Electrolytic Capacitors: Comprehensive Overview, Teardown, and Experiments

[@WallaceRoseVincent]

Thanks Chemi-Con for supporting Denki Otaku, making Japan great again one capacitor at a time!

[@NomadBDP]

Japan is already GREAT!

[@leegranite2920]

Hello from Canada. I like how you present your content and the English translation makes me keep coming back as I continue to learn. Keep up the clean, clear, and greatly informative videos. You’re doing great!

[@ivolol]

Very nice collaboration and informative video! It was great to have the EC differences spelled out.

[@jeromewhelan6723]

What an amazingly educational video. I have been in in the electronics business for 60 years, and this is one of the most clear and useful explanations I have seen on electrolytic capacitor technology and characteristics.

[@RobertMattison-pp6uf]

I beat they didn't get this detail while you were in school training.

[@7GIGEO7]

Excellent video! Very well put together information, thank you.

[@PremiereHell]

That's why they always add an extra capacitor, That you think is not necessary but it is because it's preventing the other one from falling apart, Thank you for this well explained explanation. I was always curious about this.

[@Manf-ft6zk]

Thank you very much for the very instructive video. I should learn more about the technology inside electrolytic capacitors. What caught my attention were the pliers at 4:29. When I worked in Japan at a company with enough budget a local college bought very cheap pliers and he said it was just a cheap occasion. They got rusty after just a short time and I asked him to let me try to polish them and give them a little oil. He said he could throw they away any time, they were just cheap. We agreed to make the experiment and they looked better afterwards and were kept. Just a personal memory inside the very valuable lesson about maybe the best capacitors and their different types.

[@Yreq]

I'm so impressed with this video. You managed to explain simple way what is the difference between electrolytic and solid caps. Domo arigato BTW Chemi-con was always my favorite brand of caps

[@3238juan]

You spelled wrong. It's chemi-con not chemi-con

[@Yreq]

@@3238juan Upss🤭 You're right, sorry😅

[@gabotron94]

Very clear explanations! I'm loving your videos Ichiken sensei

[@techadmirer6475]

I had about 7 hours of research in capacitors in a general category and this video has taught me some useful information i didn't know of yet, Thank you for the video it's a much more entertaining way to learn instead of reading so i as well as some others with this same opinion have learned some of this information that otherwise likely wouldn't have been learned when avoiding forums, documents, catalogues, etc.

[@williammanganaro9070]

Excellent explanations ! I was amazed at the results of freezing the electrolytic capacitor and demonstrating its discharge curve. It made total sense to me when you did this. It was something I have never though of before. Makes you wonder if any "antifreeze" types of electrolytes have been researched. Probably so.

[@tomjones2348]

Fascinating and informative. I didn't expect much at first, but as I got deeper into the video, the subject began to open up for me.

[@GoutamDAS-ls1wb]

Thank you for this very informative video. Can you please specify the composition of the electrolyte? Also what are the cathodic and anodic electrolytic reactions during charging?

[@periklisgewrgiou5327]

Thank you so much for your useful video. I am a retired Radio Officer for 23 years and I want to learn more in details about electronics!

[@ELECTROxigeno76.]

Nippon chemicon it's one of The Best caps Ever, tks for The great vídeo, 🎩

[@GiNodrog]

Brilliant video and introduction to different types , also never thought of esr in parallel. You live and learn .

[@tomsherwood4650]

I have been trusting Japanese quality brands of electrolytics for a long time. Japanese electronics made as far back as the 70's still have good capacitors in them and they don't seem to need replacement, even though some people habitually do so out of worry. The capacitors that I do fear are ones made in China, or Chinese made fake copies of Japanese capacitors.

[@mmh4450]

البضائع الصينية كارثة على ظهر الارض

[@mmh4450]

@@BlondieHappyGuy ههههه ربما كان العرب كذلك ايام قوم لوط (اصحاب خرقة الالوان الستة) حتى امطروا بالحجارة، وجعل الله قراهم عاليها سافلها، وخلصنا الله منهم ومن افعالهم الوسخة (قمامة، كاظورات ). والصخور في منطقتهم شاهدة على ابادتهم الى اليوم، وهي مقلوبة عاليها سافلها بظاهر لا تراها بغير مكان على وجه الارض

[@neiliewheeliebin]

I wouldn't even think of using Chinese electrolytics without at least testing them first & i certainly wouldn't use them in a customer repair.

