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I don't get how a cheap kit on eBay for lets say a sanyo is like 12 dollars and will last you maybe 5 years in an arcade where its on most of the time. When a kit from security is 17.50 is using much better caps and will last like 20 years at least in an arcade. Why do people even bother with cheap kits? How much more money are sellers getting using cheap caps than security0001? Also thanks I guessed it was zanen or bob as I hear about them from tnt amusements a lot.
The one place I see using capacitors alot on monitors is those Midway cocktail table cabinets. The air circulation in those things is so poor even with a brand new fan installed. The capacitors literally bake in those cabinets. In my experience, a typical Zanen or Bob capkit lasts only 3 months in those cabinets.
High temperature AND high quality capacitors are a MUST for any cocktail table cabinet in my opinion.
I don't get how a cheap kit on eBay for lets say a sanyo is like 12 dollars and will last you maybe 5 years in an arcade where its on most of the time. When a kit from security is 17.50 is using much better caps and will last like 20 years at least in an arcade. Why do people even bother with cheap kits? How much more money are sellers getting using cheap caps than security0001? Also thanks I guessed it was zanen or bob as I hear about them from tnt amusements a lot.
IMO... probably not much. I've been collecting for ~15 years, and the K4900 I rebuilt with a Bob Roberts kit back in 2002 still looks great... as do the other monitors that I've rebuilt between then and now (most of my machines that have been recapped were done >8 years ago). I can't think of any monitors that I've had to do a cap kit on more than once, and have used pretty much all Zanen and Bob Roberts kits (or ones I've put together myself from Digikey)... nobody sold the "Cadillac cap kits" until the last few years.Does it realistically matter?
IMO... probably not much. I've been collecting for ~15 years, and the K4900 I rebuilt with a Bob Roberts kit back in 2002 still looks great... as do the other monitors that I've rebuilt between then and now (most of my machines that have been recapped were done >8 years ago). I can't think of any monitors that I've had to do a cap kit on more than once, and have used pretty much all Zanen and Bob Roberts kits (or ones I've put together myself from Digikey)... nobody sold the "Cadillac cap kits" until the last few years.
That's not to say high quality kits aren't better... 105C caps should have a longer life than 85C caps (particularly in warmer areas of a chassis)... but in a home environment, calendar years have more of an effect on them than hours of use at their rated temperature. A quality brand probably matters more for long life than temperature rating (knockoff ebay caps aren't likely good to begin with, so after a year of light use, they'll probably be junk).
Like most things, it depends on the person. If you feel better that you spent 3x the price to use the best caps... that's great. And if you hate doing cap kits, and your time is worth never having to do it again (or if you're paying someone to do the labor for you), spend the extra money. But I think history has proven that the cheap Zanen and Bob Roberts kits work fine most of the time, and the 105C kits are probably overkill for a lot of us collectors.
DogP
Plus, don't forget electrolytic capacitors age without use too.... so if you put in a 1000 hour cap and only run your game 2 hours a year does NOT mean the caps will last you 50 years.