Capacitor sourcing

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Gene Pink

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
626
Location
Austin, Texas
I have an ongoing need for caps similar to this, jpeg attached, 4.7uF 250V AC rated, it has to deal with near 1/3 amp continuously. There are 44 of these in use here, and when they wear down to less than 3uF, they are useless.

This is in a fluorescent lighting ballast from a cheap-ass "Shop Light", used in series with a 0.3H choke, direct to a single 40W tube for the "on" drive current. New replacement ballasts are 16 bucks, the whole fixture is only 12 bucks. That figures.

Note the lumps at the top of this cap, that is a 750K resistor encased, to bleed off the charge, just in case you unplug it live, and for some reason, decide to lick the plug. I don't need that, I can add my own "plug lick safe" resistor. Or not.

I have already exhausted my supply of 4.7's, and am now down to paralleling two 2.2UF's and a 1M resistor, close enough, they'll hold an arc.

Does anyone have a source for 4.7uF's at less than 5 bucks each, or any other 4.7uF that will handle the AC current?

Thanks,
Gene

 

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gyraf said:
korneev,

Any recommendable places to shop in Russia for people like us?

Jakob E.
It was only the example of the price, for comparison.
https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/50-PCS-LOT-CBB-capacitor-250-v-4-7-UF-250-feet-away-from-25-mm/32696724378.html
 
korneev said:
It was only the example of the price, for comparison.
https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/50-PCS-LOT-CBB-capacitor-250-v-4-7-UF-250-feet-away-from-25-mm/32696724378.html
...this specific cap looks like a 250VDC part. This might have a parts rating of about 110VAC.
Thanks for the link/idea.
 
https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/Fan-start-capacitor-CBB61-450V5UF-quality-hood-fan-blower-motor-capacitor/1611626047.html
 
Glass? Mercury??

I'm replacing fluorescents with LEDs as fast as I can go up/down the ladder.

The slightly improved efficiency (include fluorescent dim-down over time) means electric bill payback over some years. Not compelling but good.

So far none of my LEDs has caught fire. I've seen a school smoked-out by a large fluorescent, and had some minor puffs from compact fluorescents.

I really HATE when a fluorescent breaks. Toxic fumes and shards of glass.
 
Thanks to everyone for all the replies.

shabtek said:
led shop light bulbs have come down in price; might be a better long-term mod
I would really like to go that way,  but the fixtures are still about three times the cost of the $12.99 shoplight. Maybe in a couple years it will make economic sense to this CSOB. But not quite yet.

JohnRoberts said:
+1 to consider new technology, besides LED they also make electronic ballasts(?) that might drop in.
They do, and they are more expensive that a whole new fixture that includes the same ballast. I don't imagine they sell a lot of them to anyone with a lick of common sense.

korneev said:
https://ru.aliexpress.com/item/Fan-start-capacitor-CBB61-450V5UF-quality-hood-fan-blower-motor-capacitor/1611626047.html
Now, that's what I'm talking about. But, did the decimal point get shifted in the currency conversion? The price sounds too good to be true. Does that site perhaps have an english-speaking section? That would be great.

PRR said:
Glass? Mercury??

I'm replacing fluorescents with LEDs as fast as I can go up/down the ladder.
Just the tubes, or the whole fixture? Before today's intensive DuckDuckGo search, I didn't even know they made LED drop-in replacements for fluorescent fixtures that deal with whatever the ballasts throw at them.

The slightly improved efficiency (include fluorescent dim-down over time) means electric bill payback over some years. Not compelling but good.
It is a good direction to go, but not good enough yet, I'll give it a couple years before it is economically viable. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the technology, and already have the most often used light fixtures in my house loaded up with LEDs The color rendition is also getting better, but has much room for improvement, not that florescents do well with this, either. They are many spectral spikes that balance out to a perceived white, but they are not full-spectrum  wide-band white. If I want to sit down and read a book, gimme a GE 100W soft-white incandescent nice-n-hot bulb, just as Edison intended it to be.

So far none of my LEDs has caught fire. I've seen a school smoked-out by a large fluorescent, and had some minor puffs from compact fluorescents.

Yeah, been there, While fixing up Moms old house in Jersey, Dad had re-installed a couple really old fluorescent fixtures. Rusty reflectors painted over. Probably from the early 1800s, still had the steam inlet and pressure gauge on one end.  ;) Been working fine for near two century's, and within a week, both spewed their tar guts as a presumably flammable smoke/vapor. Atomized hydrocarbons, looking for a source of ignition, I'm surprised that what went wrong inside the ballast didn't set it off as a flamethrower..

If anyone is interested, here's what's going on inside these newer shop light not-quite-electronic ballasts. Not fully electronic with an inverter like a CF, but better than the old gapped transformer type.
 

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Gene Pink said:
Now, that's what I'm talking about. But, did the decimal point get shifted in the currency conversion?
The price sounds too good to be true. Does that site perhaps have an english-speaking section? That would be great.
If geolocation didn't work, try to delete "ru." from an address line.
https://aliexpress.com/item/50-PCS-LOT-CBB-capacitor-250-v-4-7-UF-250-feet-away-from-25-mm/32696724378.html
At the upper right choose the country of delivery and currency of recalculation.
 
korneev said:
If geolocation didn't work, try to delete "ru." from an address line.

