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Hey twistedsymphony - Ian Kellog Sun PSU filter cap question

RealMFnG

RealMFnG

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Hey @twistedsymphony,

Question for you about the Ian Kellog filter cap used to recap your Sun PSU. If that is what you used at all.

supercap.JPG

When you replaced it, did you find this scenario with the OEM filter cap being a much smaller form factor? I dunno if this is going to fit.

sun_psu_cap_map.jpg

Looking at your cap map, not sure if you replaced it or not. Looks kind of like you did because in your photo it is quite snug. And did you solder in Ian Kellog's filter cap anyway. Or did you not replace it at all?
 
I used the Ian Kellog kit but I didn't replace the filter cap. I never replace the filter cap when I do kits unless it's actually leaking.

the picture I took for the cap map is BEFORE I replaced any caps, so yeah, the original filter cap was indeed that snug.

different diameter and length caps happens often with cap kits. sometimes I end up having to leave longer leads on a component so it can be bent out of the way
 
they can go bad but it's pretty uncommon, and with the cost of the filter caps adding another 50% to the cost of the kit ultimately it's not really worth it unless it clearly NEEDs to be replaced. There's a reason they're not usually included in cap kits.

what causes electrolytic caps to go bad is the rubber seal:
Al-e-cap-construction.jpg

basically when the cap heat cycles it causes the materials to expand and contract eventually some air gets past the seal and once oxygen comes into contact with the materials inside it causes a reaction that releases some gasses which causes the bloated look on failed caps and with enough of a reaction can blow out the seal on the bottom and cause leaking.

I don't know if there are any studies as to why larger caps have a lower failure rate but I'd suspect that the filter caps are so large that they don't heat cycle as dramatically as smaller caps as they have a lot of area with which to dissipate heat, also the size of them means they have a very large very thick rubber seal that is better equipped to deal with what little heat cycling it does experience, and even with general failure of the rubber, it will take a lot longer for the thicker rubber to fail via dry rot all the way through to cause a problem.

I've probably done dozens of cap kits over the years and I think I only ever had to replace a filter cap once.
 
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Thanks bud. I'll have to let Ian know that the filter caps he has for this purpose won't work for the Sun PSU then. I have two of them and both of them are already in tight spaces. No way the ones he provided fits into the space available.
 
acblunden2 said:
Thanks bud. I'll have to let Ian know that the filter caps he has for this purpose won't work for the Sun PSU then. I have two of them and both of them are already in tight spaces. No way the ones he provided fits into the space available.
Click to expand...
dammit. I just bought one...
 
acblunden2 said:
Thanks bud. I'll have to let Ian know that the filter caps he has for this purpose won't work for the Sun PSU then. I have two of them and both of them are already in tight spaces. No way the ones he provided fits into the space available.
Click to expand...
yeah, a lot of these kits are sold without any testing, they just compile the caps from a list, so any that have dimensional requirements aren't recognized unless someone give them feedback.
 
Ian responded to me. He asked for measurements of the OEM cap. Time to bust to bust out the calipers.
 
It depends on what model you have. There are 3 variations of Sun PSU and they are all slightly different. Japan, China and Taiwan. I have the Japan and China models and they are different.
 
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