Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions My Rotel RB-1080 lest channel died

Thank you! After watching the video, the cap that I thought was bulged, looks identical to the one that the guy used as an example of a blown cap.

OK, one more question.... Where does a person buy capacitors? And are they only made in China?

Best bet is to remove it and get all info off the capacitor and determine its rating and if it is bipolar . Digikey is a great place to find matching capacitors. Capacitors with similar specs may not be physically the same size as yours so I would try to match at digikey

Richard

Thank Richard. I was able to get all the data off the little bugger without removing it. It'll take some work to get the board out and separated from the heat sink. I figured I'd just wait till I get the replacement caps, and my "solder sucker" on hand. I'm heading down uncharted territories here..... Kinda fun really. My solder 'sucker' is on order.. LOL...."sucker". What a name.

Nichicon
VX(M)
100V
1000UF
HO 206
85C

I measured it too.... .795"(20.19mm) X 1.415" (35.6mm)

I tried to find it on Nichicon's web site, but it does not look like they make this one anymore, and there are no VX series (general purpose).

Full VX description:
ALUMINUM ELECTROLYTIC CAPACITOR
Axial Lead Type
Compliant to the RoHS directive (2011/65/EU)

http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/products/alm_mini/index.html

I'll see what Digikey has.

I'm wondering though, if I'm going through all this trouble to replace these buggers, is there a better type than "general purpose"??

There is lots of discussion about the effects of capacitors and their quality/materials and whether or not its audible as it pertains to crossovers. I used Axon capacitors from Solen and honestly if there is a difference I'm to deaf to hear it. I put my home made speakers up against my M2's and could hear no difference. You could go better quality for the benefit of longer life but not sure how you could prove it. The so called better quality caps are typically quite a bit larger from my experience.

BTW when using the solder sucker you need to be quick. A good iron is important and the second you see the solder melt shove the sucker in there ,don't worry about touching the solder iron on the way in.

I ended up calling Digikey and talking to a tech guy. They were able to cross reference the cap I have with a different cap they had in stock. Slightly different, same manufacture. Nichicon UFW2A102MHD

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?keywords=5%20493-3185-ND

The tech suggested I use a hot-glue gun, and that's what he uses. Just make sure I don't use a corrosive or conductive glue.

Finally got around to finishing this little project.

IT LIVES!! No guaranty how long it'll live, but it sounds just like it did before....

The capacitors I got in from Digikey are slightly larger. The little wires are closer together too, so I ended up bending them outward a bit to get them through the holes in the board.

The solder sucker thing worked just fine. Took several attempts to suck all the old solder out is all.

Here's a couple tips for anyone who may find themselves needing the do this little 'repair'.

The hardest thing to do, is to separate the board from the heat sink. It would have been simple if I could have just disconnected all the wires, but some are soldered, and some of the little connectors did not want to cooperate, so I didn't force them and just left all the wires connected.

Board with new caps installed. To separate from the heat sink, there are all the little black whatchamacallits and four small cap screws that attach the board directly. The whatchamacallits kinda stick after the screws are removed, so I ended up using needle nosed pliers, to give them a gentle twist to break the bond. After all the screws are out, I then just folded the board away from the heat sink, carefully.


Back of board after separated from the heat sink.


The two small dots of solder are the new cap pins, soldered in place. They are the C624 pins. The caps came with wires about 1 inch in length. Glad I bought an extra cap, cause I cut the wires too short on the first one. For the remaining caps, I left them uncut, inserted them through the board, applied a good sized dollop of hot glue, ran them home and let the glue set. Then I cut the wires and soldered them.


If anyone has questions or needs clarification, let me know. I'll do my best to answer.

Nice! A working amp and the pride of having fixed it yourself!

Glad to hear old faithful is working again.Good work Mike

Those are some nicely soldered joints!