[@mmh4450]

@@BlondieHappyGuy قبل ان تنكر.. تفضل بزيارة منطقة البحر الميت في الاردن واحضر معك خبير جيولوجي لترى العجب العجاب قراهم رفعت للاعلى و نكس عاليها للاسفل مثل انتكاسة فطرة سكانها الذين فضلوا الميل للذكور دون الإناث

[@mmh4450]

@@BlondieHappyGuy ليس لديك دليل واحد على عدم وجود الله الواحد الاحد والكون كله وخلقك بعقل وسمع وبصر يشهد ان هناك خالق واحد هو الله☝

[@MapleKlister]

Excellent video! Very informative, and at times humorous. Well done!

[@NeoGhk]

Great presentation. I've unsoldered many types of these caps from PC bords but didn't know the differences between them. Now I have an idea. SUBSCRIBED.

[@KF-bj3ce]

Very informative, presented so even a novice can understand it. Thanks so much.

[@projectartichoke]

Wow, this is really informative. It's given me some great ideas for improving my power supplies.

[@BernhardKlein-xx8du]

Very well explained, very well designed video. The video is full of information for me. Thank you.

[@stiaankruger2699]

Best video on capacitors on youtube. Fantastic demonstration, your oscilloscope makes me jealous.

[@buddyhoover57]

The best explantion of electrolytics that I have seen. Keep up the good work.

[@RobertMattison-pp6uf]

Total agree with you.

[@MrReichard]

Excellent video.! Look at that Teledyne oscilloscope -- wow!

[@jeremiahbullfrog9288]

Best coverage of this component I've seen in my 30 years of electronics. Question: the conductive polymer and the hybrid capacitors have no vent.... what happens in reverse polarity? Are they less dangerous than the standard liquid electrolytic capacitors?

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

Quite the opposite. Solid polymer caps turn into literal bullets when they fail, shooting the metal can off of the base. Thankfully this doesn't happen much because _a lot_ needs to go _very_ wrong for them to pop. But if they do, you better hope you're not anywhere near it

[@jeremiahbullfrog9288]

@@Knaeckebrotsaege Yikes! Thanks for the info!

[@rameshkp7860]

Super lessons about capacitors in electronic device . Thank you so much.

[@zopilotesky]

A very good breakdown of modern capacitors. It explains why caps are smaller these days. Thanks for sharing!

[@pradeekrajreddy7659]

In one glance i understood the function and characteristic of capacitor. It will be very helpful in my day to day job role.

[@johnrehwinkel7241]

The polymer electrolyte capacitors do contain electrolyte (it's right there in the name), it's just a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid one. Technically, they're all "aluminum" capacitors as well (the electrodes are aluminum, and the dielectric is a layer of aluminum oxide).

[@bertblankenstein3738]

Very informative video with information I had not previously considered. Thenk you.

[@jhanthony2]

This video answered a lot of questions for me. Thank you.

[@spvillano]

It looks like there's some HF noise in the lab. Judging by the spikes on the oscilloscope, I suspect either light switching spikes or more likely cellular phone interference nearby, around a few meters away. Also looks like the 'scope leads might be near a transformer or they're growing resistive in the shielding, as there is a LF ripple apparent. You covered etching of the foil nicely, many classes on electrolytic capacitors omit that critical fact. I'd probably have gone lightly into inductance in capacitors, especially electrolytic capacitors, just to be thorough on design considerations and a small ceramic or mylar cap to counter ringing. Haven't worked in electronic circuit design in decades, nearly forgot about frozen electrolyte. Good to remember if I ever design something for arctic, high altitude or space usage. Unlikely, but in my life, the unlikely occurs far too frequently. Back when I was working as an electronics technician, I worked on everything from vacuum tube analog, germanium transistor analog, silicon transistor analog, discrete IC analog, VLSI analog and digital circuits. I work in IT now, but still remember my electronic theory well, which has saved my bacon on more than a few occasions. Knowledge is power! And equally important, useful.

