Electrolytic Capacitor Comparison tests

Thanks for the information Trevor. I always keep old caps that test well in a bin just in case. Once and a while they come in handy. If I pull a cap I am putting a new one back unless they are filters that test good.

Thanks for the "bonus" video, Trevor! Always good stuff!

Very interesting test. Those blue Nichicons are now discontinued by the manufacturer btw. I'm curious about the price differential between the 4 new caps.

Interesting that the Nichicon audio grade cap had the 2nd highest ESR and highest dissipation factor at 10KHz. I was going to suggest if there is any benefit to premium caps it would be their performance at higher frequencies, but in this small test quite the opposite. Personally I just buy reputable low ESR caps with good service life spec's and use them everywhere that won't take a poly'.

The Kemet capacitors I received for power supply were a disappointing, after researching and watching your video, it was clear they were not suitable for the job I had in mind, so I retired them back in the box.

Nice comparison test, but can you also do a stresstest ? Like heating each cap with a hairdryer (gives arround 90a100° C - 194a212° F) for 10 minutes, let them cool down to roomtemperature, and repeat all tests. A few other tests that can be done : charge each capacitor with the rated voltage, disconnect the capacitors, wait for 1 hour, and then read the remaining voltage of each capacitor, but use a high value resistor (100Mohm or even higher) in series with your DMM so that the DMM has a much higher impedance and not "load" the measuring with the normal 10Mohm impedance. Ideal for this is a voltage meter with tubes. This test gives a indication on selfdischarge rate. The better the capacitor, the higher the remaining voltage is after a certain time. Then as final test, charge each capacitor to the rated voltage, discharge them with a screwdriver or nail, something that normally is not recommended, and repeat the comparison tests to see if this abuse has caused any damage. Grtz

When ordering caps I'm often befuddled with the choices available when I want to get a simple cap from a narrowed search of 27 choices. Since I don't do a lot of repairs, cost isn't a factor. Usually I get something in the middle range of cost. Some you tubers have their favs that they promote by brand and series. Wonder if marketing genius is in the mix of branding audio , HK,WK, XYZ, ABC , ad nauseam, series etc of capacitors, and if you could hear the difference in an audio product or will we get to the "Nichicon Gold Inside" hype . One other metric would be the source of your capacitors. Buy the same brand , type and value of cap from different sources to put to the test (and rest) the low cost caps from suppliers blamed for knockoff parts. Great subject. Scratched the surface there's still electrolytic, bipolar, polarized, film and ceramics to consider OH MY !👍

I worked at power supply manufactures , I've seen capacitors explode when the unit was first plugged in They are like little b0mbs when they go off

Makes sense the winner is strictly Power supply, which gets the abuse of Heat. Liked your comment, I will be doing each of these 10 minutes, don't want to do this forever. Looked up those Kemets and was not surprised, Chinese.

Those solid polymers are used on computer mother boards

0:19 - it is FOUR caps, not THREE. 1, 2, 3, 4.

Sorry, but only one capacitor of each brand is not meaningful at all.

We don't have time to watch you think LOL What happened last Friday night,? Another capacitor video A capacitor is a capacitor it' just depends on the insulating materials between the lead plates and how it holds a charge or blocks DC through a Dielectrics Capacitors use non-conducting materials, or dielectrics, to store charge and increase capacitance. Dielectrics, when placed between charged capacitor plates, become polarized, reducing the voltage across the plates and increasing capacitance. You are just adding to the confusion of all the thousands of capacitor videos on Youtube. You have to lean this a classroom, not on a youtube video where the information can be conjecture or a misinformation