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Warning about cheap replacement capacitors from Amazon
I bought a batch of 25 capacitors off Amazon for a TV repair job last Thursday thinking I was saving money. They looked fine in the package but three of them failed within 10 minutes of power being on. One actually bulged and popped a little smoke cloud which scared me half to death. I had to pull all of them out and order proper Nichicon caps from Mouser instead which cost me triple but actually work. The TV is running fine now but I wasted a whole Saturday chasing the problem. Has anyone else had a bad run with those no-name cap kits from online sellers?
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scott.jana3mo ago
Three of them failed in ten minutes? That's almost impressive in the worst way. The smoke cloud would've definitely made me drop my soldering iron.
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jesse_green553mo ago
Three years ago I grabbed a pack of 16 volt 1000 microfarad caps off Amazon for an old stereo receiver I was fixing. They all tested fine on my multimeter but the first one I soldered in started hissing like a snake after about five minutes. I shut everything down quick but the smell of burnt electrolyte hung in my basement for two days. I learned my lesson and now I only buy from Digi-Key even if it means waiting longer for shipping.
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lee.drew2mo ago
Burnt electrolyte smell for two days beats having the whole thing go up in smoke I guess.
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