Warning about cheap replacement capacitors from Amazon

I bought a batch of 25 capacitors off Amazon for a TV repair job last Thursday thinking I was saving money. They looked fine in the package but three of them failed within 10 minutes of power being on. One actually bulged and popped a little smoke cloud which scared me half to death. I had to pull all of them out and order proper Nichicon caps from Mouser instead which cost me triple but actually work. The TV is running fine now but I wasted a whole Saturday chasing the problem. Has anyone else had a bad run with those no-name cap kits from online sellers?

3 comments

3 Comments

scott.jana1mo ago

Three of them failed in ten minutes? That's almost impressive in the worst way. The smoke cloud would've definitely made me drop my soldering iron.

jesse_green551mo ago

Three years ago I grabbed a pack of 16 volt 1000 microfarad caps off Amazon for an old stereo receiver I was fixing. They all tested fine on my multimeter but the first one I soldered in started hissing like a snake after about five minutes. I shut everything down quick but the smell of burnt electrolyte hung in my basement for two days. I learned my lesson and now I only buy from Digi-Key even if it means waiting longer for shipping.

lee.drew23d ago

Burnt electrolyte smell for two days beats having the whole thing go up in smoke I guess.