Fake Blackgates??

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valve5425

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Joined 2008
#1
OK, put me out of my misery and confirm what I suspect, I've got some duffers!!

Thought I'd clear some NOS so checked out 2 Blackgate FK 100uf 100v caps. They measured 85.3 and 85.7uf respectively. Alarm bells sounded so I checked one of my used stock. 95uf. Took a closer look and the writing's slightly different. (see the photo, suspect one at the top) This can't be right! I've had these over ten years now and bought them, along with a load of other parts, from a reputable supplier in Nevada. Never thought to check them at the time as Blackgates were pretty common then, big mistake, or is it? Surely these can't be genuine with measurements like that. I know the big problem with Chinese and far eastern fakes but didn't think I'd get stung with these.

Your comments would be appreciated and if you can post pics and measurements that would be even better.

Thanks in anticipation,

Dean.
 

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#3
I have been using Blackgates as long as it was launched into the market , I still have many stocks , both new & used , I just looked over all my stocks , hundreds of them , various uf sizes , I just noted one point , the word "Rubycon" is almost the same length as the word "Black Gate" , no matter what the sizes of the caps were ., so I am worrying to say that , the top one is likely to be a faked one !

Larry
 
#8
Larry Ng said:
I have been using Blackgates as long as it was launched into the market , I still have many stocks , both new & used , I just looked over all my stocks , hundreds of them , various uf sizes , I just noted one point , the word "Rubycon" is almost the same length as the word "Black Gate" , no matter what the sizes of the caps were ., so I am worrying to say that , the top one is likely to be a faked one !

Larry
Click to expand...

I have originals for sure all bought to Michael Percy Audio USA & not always the word Rubycon havethe same lenght that the word Rubycon also the series "FK" not always with space or without space Black Gate FK original also Black GateFK original.

Felipe
 
#10
valve5425 said:
OK, put me out of my misery and confirm what I suspect, I've got some duffers!!

Thought I'd clear some NOS so checked out 2 Blackgate FK 100uf 100v caps. They measured 85.3 and 85.7uf respectively. Alarm bells sounded so I checked one of my used stock. 95uf. Took a closer look and the writing's slightly different. (see the photo, suspect one at the top) This can't be right! I've had these over ten years now and bought them, along with a load of other parts, from a reputable supplier in Nevada. Never thought to check them at the time as Blackgates were pretty common then, big mistake, or is it? Surely these can't be genuine with measurements like that. I know the big problem with Chinese and far eastern fakes but didn't think I'd get stung with these.

Your comments would be appreciated and if you can post pics and measurements that would be even better.

Thanks in anticipation,

Dean.
Click to expand...

Could you show the other side where is the other printed letter? Also the top of the cap where can see the metal & other of the botton cap where are the legs?

Cheers
Felipe
 
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#11
I have a few
bought a long time ago
Im not even sure the word fake was known

biggest I have is closed with brown plate
smaller ones have the usual rubber sealing

big one is 100V, 220uf
R in Rubicon is right above the L in Black Gate
and 'n' in Rubicon end exactly above 't' in Black Gate
so nothing like any of the two you show above

but on the smaller cap I have, the name Black Gate is smaller, and about of same length as Rubicon
on even smaller ones I have, same thing both of same length

I don't know
are there still any real ones out there
I thought they were gone long time ago
but yes, it is funny all these Black gates pop up know
 
#13
btw, what is remarkable when I look at them caps... hard to find one where the whole name is written
part of the name is missing on all of them
like they have used an endless plastic tubing, and cut without caring where it ends or begins
 
#15
I have using these caps from time to time and since some of them are used ones , removed from my own gears that I no longer used , I used to take measurement to see if it did stay in shape and hold a charge without quickly dis-charging it , from all my past experiences , these caps were always closed to within 5% tolerance before any re-forming . Some of my caps are over 10 years old , some maybe 15 years , but most of them were used in mild conditions , never too hot , thus , they remain in good shape .

The word length of Rubycon is @90% the length of Blackgate . Not exactly the same . Space or no space between , both are originals .

Larry
 
#16
I'm only guessing, but if they are real that would mean a different process/set-up was used for the print which doesn't necessarily seem impossible.

How then, could anybody possibly tell if they are fakes . They have different print size and spacing and unfortunately, their tested values seem to be way off.

So basically it's impossible to determine if fake Blakgates exist?

An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
 
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