[@MickeyMishra]

This was actually fun to watch. Seeing how those capacitors performed in the dry ice was especially cool! 😉

[@SovereignKnight74]

FANTASTIC explanation!!! Thank you for this video! It is highly appreciated!

[@yetanotherdev3825]

Clear and simple explanations. Thank you for your video!

[@joshjones3408]

Your really good teacher an your make it Interesting to watch an funny.... Great video 👍👍👍

[@harderexp8166]

This guy do a good job by showing diffrence in using other type of capacitor

[@johnbravo7542]

Very good video,thank you for the English translation.

[@ozkantapsz2378]

Tam olarak anlamasamda,Harika bilgiler verildiğine eminim👍👍🇹🇷

[@florinssl]

Very good documented and explained video. Thank you!

[@Rony...1310D]

Justo el video que estaba buscando... todo sobre LOS CAPACITORES ELECTROLITICOS....👌🏽 y mas aun sobre fuentes de poder de pc....🤙🏽

[@albertovelazquez1339]

THANK TO YOU AND LEARNED MORE HOW THE CAPACITOR ARE MAKE AND THE USES IN ELECTRONIC, THANKS. AND IN OTHER COMPONENTS.

[@ZygmuntKiliszewski]

Hello Mr Ichiken, this time, in the English version, you will present the construction intricacies of electrolytic capacitors. I believe that the condition of increased capacitor operating voltage by approx. 25% should always be met. Congratulations! Recently, I have performed tests that can be referred to in three groups: First: Use of the base Controller and 230 VAC/62 V/17 kHz//0.65 kW Power Supply to run the BLHF-RM (compound coil micromotor, phase angle 180 degrees). The total power of the control lines [L1 - L3] and [L2 - L4] = 128 W during the average rotation of 28.705 Hz = 1.772 kRPM was obtained; load current max = 7.32 A; PF approx. = 1. Overheating of the IGBT key transistors (too much forced in previous tests) was found, which caused irregular voltage waveforms, but regular current, close to rectangular. The author's earlier tests led to the same conclusions contained in the film by the renowned Texas Instruments company, address: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lWeQkJ2sj8pqn6M. Second: BLHF-RM (compound coil micromotor) powered by BLHF-RM No. 3 (phase angle 135 degrees; P = 6.17 kW - as a generator, driven by an angle grinder 230 VAC/5.5 kRPM//2.1 kW). The total power of two control lines = 0.203 kW; PF of phase windings = 0.7108. The value of the reduced power factor was affected by the different angles of the location of the magnetic poles in the armatures. Third: Powering the micromotor with the frequency converter XSY - AT 1/1.5 kW. Data: f = 344.00 Hz = 20.640 kRPM; RMS = 23.36V; I (loads) = 11.20 A; cos φ = 0.9008; P = 0.236 kW (power record!). Load current interpreted by the ideal sine function (!). It should be noted that the author conducts tests on the basis of devices constructed at home and on a low budget. I invite you to visit my You Tube channel and website: www.mojewynalazki.pev.pl. My new study, Chap. VD. I cordially invite and greet all Internet users ❤.

[@ZygmuntKiliszewski]

Thank you for the likes 😀.

[@Kareem-Ahmed]

Very informative and fun video. Arigato!

[@erichanson420]

"The electrolyte IS the cathode". You are illuminating things for me. Thank You. I'm very excited to discover your channel.

[@franciscolopez3229]

This is a very informative video and educational at the same time. May I ask, would it be better just to use the solid type capacitors in vital cicuitry like processors to avoid damage due to leaking caps?

[@technoman9000]

Thanks for the very informative video. I found it distracting that "anode" and "Farad" were not pronounced correctly, however.

[@konradgrima2872]

Very well explained video, Love your way of teaching, a very Interesting subject. Would be possible to do a similar tutorial about tantalum capacitors and why they are preferred in the RF field especially in old RF equipment(wet tantalum caps)? Anyway thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[@johnwright8814]

He missed out a lot of information to keep it simple, such as a bi-polar electrolytic having two etched foils, not just one.

