Capacitors

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
Not wood working: For those who work on electronics, where do you source your components? Right now I am in need of a few aluminum electolytic radial lead capacitors to fix a TV set. I am having a hard time finding 500v 2uF 105'C capacitors. I live in Wayne county, but would like any references to store front options even if they are in Raleigh/Durham area, Greenville, Rocky Mount, etc for future reference. On-line sources are also welcome. (Note: Amazon does not have what I want. Most of theirs are much lower voltage. I also do not want to buy "in bulk".)

Thanks for any help.
 

patlaw

Mike
Corporate Member
Good luck finding anything in retail. I buy from Mouser, DigiKey, Jameco, and Antique Electronic Supply. Be careful with eBay. They're often repackaged rejects.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
2uf is an odd duck. 2.2uf is much more common. If the tolerance is 20 percent then you just might be able to substitute in 2.2uf caps. Depends on the part of the circuit too. I'd substitute if it is in the power supply section and see what happens. Likewise, if this is a digital tv and not an old fashioned broadcast model there probably aren't any voltages anywhere near that 500v mark. I'd feel comfortable using a a 400 or 450v cap.

If your choice is substitute or toss the tv then there's only the cost of the substitute caps at risk.
 

Bryan S

Bryan
Corporate Member
What Mike said. The guys on the audio forums strongly recommend Mouser and DigiKey for repairing their 70's audio equipment.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Digikey another vote here. I used to use allied but they bought out by someone things then changed. When I run into looking older stuff, I look find online at one of the forums like this one fo wood and ask there, lots of people will come out of the wood work and get you the inside connections and advice on these older devices.
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
Thanks to you all. Mouser does have the part, but I will check out Digikey also.

One correction: Its 22uF, not 2 (my typo). This is a 5 or 6 yr old Samsung 65" LCD, one of the first 4k models, and the capacitor in question is on the power supply board. The TV was taking from 5 to 45 minutes to come on, just flashing the symbols occasionally during boot up. Sometimes it would work fine for several hours, but other times it would drop out and not restart. It has sat about six months since last powered up, and I was going to just junk it, but on a whim, decided to do some research on line and found a lot of info on DIY repair of the caps, a very common problem. So far, I have visually checked all the boards with no discernible discrepancies. I then used an ESR meter to check the aluminum/electrolytic caps (all 33) while they are installed, only coming up with the one that has high resistance (2.4 ohm). None are showing any signs of swelling or leakage, but since it was booting up sometimes, I figure it is a good possibility this weak one could be the culprit. If so, it will be an inexpensive fix. If not, I may pull some more to see if they check more accurately out of the circuit.

In reality, the odds of all this going well are not too high, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn a time or two. There is much more I don't know about electronics than what I think I know, but taking advantage of the plethora of knowledge now available on the web, I will "endeavor to persevere". The last time I did any circuit board work was on a HAM radio transmitter I built with my Dad from a Heath kit when I was 14 years old (almost 60 years ago). I do have several circuit boards from old outdated computer components on which to brush up my soldering/desoldering skills, and it is a good winter project for when I really don't feel like braving the nasty weather, so I am pressing ahead.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
Glad you've found the correct cap. FWIW I went through the same exercise on an LED pc monitor a couple of months ago. Bought a couple of capacitor kits to get a selection and replaced 8 caps. One was burned, 2 were "puffy" and the rest in the same general areas. Eveything worked out and I'm using the monitor daily. Hopefully you'll get your TV back in service too.
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
2 were "puffy" and the rest in the same general areas. Hopefully you'll get your TV back in service too.
I can even spot "puffy" caps. Fixed a friend's TV a couple years back. Opened it up, and saw one cap that looked like it was about nine months. Fifty cent (Ebay) cap fixed it, and it's still running.
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
With company here for a couple weeks,. looks like it will be a bit before I proceed. I will post an update after I get to it.
 

Charles Lent

Charley
Corporate Member
I've been buying my electronics parts from Allied Electronics for over 60 years, beginning with high school science fair projects, through my years as an EE designing and building controls for automation, and most recently for science museum exhibits that I now volunteer to make. They have always treated me well. They have an office in Raleigh, NC and one in Greenville, SC https://www.alliedelec.com/

Charley
 

Rick Mainhart

Rick
Corporate Member
Hi Mark,

My observations:

Mouser Electronics is my first choice.
DigiKey is second ... their costs are a bit higher, but they ship a bit quicker
Element14 (formerly Newark Electronics) ... used to use them, but after they were bought by Farnell prices went through the roof (and delivery on US-made parts went to South Carolina to the UK, back to SC, and finally to NC)
Allied Electronics ... less inventory, higher prices, but some items no other distributor carries.
For AC capacitors (HVAC Start Capacitors, etc), Grainger has very good prices and a very quick delivery.

I stay away from surplus houses as parts age is indeterminate, and "limited to stock on hand".
I avoid hamfests and Ebay ... having been burned too many times.

Hope this helps.

Rick
 

patlaw

Mike
Corporate Member
Element14 (formerly Newark Electronics) ... used to use them, but after they were bought by Farnell prices went through the roof (and delivery on US-made parts went to South Carolina to the UK, back to SC, and finally to NC)
Newark is apparently discontinuing Element 14. While I had not purchased from them in years for the reasons you mentioned, I purchased some very hard to find parts at closeout prices from them in the last week. I now have a hopefully lifetime supply of electrolytic capacitors for some commercial broadcast equipment I refurbish. (They use axial capacitors.) For example, I bought some $1 capacitors on closeout for 16 cents each.
 

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