Gentleman, check your caps!

[Findm-Keepm]

Some additional marking standards, not used by the Chinese or Taiwanese:

Each capacitor will be marked with Manufacturer's logo, rated capacitance (coded), capacitance tolerance (code letter), rated DC voltage, and if additional space allows, style, type, and date of manufacture (coded)

With real Orange Drops(R) available, why settle for cheap Chinese knock-offs? SBE and Vishay-Sprague make the only true Orange Drop(R) capacitors. The split-up of Sprague in the 90's yielded the Sprague name to Vishay, and the Orange Drop(R) manufacturing facilities to SBE. Both are widely available from Mouser, Allied and possibly Newark.

Sadly, many of the competitors to the Orange Drop(R) are no longer around. Arco-Elmenco made a fine competitive capacitor- Arco is still around, but their website is MIA - "Our new website is currently being developed and will be available shortly."

Mallory made the PVC series (yes they were orange, or in some values, brown), but CDE now makes them, and yes they are the same quality, and are available from Allied and others.

If you don't need/care - at least go with a name brand capacitor. Epcos, Evox-Rifa, Panasonic, Nichicon, and even Mouser's Xicon are all great caps for recapping, and available from Mouser, Digi-Key, Allied, Newark, and even the "auction site"

By the way, the use of the Orange Drop(R) name to describe any other brand of capacitor is not only misleading, it is copyright infringement. Both SBE and Vishay guard the name vigorously. I recall an EDN magazine article a few years ago where they sued and won several injunctions over the misuse of the name.


Cheers,

[drh4683]

Like Brian said, go with the orange drops and you wont go wrong. Thats always been my policy. I use orange drops almost exclusively. The quality is there, made in USA and best of all, the values and manufacture code are clearly stamped on the shell. I test all my caps prior to installation and Ive never caught a dud orange drop. Ive tested the cheap caps too prior to install as there are times I must use them as OD's are not available in the odd values like a .056uF. Ive caught leaky ones that were brand new a few times. I stocked up on orange drops last year as normally it seems like stuff I like is either obsolete, or about to become obsolete and will become NLA very soon. I order all my caps from mouser, which in my opinion is the best electronic parts supplier out there. I also use sprague atoms when possible for the lytics, but many times the atoms are so large that they simply cannot fit into a tight space. For example, a 100uF@450 sprague atom axial cap is about 1.25" diameter, 3" long. Great cap though if you have the room for it. Now compare that to all the other manufacturers and you can get the same cap in about 3/4"OD by 1" long. That ends up being more practical for recap work, especially if your goal is to restuff a filter can. In which case, I almost always go with the nichicons as they are good capacitors. I am pro domestic parts (and everything else for that matter) whenever possible. When spragues are unavailable, Im left with no other domestic choices. In which case I atleast like knowing that most Nichicon caps are still made in their homeland of Japan, so the quality is still there on those. I just have a real problem with anything made in China which is essentially everything else. I'm actually recapping a set for carmine so I'll have some details on that very soon.