Today one of the 680 uF caps blew in my carbon

The wife asked if a balloon popped and I knew immediately what happened.
The carbon was on pretty much all day, I forgot to turn it off.
And I put the megatron on top of it, which doesnt help for the heat dissipation either.

I have the AL-Elko SI4P from Al electrolytic (680 uF, 550V).

What is the advise for replacement for these currently as others have had also these issues?

E.g. replace all? And any recommendations on the best brand at this moment.

 

 

 

Sorry to hear this! 
Was this a blue one from the earlier group buys, like these? 

I am using the black Kemet caps and always for 105°C

Edited May 14, 20251 yr by audiostar

Yep exactly the same ones, I'll upload some pictures.

I was somehow expecting it, because I remember reading this a while ago. I forgot it was only 1 page back though

I'll go with the recommended replacements from Kemet  ALC10A681EL550

Unless there is new insight on something better. I would prefer a wider and less tall Cap due to the space in the chassis.

 

 

Replace all four big caps! You could interact in time so maybe no other parts was blown.

Hello Friends, a nice family shot with no load, no current limitation. Have to figure out why the bias doesn't kick in at 580V, otherwise quite happy.

 

Edit, discovered it's the dmm impedance, bias is just right 👍 

And another one's singing.

Friends, this is my first home experience with stax cans, now with a sr303 bought for a dime.

And I guess it'll be a long, long journey...

I'm in love with this cfa, its speed and clarity are a perfect match with speed and clarity of staxes, wow... It is refined, delicate and well behaved (apart the offset that needs a screwdriver sometimes... What's the tolerance for balance and offset? Trying to keep em spot on on zero, but slowly drifts away...) 

Thanks Kevin! 🙏 

12 hours ago, Michelag said:

And another one's singing.

... (apart the offset that needs a screwdriver sometimes... What's the tolerance for balance and offset? Trying to keep em spot on on zero, but slowly drifts away...) 

From the picture it looks like you didn't engage the servo?

29 minutes ago, sorenb said:

From the picture it looks like you didn't engage the servo?

Not yet, yesterday had the first working power up and wanted to listen to it a couple of hours 😁

1 hour ago, Michelag said:

Not yet, yesterday had the first working power up and wanted to listen to it a couple of hours 😁

if you engage the servo, you'll see the output will hover around zero pretty quickly
 

6 hours ago, sorenb said:

if you engage the servo, you'll see the output will hover around zero pretty quickly
 

Ok, so between 15/20 V, make it today

 

Edit: done, works like a charm.

Discovered also there's enough power to play with unbalanced inputs, later today will try it after my phono preamp.

For the enclosure, I guess I'll need some bespoke heatsinks and cutting aluminum myself, the power transformer with its pot has a diameter of 130mm. 

Please don't suggest me Hifi2000, tough I'm Italian, they're the most expensive around 😅

And so, yesterday was the great day of final close in the enclosure, it played flawlessly for a couple of hours, I came back at it for some music after dinner and PAM! A resistor burnt down with sparks and a flame in the region of DN2540 in the B+ board.

Me sad .

Have to tear it down again to investigate about arcing or whatnot, a nice picture of the event, so that you can smell that burnt chicken flavour 😁

More importantly, forgot to say that that PAM took along my DAP, as if a 450V discharged to ground suddenly, and my Fiio player (5 yo thanks God) broke down, not to restart anymore. One more thing to repair. 😒

I've seen someone experienced something similar, but mainly in the amp board, never on the HV one.

Possible cause?

 

Thought I never shared pictures of my build, et voilà.

Those 3.5 and 4.4 input connectors on the front do really a pragmatic job...

I fit a normal bias plug (thanks @JoaMat) so the writing is now aged 😁

Wanted to say that i have a headinclouds built KGSSHV from 2017. Rarely used, maybe 500 ish hours over the years. Turned it on yesterday to fizzle. Found both blue 680uf caps have blown... Hopefully nothing else. Will be reading this topic in the coming weeks!. Lucky i still have a Kerry T2 to use.

Edited July 27Jul 27 by rayofsi

those were the caps from the group buy?

they turned out to have significant longevity issues.

1 hour ago, kevin gilmore said:

those were the caps from the group buy?

they turned out to have significant longevity issues.

I didn't build this, but it definitely looks like the group buy ones, this was built in 2017 also, so time frame was not long after the groupbuy.