[@dennisfahey2379]

Excellent introduction. Capacitors are often the first failure point in power systems and unfortunately they are also the component many cost conscious engineers try to save money on. This video gives very concise guidance on why you should never cut corners on capacitance. When you think about it your entire design runs upon the assumption of clean available electrons to do the work intended. Why would you jeopardize the integrity of that need? (I also liked the fact your hair grew during the video!)

[@martindellow7390]

13:50 please talk about N channel mosfets in switching ccts

[@ducluongcutephomaique]

What kind of capacitors you use for audio: nip lxz, nichicon kz muse, elna silmic, elna cerafine, nichicon finegold, nichicon fw,elna tonerex,....

[@DiamondDog_]

i need 10.000uf 100v for audio psu, what brand should be the best

[@ducluongcutephomaique]

@@DiamondDog_ i like nichicon audio for psu, i am using 15000uf x2 nichicon audio for chipamp lm3886

[@brjplummer9415]

Thanks for the excellent video. Heres a thought, why not use an electrolyte on both sides of the center insulation, not just on the negatve (cathode) side? would that increase the capacitive storage ?

[@ats89117]

I'm surprised that Chemi-Con changed their name and logo. As an old timer, they will always be Nippon Chemi-Con to me, but younger engineers may not realize that these are highest quality Japanese capacitors rather than lower quality knock-offs...

[@Knaeckebrotsaege]

Similar thing happened with Sanyo. They've spun off their capacitor business into a separate company 10+ years ago. The name and logo changed (now Suncon), the caps stayed the same (ie they kept the same series with the same specs in production). Nice side effect: the chinese fakers still don't seem to have gotten the memo yet, so they still happily print SANYO on their fake WG series (or whatever) caps. At least this makes it super easy to spot fakes (if the abysmal print quality, wrong top vent and circular rubber bung aren't enough of a giveaway)

[@radarmusen]

Same here like HP there suddenly should call them Keysight, there was no reason to ran away from the old name.

[@radarmusen]

That was a very interesting video, nice to know the brand has a new name, before I beginning to complain about why I can’t find them.

[@JoyKamau-h8s]

I have a certain ac bulb which blows it's capacitor most often,what do you suggest I do?

[@nowaistedspace4946]

I'm new to electronics, but recently inherited a lot of 70's and 80's Marantz and JVC stereos and dozens of sets of Bose speakers (late 70's) My question is can I substitute these newer type caps for the old electrolytic caps. The old caps have bigger footprints than same size today, so is it possible to use the "hybrids", or is that a bad idea. I'm slowly learning this stuff before I start on these old steros. They deserve to be fixed. They are all complete, not missing parts. There is nobody that works on this stuff anymore. I'm not afraid to work on them. I am, an experienced tradesman in many other fields and no how to prepare.

[@felipechan9654]

The 2 silver color capacitor can it be used on audio amplifiers?

[@jetersonalvesdeoliveira2729]

In the case of capacitance, a polymer capacitance of 270mF is equivalent to an electrolytic capacity of 1000mF and for hybrids? What is the efficiency ratio?

[@bazrazin1]

very good for actually seeing inside a solid capacitor, also find out what happens to lithium ion battries in the cold does it's chemistry also gets frozen, why does the phone charge holding capacity drop in winters.

[@robertoestrada9816]

I tried to identify a capacitor that I need to replace. Looks like a conductive polymeric hybrid Aluminum electrolytic capacitor. The number in the top are 98sk10050v, k9f2216v, and 9ek4716v. Any idea of what capacitors are and the supplier or replacement?

[@RODOLFO.M.S]

Obrigado pela aula. Pragmático. Admirável. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷 👍👍👍 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@frgmntTOB]

Well done. Well done, Sir! Very educative. Thank you.

[@farabielec]

Thanks. How to oxidize anode?

[@kc4cvh]

Another advantage of the polymer capacitor is there is no electrolyte which may seep from the capacitor, causing leakage paths on the PCBA and corroding the copper traces, eventually leading to open circuits.

[@anoimo9013]

very nice in depth dissertation

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Very good information and demos. Thank you.

[@stevengagnon4777]

Liked the demonstration with the dry ice ....but that is a pretty extreme condition(-88.5°C. -109°F) that one isn't going to need to deal with at the most extreme earthly temperatures. So my question is does the performance of the standard electrolytic capasitor change gradually as a function of ambient temperatures and at what point does the electrolytes freeze. With the modern automobile using so much electronics it seems that one could experience system failure in very cold temperatures.

[@bunnybhargav2019]

I would like to know the ripple current capability of such normal electrolytic capacitor VS Conductive PH electrolytic capacitor.

[@sej84]

excellent ! thanks for this clear presentation.

[@friendryan]

This video was so helpful. Can you please tear down multilayer ceramic capacitors and Film capacitors. Like do a vid on them too like this one.

[@tjules7]

I took my NAD 7400 receiver for repair, but the guy is having a hard time finding transitors/capacitors repalcement. Can you suggest a place where to buy those components?

[@dustinswatsons9150]

Very awesome man I appreciate your video so much especially with to no avail trying to figure out what happens when capacitors are super cooled .. so the ones without the electrolyte.. don't really seem to give off much of an advantage if anything noticable.. however I wonder if they charge quickly

[@prashanthb6521]

This was very nice demonstration. Thanks a lot.

[@Turco949]

Great video, very informative! Thank you. I wonder why the one with no electrolyte is still referred to as "electrolytic" since it doesn't contain any?

[@eugeneleroux1842]

Thank you for a very informative presentation.

[@bdee1084]

So a higher uf with the same current will create a smaller ripple?

[@donaldlemoine3032]

I have a question.. I am always tinkering with old motherboards and video card. Just about all of them have the aluminum electrolytic Capacitors. How do determine which solid to use in place of the aluminum electrolytic Capacitors?

[@xrysf03]

Short answer: any new (unused) solid polymer will likely do the job :-) You don't even need to stick to the capacitance of the original caps = you can replace with a lower capacitance if necessary. What counts is the ESR and permitted ripple current, and these are two sides of the same coin, because heat = P = R * I^2. A solid polymer that's roughly in the ballpark by rated voltage and mechanical dimensions will beat the original wet elyt several times over on ESR and longevity. Depending on where you live, check the relevant product categories e.g. with Mouser and TME. The original wet elyts will typically run at 1/2 their respective rated voltage - there was a rule of thumb that it prolongs their lifetime. You should measure on your live device what the *actual* voltage is on that rail, and with solid polymer, you can go for "the next higher notch above the actual voltage". Such as, for a rail of 3.3 actual Volts DC, choose a solid poly with at least 4V nominal. But you can also use something rated at 6.3V if that's better available or makes better sense mechanically (leg spacing). In many applications, you'll find that a perfect mechanical match (by case diameter and THT leg spacing) will have an unnecessarily high nominal Voltage and a few milliohms more than what you could achieve in a smaller package... which possibly won't matter much for practical operation. Check out some datasheets of solid poly capacitor families. To get a feel for the ballpark of ESR values and capacities depending on nominal voltage. You will notice that solid polymer is well represented up to about 16V nominal (i.e. for the typical 12V inner power rail in modern computers), but for higher voltage levels you won't have much choice. For instance, in industrial process control PC's if you need something for 24V or even 48V, you'll find a select few hybrid models rated at 25 / 35 / 63V, and the capacitances will by relatively tiny. (For those positions, do also check out the Panasonic FR wet Al elyt - featuring a very nice ESR.) As for brands, you needn't really be ashamed. Nippon Chemi-Con is definitely the golden standard of solid polymer, but any brand solid poly will be better than your old wet elyt. I've actually written an "overview of the market" 5 years ago, for my domestic audience (the language is not English unfortunately). Maybe just skim the pictures, the brand names should be understandable for you (they're written in latin characters): support.fccps.cz/industry/kondiky/kondiky.htm There's a noteworthy overview website in Japanese: capacitor.web.fc2.com/solidcapacitor.html Solid polymer is a no-brainer for the secondary side of any SMPS / VRM / buck converter. The secondary side of a step-down converter is where the punitive current pulses occur, coming out of the inductor. The primary side tends to be comparably benign, current-wise... Still, at 12V, I wouldn't hesitate to replace wet elyts with solid poly as a matter of good taste 🙂 Regarding the potential for PWM control loop instability... it is true that replacing a wet elyt with a solid poly changes the phase response of the output capacitor bank, which participates in the PWM control loop. The resistive element to the impedance drops by something like an order of magnitude, thus removing quite a bit of the "proportional" part of the "P.I." regulator formula - while keeping the "integrating" part mostly intact. If the PWM loop was originally tuned to rely on the "P" component for stability, it may indeed start to oscillate... In practice, I've only ever seen this in cheap wall-wart type SMPS modules, with a single wet cap or two on the output - and the oscillation was not catastrophic. In a PC PSU, or a motherboard VRM, this has never been a problem. Thumbs up for reviving old stuff :-) Unless it's a leccy guzzler that would deserve the scrapyard for that single reason.

[@b.malnit8983]

Thanks. Great presentation. Learned alot.

[@sadunnakipoglu9471]

The best explantion of electrolytics that I have seen

[@Somanathan-hj7ge]

Very good Explanation sir, thankyou very much sir,

[@ford1546]

Anonym. Hello. It would be very interesting to make a video and talk about what happens if you use a 100v capacitor where it was originally 50v. Or 50v where there was originally a 5v capacitor. what happens to the microfarad value during use and what happens to the reforming of the capacitor, or will the life be shorter when you apply 5v to a 50v capacitor or 50v to a 100v Or 50v to a 200v capasitor. Can someone say something about this?

[@j.f.christ8421]

Operationally it (usually) makes no difference, aside from higher voltage capacitors are physically bigger. Lifetime might be increased as their larger size will make them run cooler. Capacitor may not reform if voltage is drastically lower than rated and will lead to lower capacitance. Bigger caps will tend to have lower ESR as well.

[@sundog486]

In my experience, when I used a high voltage electrolytic in a low voltage (CMOS) monostable timing circuit, the result was not as calculated. It's so long ago that I forgot whether the time was shorter or longer.

[@MrVeryCranky]

Excellent information. Thankyou.

[@andydelle4509]

Excellent presentation!

[@ericnganda9765]

Very educative.thank you

[@clifforddicarlo9178]

Superb! Great Graphics, too.

[@joshhoman]

Interesting. I believe that I have seen some electronics guys discharge capacitors using screwdrivers and jumper wires. Some used resistors, but I am not sure that all did.

[@video99couk]

I never short out capacitors, I think it's terrible practice. Apart from anything else, you don't want sparks flying around on boards with sensitive components.

[@leso204]

can the trhee types of cap's be interchanged if they are the same value ??

[@RandomerFellow]

What is shelf life for those caps?

[@NewMicroElectronics-yv1ek]

Thanks so your information about capacitors ❤

[@Omegajet223]

Very easy to follow, explanatory video, thankyou. I was hoping you were going to reverse polarity on one of the hand grenade sized caps 🤣. Keep up the great work. 👍

[@rainerpeetz346]

Thank you very much . Your explains over the Technology of modern CAPACITY are good . Rainer Peetz from Kiel / Germany .

[@marcusjames1221]

Hi could you help can I need to replace a 420v 150uf can I use instead a 400v 150uf is this possible or what’s the best way if I don’t have the 420v

[@craxd1]

Very informative. Thanks.

[@SAGERODS250REM]

This is a very good video nice to have a decent translater.

[@reedreamer9518]

Excellent! Nippon caps are best

[@classicsamusaran3817]

there a risk of this aluminum electrolytic capacitor of electronic device long term storage opening and leaking acid and corroding the PCB board?

[@EngMohammedMunawar]

Great video which is very nicely brief

[@cafemolido5459]

THANK YOU.

[@empatikokumalar8202]

Hello Are there capacitors made with graphene? If so, can you make a video about it?