I do appreciate your efforts in helping me, but there is no love between my browser and that site. No apparent way to get to something like "capacitors", even going through the front door.

That site is fine if I wanted to buy my wife a handbag or a bra, but experience has taught me to do neither of these, she would hate whatever it was, it would be "too big" or something.  I refer to a handbag, as it would be hard to find, or even construct, a bra that would be too big for my wife. 8)

Went to a local big box store tonight, the cheapest LED shop light fixtures were $45 USD, and they also had T-8 34W LED replacement tubes for $11 a par, not bad for when my  kitchen T-8s need replacing.

But nothing to replace the T-12 old-school lamps that infest my shop, some still of the silver end style, meaning a high mercury content. A green end means just barely enough mercury to last a short while, but legally disposable in the local landfill.

A little mercury absorbed into your system can be a good thing, keeps you sharp, how else would you have the presence of mind to know exactly who is out to get you?  ;)

Gene
 
Cheepest 2 bulb t8 fixture at local home improvement store is $10.97 + bulbs is cheeper than worry when fluorescent bulb breaks--i have several youngins 
 
As this was my field when I was at work, I might as well chip in.

The amount of Hg in a compact fluorescent is very small indeed, I wouldn't get too uptight about it.  They used to treat VD with mercury before anti-biotics!  If you ate too much tuna it would be about the same!  I'm more worried about the plasticiser used in plastic food containers,  It mimics our hormones, ever wondered why there was so little obesity when we recycled glass bottles for milk and soft drinks?

Modern fluorescents have red green blue narrow band phosphors plus the mercury plasma lines,  colour rendering is not wonderful.  LED lamps have one sharp blue peak plus broad band phosphors to give a very close approximation to an Edison light bulb emission.

I am fitting them exclusively as I renovate each room in the house.  I use down-lighters and the GU10 type LED's (the type that have two pins like a fluorescent starter).  The LED's are around £5 each but they last 50,000 hours, I have 8 in my kitchen ceiling burning only 40W in total!

DaveP
 
Gene Pink said:
I do appreciate your efforts in helping me, but there is no love between my browser and that site. No apparent way to get to something like "capacitors", even going through the front door.
That link works for my browser (safari) showing US price... but at $10 for one cap I'm still inclined to upgrade to modern technology.

JR
That site is fine if I wanted to buy my wife a handbag or a bra, but experience has taught me to do neither of these, she would hate whatever it was, it would be "too big" or something.  I refer to a handbag, as it would be hard to find, or even construct, a bra that would be too big for my wife. 8)

Went to a local big box store tonight, the cheapest LED shop light fixtures were $45 USD, and they also had T-8 34W LED replacement tubes for $11 a par, not bad for when my  kitchen T-8s need replacing.

But nothing to replace the T-12 old-school lamps that infest my shop, some still of the silver end style, meaning a high mercury content. A green end means just barely enough mercury to last a short while, but legally disposable in the local landfill.

A little mercury absorbed into your system can be a good thing, keeps you sharp, how else would you have the presence of mind to know exactly who is out to get you?  ;)

Gene
 
DaveP said:
As this was my field when I was at work, I might as well chip in.

The amount of Hg in a compact fluorescent is very small indeed, I wouldn't get too uptight about it. 
more worried about all the thin glass... they make a mess
They used to treat VD with mercury before anti-biotics!
They used to do lots of bat sh__ crazy stuff...  Radium was used as a health tonic.  :eek:
If you ate too much tuna it would be about the same!
Salmon is better, but modest amounts of tuna is better for you than worse (healthy fats). Tuna eat smaller fish so accumulate all their toxins. Salmon eat algae/plankton so have less accumulated toxins.
I'm more worried about the plasticiser used in plastic food containers,
I shifted to pyrex food containers years ago for frozen and microwave heated meal portions, in an excess of caution. I have paid attention for years and haven't seen any smoking guns (yet) associated with plasticizers, but i think there are less used these days in plastic bags and the like.
It mimics our hormones, ever wondered why there was so little obesity when we recycled glass bottles for milk and soft drinks?
Hormones influence appetite but there are many hormones at play and I am not aware of any direct connection between plasticizers and weight gain.  Excess visceral fat actually generates hormones (leptin and others) that can affect appetite and also make pro-inflammatory triggers that can precipitate other health problems.

The far easier explanation is the surfeit of food now available to all populations, and increased wealth moving them higher up the food chain (eating higher calorie beef instead of rice and fish heads). Several countries have started taxing sugar in foods to reduce obesity while I doubt that will work very effectively.  The other elephant in the room is the proliferation of labor saving devices. When I was kid I'd have to get up and feed the chickens before walking over a mile to school (uphill both ways).    8)

JR
Modern fluorescents have red green blue narrow band phosphors plus the mercury plasma lines,  colour rendering is not wonderful.  LED lamps have one sharp blue peak plus broad band phosphors to give a very close approximation to an Edison light bulb emission.

I am fitting them exclusively as I renovate each room in the house.  I use down-lighters and the GU10 type LED's (the type that have two pins like a fluorescent starter).  The LED's are around £5 each but they last 50,000 hours, I have 8 in my kitchen ceiling burning only 40W in total!

DaveP
 
JohnRoberts said:
That link works for my browser (safari) showing US price... but at $10 for one cap I'm still inclined to upgrade to modern technology.

JR
Do you mean, that I see others, than you?
 

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