Jellybean electrolytic capacitors

Why not just buy whatever's in Mouser or Digikey? They all seem pretty much the same, if you don't need exotica like special ESR or something.

John

Because its for a table in the new edition?

Close - it's for a scatterplot of esr vs size for our new Chapter 1X capacitor-properties discussion. I've measured a mass of parts from our stock drawers plus some we've ordered for the purpose, and it's quite interesting to see what an extreme variation of performance can be seen.

I'd like to order a wide selection from one or two lines and be able to specifically mark them on the plot - obviously it'd be most useful if they're good parts to choose. For example, I used to get lots of Panasonic HFS series parts - reasonably-low esr, not too expensive, with a wide range of values and voltages available, but, it's been discontinued. I haven't yet chosen a replacement for our stocks.

Oh. How about NEC or Nichicon? They probably make their own stuff.

I have a scatterplot of power transformer weight vs power, if anybody's interested.

John

Yes, I'm interested!

Hey, can you guys include a small picture of a tantalum turning into a rocket? With that orange-greenish streak spewing out the bottom and maybe an impressive cloud?

But please, please teach the readers _not_ to design the transformer so it'll work nicely at 120V, saturate at 130V and then go up in smoke at

Another interesting difference is the esr beteween axial and radial leaded Al electrolytics.

Can you provide us with a nice photo?

Really? I've just been measuring the radial-lead parts from my drawers, and was planning on ordering only that style, is that a mistake?

I don't think so. But I think you should not miss oscons which are excellent in many aspects.

Buy better lams.

We had one transformer, not too big, 10 pounds maybe, that ran warm and, if you teased the power switch, would make the wiring in the walls thump audibly at turnon. We measured close to 1000 amps peak current. It would also fry varnish at 130 volts.

Here's the transformer plot for Win...

This graph was really hard to shoot... terrible Moire' effects.

John

John

Hmm. Anybody else?

Yes indeed!

I've bought quite a few organic electrolyte parts for test, plus three values of OS-CONs we got as samples from their distributor, Capacitors Plus. But I wonder how hard they normally are to get in small quantities, since they aren't available from regular distributors?

Digikey has the United Chemi-Con polymers. Nice, very low esr, hold up below 0 degrees C. But only up to 16 volts.

John

I almost knew you'd ask but, unfortunately not. It always happened out of the blue. Once the fire alarm even started blaring.

This one has the aftermath, last picture:

Farnell carries them.

Get the Mythbusters to blow up some electronics. It's a pretty sure thing to make tants go off, so it'd be a cinch to catch it on their highspeed. Now you just need a mythscuse to bring it up...hmm...

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philos> > > >> Hey, can you guys include a small picture of a tantalum

I would be interested in seeing some measurements on those audiophool / botique parts. Elna Cerafine, Black Gate, and a smattering of other types are "audiophile approved" electrolytics (if you can imagine such a thing). You could also explore the silly film caps (Auricap, etc.), but I don't mind that as much.

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @