Phoenix Gold Phorum

So today i started removing the caps on the new ZX475 i bought, and i wanted to share this with you guys :





As you can see, one was leaking bad, started to eat the board, but the soldering points are still good on the other side of the board.

I'm now off to remove the others 4 caps, even if they looks fine i don't want to take any risk!

By the way, what do you guys use to clean board after a cap leak?

Just finished removing the 50V ones, no sign of leaking, but it's better be safe than sorry!

So here is a pic of the 50V caps emplacement, looks clean to me!


And here is a pic of the connectors on the caps, no sign of leaking


The bottom side of the board is also looking neat to me


I took a better picture of the 16V caps emplacement, where the leak occured, seems like it attacked a good spot on the board, but i still got continuity between all of them, so i guess it should be ok... I'll make some research on how to correctly clean this spot, as i want to do things good...



So that's it! I'm pretty sure making this baby work again will be a piece of cake, i'm just waiting for the new caps to come in, so that gives me plenty of time to find out the best way to clean the leaked cap spot. I'll also replace caps in my other ZX475 since i don't know if it was done when i got it, and i didn't checked...

str3atwarrior wrote:So today i started removing the caps on the new ZX475 i bought, and i wanted to share this with you guys :





As you can see, one was leaking bad, started to eat the board, but the soldering points are still good on the other side of the board.

I'm now off to remove the others 4 caps, even if they looks fine i don't want to take any risk!

By the way, what do you guys use to clean board after a cap leak?

think erics faq calls for lacquer thinner to clean the board...

I use Isopropyl alcohol .... works like a sharm & wipors off fast without any trace.... nice & clean

good you got those ready to blow caps out before they snap crackel and pop. when i clean my boards i use ether alcohol or white vinegar, alcohol works well but vinegar works on stuborn stains better. i learned about vinegars cleaning power when i had to clean up smoke damage from a house fire it worked better than the best cleaner made.

I used alcohol to clean it, worked well! But i'll try to put some vinegar to reclean before installing the new caps, thanks for the tip!

i forgot to say that when i use vinegar i follow up with alcohol just to clean up the remainder of the vinegar it may not matter but i just do it to get rid of the smell. but hey if someones that close to my amp to smell it there just to damn close for comfort mine and theirs.

I just changed the caps on my second ZX amp, here are the pics :





The difference in size is crazy if you ask me, but they are have the same exact specs, so i dunno, time will tell i guess...



Thoses were almost the same size, so there should be no trouble!


Hard to see, but the 2 are 16V, 2200uf, -40 to +105C


Same here, both are 50V, 2200uf, -40 to +105C

For your next cap change I would personally recommend sticking with the same capacitor size, and simply putting in the biggest capacitance you can fit, with all other specs equal. You should be able to get a decent boost to the capacitance of the amp, which will improve its sound quality.

That's good to know!

I actually remarked that my XS now hits harder since i changed the caps this morning. And it's not just a little, i mean the bass must be something like 1/4 more! I guess the old capacitors were at the end of their life...

stipud wrote:For your next cap change I would personally recommend sticking with the same capacitor size, and simply putting in the biggest capacitance you can fit, with all other specs equal. You should be able to get a decent boost to the capacitance of the amp, which will improve its sound quality.

Why ?

I always use bigger caps, usually wider and taller.....PG left all that room on the board, especially with the MS275 caps.


I always use a micrometer to measure the max. height and width I can go with.....as larger caps generally mean higher capacitance.

I don't guess if it's gonna fit, I know if it will fit.

Honestly, i simply typed the voltage and capacitance on ebay, and bought some set from one seller, didn't checked more than that if they were bigger/smaller and it worked well, cost me less than 15$ shipped here for 10 of each, was able to do my 2 amps, so i'm pretty happy with it!

str3atwarrior wrote:Honestly, i simply typed the voltage and capacitance on ebay, and bought some set from one seller, didn't checked more than that if they were bigger/smaller and it worked well, cost me less than 15$ shipped here for 10 of each, was able to do my 2 amps, so i'm pretty happy with it!

In the future.....

You need to know height and width.....measure in mm

lead spacing, which is the same on all PG amps I think

Voltage

105*C

and I usually leave my uf blank when I search, so I can go with the largest panasonic I can find.

Grab yourself a micrometer if you don't have one already......like $10 on ebay.

SHITTY MOTHERFUCKIING CAPS!!!

One just blown in one of my ZX amp, broke 2 traces and a smell of burn! I am just pissed as hell! Man now i want to just destroy this fucking piece of amp! Must relax before i snap!

Your new caps broke, or one you didn't replace? That sucks man!

The new one...

I hate to say it, but you get what you pay for Unfortunately. I for one will only buy good, quality caps and this would be why... When I replaced my caps in my tantrum, I but caps that were almost twice as big. They barely fit on the board, but I made them work. That and I only got panasonic caps.

If I were you, I would immediately rip all those cheap caps out, and go order some nice panasonic caps that will fit up in there. I wouldn't even waste my time doing anything else but that. I would hate to see another cap blow out on you...

You need Low Impedance and Low Leakage Electrolytic Capacitors or design for switching power supply's.

Got any link on good ones that are stock? I removed the amp, removed the caps and i'll go check if i can find some good ones...

Man i just realised my mistake... It was not the caps voltage or capacitance, it was the distance between each lead... So when i soldered them, i forced the leads to bend, and one must have ripped the cap, leaving to the result we all now know... I just bought some correct from digikey, cost me 48$ for 8 of each, panasonic 16v 3300uf part number P10261-ND and United Chemi-con 50v 2700uf part number 565-2882-ND

For the 16v i had 5mm spacing instead of the correct 7.5mm

For the 50v i had 7.5mm spacing instead of the correct 10mm and also it was not snap-in as required

So yeah, i was running for trouble because i forgot to check this first. So for the next persons that are gonna make caps change, at least for the ZX475Ti, now you know what you need! Man i feel dumb, but anyway once it will be fixed i'll be happy again...

By the way, how long is shipping from digikey?

Don't feel dumb. The first time it is a mistake. When you keep doing it over and over, well, then you are dumb.

Digikey is pretty quick.

oldschoolfan wrote:Don't feel dumb. The first time it is a mistake. When you keep doing it over and over, well, then you are dumb.

Digikey is pretty quick.

Tabarnak! (an expression from quebec, by the way :p )

Man it's not even been 1hr that i ordered the caps, and i've already got a confirmation email that they are shipped, by UPS, with a tracking number! Man digikey rules! Should arrive quick, UPS takes 2-3 days from us to my house usually...

Yeah Digikey is FAST even within Canada, and usually no duty/brokerage fees either!

Men, fast ain't the right word! Thoses caps came in just a moment ago! Not even a full day since i ordered and they are there already! Now i know what i'll be doing after work!

Ok now that is faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaast