Smoothing capacitors.

[Marc coles]

Hi all. I have a leaking smoothing capasitor but am struggling to find what one s I need. I have a a&r cambridge a60. Any help appreciated.

 

[rmorris]

Hi all. I have a leaking smoothing capasitor but am struggling to find what one s I need. I have a a&r cambridge a60. Any help appreciated.

The caps will usually have the values for capacitance and rated voltage printed on the case.
If you cant see them then may need to remove from board to see - unless the print has worn off ?
Depending on the age of the capacitors replacements may be smaller in size.
Some might suggest to increase the capacitance wrt the original value but bear in mind that this places extra load on the transformer etc.

 

[rutherfordpaul]

I may be unfair in saying this but WHY are you asking a question that with a little effort you could have answered in about a minute.

Go to ...
http://www.retrohifi.co.uk/a60_amp_service_manual.pdf
... and you will find that your capacitor is

Please don't dump problems unnecessarily on others.

 

[harnfield]

If the inside of the A60 case gets noticeable warm in use, it might be worth buying the 105 degree rated capacitors, instead of more standard 85 degree capacitors. The 105 cost a bit more, and should last longer to spec if that is a consideration. I understand that values can halve over the life of the capacitor, even if they did not start to leak. Hence bass performance would decline etc.

Panasonic electrolytic capacitors are good quality, and can be found on eBay. RS Components and Farnell are also worth checking out online.

Check compatibility of the specification & dimensions, as Marc Coles mentioned.

While un-soldering, could use a solder suck-type device (or braid) to remove excess solder, then straighten the tips of the leads protruding from the pcb. Then should be possible to remove without damaging the printed circuit board. (Could cut off the old capacitors first, then work on removing the ends of the leads from pcb.)

 

[harnfield]

Well Paul,
6800 microfarad is understood, but "35"?
not obvious to this newbie (moi)

thanks mr. morris for your helpful post

 

[rmorris]

Well Paul,
6800 microfarad is understood, but "35"?
not obvious to this newbie (moi)

thanks mr. morris for your helpful post

Thanks.

35 means 'rated voltage' is 35 Volts (dc)
You can use higher voltage rated parts no problem and, everything else being equal, the expected lifetime would be extended although tbh you'll never really know !
Similarly there is a rated temperature and 105 deg will give longer life than 85 deg.
The useful figure to look at is the 'lifetime' figure in hours - maybe in the region of 2000 to 10000 hours.
That doesn't look very long at first ( 10000 hours is less than 60 weeks ) but don't worry - that is the expected life at rated voltage and temperature - and increases steeply as the operating conditions decrease from these.
And it also depends on ripple current.
Lower ESR caps are (in most cases) preferable but any decent quality new cap should last for years.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

Good advice from R.Morgan there I fully concur.

 

[ChristianThomas]

Actually the advice given so far isn't that great. You actually want 10,000uF capacitors, 40V. When they started making the A60 they used 10,000uF Sprauge caps. 73D0060. I shouldn't think you could get these any more though I have a pair here. They are quite large and pale blue. Later they moved to Rubicons, I believe. After about serial no 20,000 at a guess. Rubycon make good caps and anything from their standard range should do. If you want to improve the sound of your A60, though it is a risk and you will lose some of its warmth, then I would recommend going for some BC Component computer grade caps. Again at 10,000 uF.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

Oh yes it is! It doesn't matter what make they are and definitely don't try to get original types as they will be knackered by now.