[NoPegs]

Originally Posted by Winky Dink

Finally, other than a few motor-start caps, I've been unable to find nonpolar AC capacitors in Mouser, DigiKey, Allied, or the usual vintage suppliers. I'm sure they're there, but I'm probably not using the right search terms.

There's so much irony here... http://www.ebay.com/itm/NTE-MLR335K2...item540204913c


You can get them cheaper if you don't mind the slow-boat from Shenzhen, but I'll gladly pay the asking price for something that ships stateside at a reasonable price.

There's a learning curve to parametric searches, here's a brief crib-sheet:


The trick with Mouser's search for caps is as follows:

Head to the capacitor category, choose your flavor (electrolytic/film/ceramic/mica/lambskin/etc...) then tick the stocked box at the top, hit apply filters.

Now you pick your value, or possibly your ideal value plus one on each side. Again, hit apply filters. (Sometimes you'll pick 0.5x your value because 1x isn't a sane number, just parallel them up.)

Now we choose our voltage. I usually go with selecting the DC voltage, as many suitable caps don't actually have up-front AC rating values on them. In your case we'll start at 250VDC, then hit the > to pick anything 250 or higher. Again, apply filters. (Are you sensing a pattern here?)

Now we'll say we only want radial caps, that are good for 105C minimum, applying filters. (This is one of the few times where you can enter more than one requirement between hitting apply filters.)

Finally, since this *is* a current limiting cap, we're going to go for 5% tolerance!

Gives us 5 results, across the normal spectrum of "I'd trust it in my own home." to "Only the best will do here, Cornell Dubilier please!" pricing...

http://www.mouser.com/Passive-Compon...r&Ns=Pricing|0

In the Matsushita affordability range you even get to choose between 10mm and 15mm lead spacing! How bourgeoisie! I'd go for the 15mm unit myself.


Resistor hunting is a similar path, but you pick through-hole first, then your tolerance, then wattage, then value. I usually pre-select only Vishay branded items, resorting to random sources only if I can't find what I need from Vishay.

I still say the free shipping unit linked at the top is your best investment unless you've got a dozen or so things on your perpetual Mouser saved shopping cart ready to purchase. The Mouser order will arrive in the shortest time though, that I can assure you.