OT, but I was just reading about Apple Air Tags. Good idea but the battery can't be changed. When they die you're just expected to buy new ones. Dumb.
Wow, that looks easy enough. Why does everybody say the battery can't be changed? Now I might actually buy some!
Buy some from the folk who have them with rundown batteries that they don’t know how to change 😉
Hi Zung, no I will not be at Munich this year. Sorry! I was hoping to, last year, but Covid got in the way.
Sorry to disappoint, however this thread on caps has been most enlightening! I love it when I can learn some new aspects about audio parts, notably in this case, electrolytic caps. I was behind the times, yet still in a position to make constructive choices for caps in new designs. Thanks everybody!
From my view such measurements are useless in general, as long as measurement conditions don't corresponding to those from real live conditions - i. e. with not appropriate C-meter like HP4282A (4282A) - check out post #18, #19 and #20 under
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...trolytics-and-i-mean-big.386982/#post-7050162
I guess you have measured insulation resistance, which don't have anything to do with equivalent series resistance.
You do not measure ESR with an ohmmeter ... you need an ESR-meter
Now back to the topic. There is no best electrolytic capacitor.
You may say that a specific type of capacitor is best in a particular application or scope, but there is no such "omni capacitor" that may satisfy all around. We may discuss about best electrolytic for digital decoupling, for high frequency decoupling, for audio signal interstage, for high current ripple, for long life, for high/low operation temperature etc.
Based on specifications and measurements, each capacitor have his place. Some are better than others in a particular application and price is a big factor, but looking for all around "Best electrolytic capacitor' is a nonsense.
Regards,
Tibi
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Both for new designs and replacement in service departments it is from my view important to know real specialists for aluminium electrolytic capacitor design.
Several years ago I contact Mr. Jens Both (formerly employed at Philips Components, later BC) - go to
https://web.archive.org/web/20090218222942/http://elcap.de/index2.html
concerning various questions (such as temperature dependent life time, reliability, ESR and so on.
An important statement from him was that you get the best performance and a significantly better reliability and life time when using a voltage value of 50-100 VDC (usually 63 VDC).
Even if the maximum required voltage that occurs in the individual application is only a few volts and one would usual use 10 VDC, 16 VDC or 25 VDC, one should in general always use 63 VDC, even if (e. g. for reasons of space) the value of the capacity may only be half or a quarter (which only rarely leads to malfunctions - in voltage regulators of power supplies actually this isn't an issue in most cases).
Also an important statement from him was the fact, that a lot of companies have outsource their manufacturing to far east - RIFA (Scandinavian), NIPPON-Chemicon, S+M (Germanmy/Japan - later EPCOS), Kendeil (Italy) are examples. After that, at least in certain series, the specifications from the old data sheets (especially regarding the low ESR values) and the performance known from before were no longer obtained. He recommend me brands like FTcap (Husum Germany) and SicSafco (French).
Mr. Jens Both later worked as a consultant for the development department of this company
http://english.jianghai.com
Thus this brand should be also a good choice.
together with Dr. Arne Albertsen he published some technical articles in German under
https://jianghai-europe.com/capacitor-competence-center/fachartikel/
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I can confirm F&T to be good and SicSafco to be one of the most reliable caps tech. member of Exxia group with EuroFarad as well : aerospace, sattelite, military, industrial capacitors... nothing to see with Audio but known from some tube enthusiast when high voltage and reliability is needed, and subjectivly sounds good. Which is not the case for all the F&T (that makes the lythics for Mundorf as far I am aware).
@tvicol, sure a capacitor has not sound of its own but some has strange behavior when used mostly in analog signals : the said famous Nichicon UKZ or Elna Silmic II sound both weird to me each time I use them, I will never stop to said it, but marketing and spec, they are not good in the audio analog chain. SII ok before an IC reg... never after at local decoupling !
Pan FC, often FR : rarely unhappy with them and reliable. I use to compare dozen and dozen of brands in my diy hifi gears, and Ido know, I bleieve at least, even when a Black Gate should be avoided here and there, etc ! No better capacitors but plenty of bad capacitor for audio and plenty of good caps too which have to be used at the rigth area, no magic, just listening and long itterative setups. It is relativly easy to make sound bad a good design with caps as to enhance another design because the caps choice is not optimal. Majority of Hifi-gears have not this development time involved because it asks time, experience, educated ears, and open mind. Noone remember the first Sozekris dac with bad choice of caps just for illustration on how on it is correct for electrical laws but bad at ears when you make the economy of this work ?
Ah yes, not noble, not learned in EE school but the electrical behavior of caps in general only... Not noble, not good for the ego, often bad result, like the name of a car for an abroad market with the most bad name when not translated !
I propesed an experiment just before with a 10 000 uF cap // with a 1200 uF cap with precise serie ref and voltage as smoothing and main reservoir cap of an amp for a subjective experiment... bingo, no one had the curiosity !
@tvicol, sure a capacitor has not sound of its own but some has strange behavior when used mostly in analog signals : the said famous Nichicon UKZ or Elna Silmic II sound both weird to me each time I use them, I will never stop to said it, but marketing and spec, they are not good in the audio analog chain. SII ok before an IC reg... never after at local decoupling !
Pan FC, often FR : rarely unhappy with them and reliable. I use to compare dozen and dozen of brands in my diy hifi gears, and Ido know, I bleieve at least, even when a Black Gate should be avoided here and there, etc ! No better capacitors but plenty of bad capacitor for audio and plenty of good caps too which have to be used at the rigth area, no magic, just listening and long itterative setups. It is relativly easy to make sound bad a good design with caps as to enhance another design because the caps choice is not optimal. Majority of Hifi-gears have not this development time involved because it asks time, experience, educated ears, and open mind. Noone remember the first Sozekris dac with bad choice of caps just for illustration on how on it is correct for electrical laws but bad at ears when you make the economy of this work ?
Ah yes, not noble, not learned in EE school but the electrical behavior of caps in general only... Not noble, not good for the ego, often bad result, like the name of a car for an abroad market with the most bad name when not translated !
I propesed an experiment just before with a 10 000 uF cap // with a 1200 uF cap with precise serie ref and voltage as smoothing and main reservoir cap of an amp for a subjective experiment... bingo, no one had the curiosity !
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I note, that the "FR" series haven't the outlined "M" logo in opposite to FC series - check post #8+10 under
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/panasonic-fr.243801/
What means that ?
tolerance ? Maleysia ?
let me check on some FC, FM, FR, FK and FS (purchased at Mouser or Element14) if I see that logo !
let me check on some FC, FM, FR, FK and FS (purchased at Mouser or Element14) if I see that logo !
