Nichicon fakes?

studiostevus · 29th November 2011, 04:56 PM

Hi guys,
I am in the market for some Nichicon KZ caps. While browsing ebay, I noticed some significant price differences. Quite cheap for suppliers in China. Are these real?

20PCS Nichicon MUSE KZ Audio Capacitor 470uf 25v NEW | eBay

jean-paul · 29th November 2011, 04:58 PM

Till now now fakes have been found so you could be the first !

I think these are real. HLLY would not want to damage its reputation by selling fake caps.

indianajo · 06:45 PM

There is a drawing by ferynov of borneo, originally on hobbyaudio.com. If you search I think it is loadws up on diyaudio. It shows the patterns of the breakout panels on the caps by the different brands.
Electrolytic caps have a shelf life; if they are old they have to be "reformed", hit with a sub-maximum dc voltage to re-etch the plates. The storage time is not as short as it was in WWII when all the "reform" legends got started, but I suspect caps on E-bay are not very fresh. Full price caps from farnell or mouser, I just wire them up without reforming.
Somewhere around 10 to 25 years, consumer grade e-caps with rubber seals, the rubber gets age cracked. This makes them prone to leak & short. Exotic chemical sealed caps do not have this problem, but good luck on figuring out which is which on E-bay. With the invention of the 1 digit year code by overseas vendors, good luck on determining when your bargain cap was made. High capacitance and ESR meters are only $150 calibrated or $90 as kits. Good measurements don't mean the rubber is any good.

jean-paul · 06:56 PM

This drawing ?

BTW suspicion brings nothing, I had my doubts but till now I haven't got old caps from various sellers on Ebay. I would never buy Black Gate caps from Ebay sellers now as chances are likely that fakes will be around some day (if they don't exist already). Considering the going prices of BG quite a profit can be made ! Mmm, I just saw a business opportunity by selling Nichicon FW with new BG sleeves

"Reforming" of electrolytic caps won't hurt in any case but please use a series resistor and slowly up the voltage. Just hitting them with a sub-maximum voltage at once without series resistor is waking up the cap the unfriendly way.

Agreed, caps from Farnell etc are mostly fresh but these companies never have the exotic cap you are looking for. Let's say a Nichicon MUSE ES bipolar electrolytic cap 100 uF 50 V

toprepairman · 29th November 2011, 06:49 PM

Agreed with Jean Paul, have bought from hlly before and always had no probs or suspiction of forgeries. Thanks incidentally for the referral as I've just bought some of these. Excellent value!

studiostevus · 2nd December 2011, 05:19 AM

Thanks guys. Will order some from hlly or partsconnexion (seems cheaper)

29th November 2011, 04:56 PM	#1
studiostevus diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: The Hague	Nichicon fakes? Hi guys, I am in the market for some Nichicon KZ caps. While browsing ebay, I noticed some significant price differences. Quite cheap for suppliers in China. Are these real? 20PCS Nichicon MUSE KZ Audio Capacitor 470uf 25v NEW \| eBay

29th November 2011, 04:58 PM	#2
jean-paul diyAudio Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: The Netherlands	Till now now fakes have been found so you could be the first ! I think these are real. HLLY would not want to damage its reputation by selling fake caps. __________________ It's only audio

29th November 2011, 06:39 PM	#3
indianajo diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Jeffersonville, Indiana USA	There is a drawing by ferynov of borneo, originally on hobbyaudio.com. If you search I think it is loadws up on diyaudio. It shows the patterns of the breakout panels on the caps by the different brands. Electrolytic caps have a shelf life; if they are old they have to be "reformed", hit with a sub-maximum dc voltage to re-etch the plates. The storage time is not as short as it was in WWII when all the "reform" legends got started, but I suspect caps on E-bay are not very fresh. Full price caps from farnell or mouser, I just wire them up without reforming. Somewhere around 10 to 25 years, consumer grade e-caps with rubber seals, the rubber gets age cracked. This makes them prone to leak & short. Exotic chemical sealed caps do not have this problem, but good luck on figuring out which is which on E-bay. With the invention of the 1 digit year code by overseas vendors, good luck on determining when your bargain cap was made. High capacitance and ESR meters are only $150 calibrated or $90 as kits. Good measurements don't mean the rubber is any good. __________________ Dynakit ST70, ST120, PAS2,Hammond H182(2 ea),H112,A100,10-82TC,Peavey CS800S,SP2-XT's, T-300 HF Projs, Steinway console, Herald RA88a mixer, Wurlitzer 4500 Last edited by indianajo; 29th November 2011 at 06:45 PM.

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29th November 2011, 06:49 PM	#5
toprepairman diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2010	Agreed with Jean Paul, have bought from hlly before and always had no probs or suspiction of forgeries. Thanks incidentally for the referral as I've just bought some of these. Excellent value!

2nd December 2011, 05:19 AM	#6
studiostevus diyAudio Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: The Hague	Thanks guys. Will order some from hlly or partsconnexion (seems cheaper)

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