What is the best brand for cap kits?

disjaukifa

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Hey Guys,

I'm going to be doing a full writeup on my attempt to bullet-proof my GO8-103 Vector monitor and I was wondering what people recommended for brands of capacitors?

Here are the options I can see:

Cornell Dubilier Electronics (CDE)
EPCOS Inc
Nichicon
Panasonic Electronic Components
Rubycon
United Chemi-Con

Let me know!

Thanks
Grant
 
Cornell (CDE) has been around a very long time (about 75 years) making capacitors. In my opinion, they have always been crap. Very near the bottom of the barrel.
 
Cornell Dubilier Electronics (CDE)
Nichicon
Panasonic Electronic Components (Mitsushita)
Rubycon
United Chemi-Con (UCC)

Never had a problem with any of these but I mostly use Nichicon and Panasonic. Rubycon is a good cap but not as common in the US as Nichicon or Panasonic.

I have to disagree with the statement about CDE's - I have never seen a bad one nor heard of any problems with them. Only issue I have with them is they tend to be a bit on the pricey side even when buying them in bulk.

Epcos makes lots of passive devices but not a lot of their parts are sold in the US - I can't comment on that one. They're a German company that originally had ties with Mitsushita (Panasonic). I do have the Epcos current inrush limiters and these seem to be well made.

Another cap that isn't on your list but I have always liked -- Illinois Capacitor. I see plenty of older pinball boards with the "IC" logo on them. Company is still around but you don't see their caps too often anymore. Sprague (now Vishay) is also an oldie but goodie brand.

Beware of the likes of Lelon, Samxon, Samwha and a myriad of Chinese brands especially the ones that try to sound like Japanese brands such as "Rulycon". I also have been seeing Chinese caps failing that are nameless but have logo's that look quite similar to the UCC shield logo...

Ed
 
Epcos makes lots of passive devices but not a lot of their parts are sold in the US - I can't comment on that one. They're a German company that originally had ties with Mitsushita (Panasonic). I do have the Epcos current inrush limiters and these seem to be well made.

Mouser recently added an entire line of Epcos capacitors.....seemed to coincide with their deletion of Xicon capacitors. They are drastically less expensive than a lot of the other manufacturers capacitors. I've been curious about their quality.

Edward
 
I hated to see the Xicon caps go as they were cheap and reliable.

Replace EVERY TK and CapXon cap you see in ANYTHING as they are pure garbage. As for Sprague caps, I would use their Tantalum or film caps, but hate their electrolytic caps as I've seen too many bad ones.
 
I'm not sure I've ever encountered the CapXon caps but I have seen a lot of leaking TK's.

I do often use a chinese brand SunTan because they are all thats available locally. Haven't had any problems with them, but for a monitor I'd order a quality cap kit.
 
Thank you to everyone that responded! I'm about to embark on several projects and I want to install quality parts in all my machines. I ended up going with Panasonic Capacitors for my Electrohome GO8 rebuild!

Thanks
Grant
 
I agree with Ken. When I use any caps in anything importance I always use Panasonic 105 degree C. When the supplier is out I then go with Nichicon. If they are out of both which is unlikely if you order from digikey.com then I wait.
 
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