[Amps] power supply capacitors

[Will Matney]

Mike,

Did the seller say anything that they might be photo-flash capacitors? Photo-flash caps are made to be charged quickly and held for a quick discharge into a flash bulb and not for filtering. Their current ratings are really low if I recall. Some tried them several years ago when they came on the surplus market and they didn't last as I recall. These are Cornell Dublier though and a top brand of caps, but without a part number to look up, I can't comment further. The best thing is to find their part number and look them up either at Mouser, Allied, or maybe at CD's website. If you find they are photo-flash type, you may want to use them with caution.

Another thing to watch on eBay or the surplus houses is the cheap-name brand caps that were made in China, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong. What happened there was a bit of industrial espionage where some electrolyte formulas were stolen and sold to capacitor companies mainly in those countries. The formulas wasn't complete and the faulty electrolyte was used resulting in a HUGE amount of bad capacitors that went into the surplus market. A bunch of computer monitors got them stuck into them and were a big hassle on repairs.

Best,

Will


*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 9/3/05 at 7:59 AM mike kendall wrote:

>Hello,
>
>  Just wanted to do a QA on some capacitors that I've been buying on Ebay.
> They are Cornell Dublier 400wvdc 560ufarad caps.  Intention is to put
>them in series for 4kv at 56 ufarads.  These caps are so tiny that it
>makes me wonder if there is a power handling capability per cap that I
>should be concerned with or if they should be fine.  Other concern is how
>many years can these be useful compared to a standard oil filled cap?
>
>73,
>
>Mike
>
>
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