uf cap in C616. The "super combo" kit that Bob sells that's supposed to cover the U2000 does not come with this cap. Apparently other monitors use 1000uf or 2200uf in this position.

Long and the short of it - I don't really like working from cap kits, and I never have. I much prefer just ordering the capacitors in bulk from Mouser.

-Ian

 

[Level42]

Did you even bother to mention it to Bob the first time it happened ? The second time ? The third time ? Because it seems pretty chicken shit to me to mention it here but not letting him know.

But of course, what kind of guy do you think I am ?

E-mailed him the first time it happened. Got a lengthy e-mail about how everything is checked with videocameras etc. etc. and that it is close to impossible for them to make a mistake...I then had to send a picture of all the parts in the kit (there were wrong valued in there, he wanted to see that). Then he sent the missing one's sure enough. I have no problem with any of that but didn't want to go through it the next times...

I think I mentioned clear enough (two times) that Bob is still a great guy in my book BUT that I won't order cap-kits from him anymore. I WILL order plenty of other stuff from him though. It was never my intention to harm him in any way, but if we cannot honestly post here our good AND bad experiences than that is a very sad thing !

I think I'm free to decide that for myself and also to post about my decision. I just wondered if I was very unlucky or others had the same issue.

It is not the ONLY reason for my decision though.

The current one I'm working with for the Amplifone contained yet another extremely cheap feeling brand of Chinese caps ("Chang") for the two big one's....and I already don't get warm feelings from the Xicon brand...

So to let it be clear for once and all, my reasons for not ordering cap-kits with him (or anyone else in that matter) anymore:
1) I prefer a well known brand (Nichicon, Panasonic etc.)
2) I prefer 105 degr. caps with low ESR
3) I want to be sure I can work through a monitor from beginning to end. This is partly because I have to do the work in my living room (dinner table) so I can't just leave everything there for a couple of days and then return to the job.

Anyway, this has been blown out of proportion enough already. This is the last posting about it from my side.

 

[joeycuda]

love bob but every one of bob's capkits are incomplete IMO
the big cap is missing


so what do i do ?
i have a quadrillion bags with all different values of caps
that way, i can do almost any monitor that comes in



.

That giant filter caps doesn't come with anyone's cap kits and isn't supposed to. The BP caps typically aren't included in a cap kit either. The cap kit contains the caps that typically fix the chassis (not those).

 

[Peale]

My cap kits contain ALL caps, are high-temp, and are a quality brand.

I've mentioned this before, but it's been a while.

I will say that the kits I have available are limited. K7000, G07, K4600, K4900, Sanyo EZ are the ones I have on hand, but I can put together anything with a parts list.

 

[ArcRevival]

I have thought about putting together a deluxe rebuild kit for the Amplifones but not sure if people would be willing to pay enough to make it worth it and how many I could actually sell.

 

[dezbaz]

I have thought about putting together a deluxe rebuild kit for the Amplifones but not sure if people would be willing to pay enough to make it worth it and how many I could actually sell.

There is a need at the moment

 

[channelmanic]

I've had no issues with Xicon caps and actually like them a lot. I've sold hundreds of audio cap kits for the Neo Geo with zero issues.

I just wish I could still get them. Mouser doesn't have them any more.

RJ

 

[ChadTower]

E-mailed him the first time it happened. Got a lengthy e-mail about how everything is checked with videocameras etc. etc. and that it is close to impossible for them to make a mistake...I then had to send a picture of all the parts in the kit (there were wrong valued in there, he wanted to see that). Then he sent the missing one's sure enough. I have no problem with any of that but didn't want to go through it the next times...

+1.... three times.

I got the same weird story about having video records of having made my kits and he could prove it was not missing parts. The weird part is that I never said it was missing parts. I told him half of them were undervalued (voltage) and they were. He ignored that part of it and just told me "I checked the video, it's good, you must be mistaken". Well, I can read a parts list, and look at a number on an item, and determine when it doesn't match up. Once was written off as odd, twice was annoying, three times and I gave up. It wasn't so much the mistakes as it was the attitude and the weird story.

Note that I never asked for him to send me replacements, nor for a refund, nor for anything other than an acknowledgement of the error. I figured he could then check his other kits of the same type to be sure it wasn't going to happen to someone else. Nope, not Bob, he's not that sort of guy.

 

[KidVidiot]

ordered my first sets of cap kits from bob and the same caps were missing in both of the sanyo kits i bought - both kits had too many of one kind in favor of none of the needed kind.

I then ordered with zanen and now that I'm about to do a cap kit on a sharp xm-2001n I see that their kit doesnt contain any of the bigger caps.

I've always heard that cap kits are the magical fix to all monitor problems but I've yet to do one that fixed any problem and have yet opened up a kit that was actually complete.

 

[smalltownguy2]

ordered my first sets of cap kits from bob and the same caps were missing in both of the sanyo kits i bought - both kits had too many of one kind in favor of none of the needed kind.

I then ordered with zanen and now that I'm about to do a cap kit on a sharp xm-2001n I see that their kit doesnt contain any of the bigger caps.

I've always heard that cap kits are the magical fix to all monitor problems but I've yet to do one that fixed any problem and have yet opened up a kit that was actually complete.

If by 'bigger caps' you mean the ones that are over 5,000 microfarads, those are the filter caps and are NOT commonly stocked in the cap kits.

If you assume that cap kits fix everything, then well, you assume.

Do monitor repair long enough, and you'll move past shotgunning the whole chassis, and actually start reading the monitor schematics to narrow down your issue. Seek out the problem component(s), and replace only those that need replacing.

You know there WAS a time when guys made their own list of caps by examining their pcbs and then ordering from mouser, digikey, etc. If you did that, you would not be missing caps when the kit arrives.

Just sayin'

 

[barakawins]

bob

Bob Roberts never did me wrong. Always had my stuff in 3 days. Always came through and even helped me out with some game dillemmas. Great guy. Don't be steered wrong.

 

[Dokert]

I did put together high temp quality kits a couple of years ago, and they are all long gone. The problem is... people are cheap and in most cases will NOT pay for quality.

 

[kilgers]

In a related matter... does anyone know how to import projects onto your Mouser account. I read somewhere that there are quite a few available online. It would be nice if I didn't have to make one up every time I want to order caps for a new monitor.

But to solve the cap kit problem, I have Mouser projects for each type of monitor I have had to cap. When I want to order more, I simply order multiple quantities of each project.

 

[Robotron]

I did put together high temp quality kits a couple of years ago, and they are all long gone. The problem is... people are cheap and in most cases will NOT pay for quality.

I would gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today.

But, Yeah, you're right. People are cheap and most will buy whatever is the cheapest.

I prefer quality, but I'm also broke.

 

[That80sGuy]

I did put together high temp quality kits a couple of years ago, and they are all long gone. The problem is... people are cheap and in most cases will NOT pay for quality.

Now that I have a better paying job..I would throw in for higher quality kits IF someone sells them.