Arcade Build - Amps

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35v rated caps should be fine, although i'd be partial to some (non-fake) low-ESR series from one of the Japanese brands (Panasonic, Nichicon, Rubycon, United / National ChemiCon, Elna).

As can be seen on page 4 of the datasheet ( http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tpa3116d2-q1.pdf ), the four input pins (LINN, LINP, RINN, RINP) are all, quote, "biased at 3v", so there will be 3V DC present on them, from within the chip.

More often than not, you should / will have pretty much zero DC on whatever source you're using, so polarized input caps are perfectly fine, as long as you remember and make sure you solder them in with the + towards the chip, and the - (marked with the lengthwise band, on the sleeve) towards the input.

But to be 100% sure, you'd have to check the traces on the board - you'll likely need to remove the heatsink for that.
 
Haha I swear those diagrams are like gibberish to me. :D

I'll grab some Rubycon caps, and whatever cap I replace I'll try to find something with a value of 10v more (so 25v I'll grab 35v) but I'll match the uF.

So, those 4 small ones at the front row... the comment "Not quite sure how "helpful" those non-polar caps are there" does that mean I should replace with similar value caps? or should I be looking at something else?

"The video I watched was using a 24v with 25v caps which he later recapped to 50v" ... oops, meant to say 25v to 35v
 
By "diagrams", you mean what, exactly? :)

Page 4 of the datasheet should be the table with the pin definitions; if you scroll a bit higher, you'll see a top-down view of the chip. Hint: the dot / circle in one of the corners of the physical chip is the "pin 1 indicator" ;)

The skepticism about non-polar (or 'bipolar') caps in that position was exactly that - they should be replaceable just fine with "normal", polarized electrolytics, with the caveat that i've pointed out in my previous post.
 
So, if non-polar/bi-polar... it doesn't matter which direction they're installed?

If I use polar, then I make sure to trace the route to the chip and have the + going towards the chip.

Sticking with bi-polar... matching the specs and size (since a tight fit) I was looking at the below... I used the 'audio' caps though unlikely makes a difference as you mentioned but then again, $0.39-$0.62CAD cents so... may as well.

35PX1000MEFC10X20 Rubycon | Capacitors | DigiKey

UES1H2R2MDM1TD Nichicon | Capacitors | DigiKey

UFG1H010MDM Nichicon | Capacitors | DigiKey

for the 4x2.2uf50v... if going polar.. these are about the correct size, but not much cheaper than the bi-polar 'audio' caps... $0.10CAD difference.

URZ1H2R2MDD1TD Nichicon | Capacitors | DigiKey

Basically, matched specs of what was there, including size... then where there were 2 or 3 options, I went by highest temperature rating.
 
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"Audio" caps are rarely (if ever) available in 105C rating (but then again, i haven't had the need to go looking for those, so don't quote me on that :D ).

Even in "general purpose" caps, you want the 105C rather than the 85C simply for the greater life expectancy. Usually they're specified for (worst case) 2000 hours at the rated temperature while subjected to the rated ripple current. This lifetime is roughly doubled for every 10C decrease in temperature (so 2x lifetime at 95C, 4x at 85c etc).

Either way, considering their role in the circuit, the values of those small caps, at least from my point of view, aren't THAT critical. As in, you can easily go up in value, with little to no ill effects (apart from moving the maximum low-cut frequency lower).

The other reason i say that is that, upon a quick browse on Digikey via those links, 10uF 50v Panasonic M series caps can be had for as little as 25 cents a pop (or 17c if you order 10); those are rated for 2000h @ 85C. Or same value & voltage Rubycon YXJ rated for 5000h @ 105C.

Yes, they're not non-polar, but they would/will be used with a permanent DC bias across them anyway, so... ;) But that's just me, i'm a skeptic and a cheapskate (in the sense that i prefer bang-per-buck rather than confirmation bias :D ).

<sigh> Even in things as tiny as capacitors, there's "still" a good 100% "for audio" price mark-up...
 
My fear is changing something (ie. bipolar to polar) and it causing some sorta short or melt down etc... only a $10CAD amp, but took like 8 weeks to get here. If I fry it... I don't have the time to wait for another one. :D

I know Amazon has other amps for fairly cheap like $30... but, budget is a budget when doing a DIY project and the Arcade cabinet has already exceeded that.

In hindsight... I wish I had ordered 2, one to use as-is for now and the other as a guinea-pig to play with.

Panasonic wise, these?
ECA-1HM2R2 Panasonic Electronic Components | Capacitors | DigiKey


Anyone else have any feedback regarding cap suggestions? polar vs bi-polar? I'll be ordering a few caps tomorrow afternoon.
 
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I would guess the fifth electrolytic next to volumepot actually is one of four inputcapacitors, among the group of four most likely will be the gvdd capacitor. For input Nichicon ES is cheap and serious people trying to measure distortion using the ES on input find none. Unfortunately for some it is labelled audio, but easy to forget/forgive. Panasonic's used to be labelled audio too, the M too, that M also has banana fibers in seperating paper like some Nichicon audio electrolytics :)
 
Yes fake Sanyo's look good to some people that never saw Sanyo's or never really looked at them. Silly maybe, just like saying there won't be a problem just connecting one speaker and leaving one output open. Silly maybe, but don't do that.
(Your inputcaps are branded Samwha)
 
Well, I know for what it is and what it's being used for that sound wise I won't hear a difference, but I'll recap all the same... mainly because of that video and seeing the same fake "sanyo" caps exploding. I recapped a computer monitor a couple of weeks ago, CapXon caps and all bulged out and causing power-on issues. Swapped to Nichicon.

I'll be playing with the amp this weekend hopefully, see how it sounds and such before I do anything, though I'll probably wear eye protection to be safe. :D

Probably get the camera out and get a few macro shots too, easier to trace the path when on the computer screen.
 
The ones in the Samsung were bulged and had that yellow leaking out of them.

Funny thing too, I had a small handful of old modems/routers I finally decided to toss out, but cracked them all open first to see if any parts to salvage (heat sinks, power input plugs, etc) and the one modem that failed on me, CapXon caps and all bulged out as well.

That seems to be a very bad brand of cheap caps. :)
 
Whenever I go to DigiKey and start using the filters... first thing I do after clicking 'in stock only' is to select Panasonic/Nichicon/Rubycon because they're the only 3 brands I know of that are considered to be really good.

From there I start filtering by value, physical size etc...
 
For your classD or smps I would chose between Rubycon and Chemicon. We tend to replace caps for brand not used originally, to "improve" the amp/powersupply. Fortunately Panasonic isn't widely used in popular hifi :) Check Technics threads to see how often Panasonic caps are used for recaps, almost never, bad caps :)
 
Thanks... I've heard of Chemicon, never looked into them too much but will take a look.

For my Samsung monitor recapping I used all Nichicon except 1 Panasonic because based on physical size, I wasn't able to find a match in Nichicon/Rubycon.

So, switching to polar from bipolar is ok so long as I get the +/- right when soldered?

What's the advantage of them using bipolar for something like this?
 
United ChemiCon and Elna are right up there too ;) At least in my book.

Although you'll wanna stay away from ChemiCon KZG and KZJ - there's an issue with the electrolyte formulation that causes them to crap out sooner than they "should". Other than that though, it's all good :)


Whenever I go to DigiKey and start using the filters... first thing I do after clicking 'in stock only' is to select Panasonic/Nichicon/Rubycon because they're the only 3 brands I know of that are considered to be really good.

From there I start filtering by value, physical size etc...
 
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