Bloomin' cheapo capacitors!!!

[2cvbloke]

Ok, it's not technically TV or satellite related, but it needs a soldering iron!!! My mum's little tank, a fishRfun FRF-555 hex tank, has a faulty light, I just took it apart and would you believe it, one of the two caps is swollen, badly, but luckily the tank's not in use (the now-not-so-little fishies all live in a much bigger tank), so there was no danger of poisoning the fish. Anyway, I managed to find and buy some same rating caps on eBay and I'll be fixing the light and getting the tank cleaned up & ready for use...

I just need to buy a new tube for the light as the replacement I bought, thinking it was just the tube, is scorched just like the old one, and it's not a standard 4 or 8w one, it's in the middle at 6w...

Just another excuse to use me soldering iron...

 

[Robbo]

I think I have the same tank, and it did the same, they obviously use the cheapest rubbish they can find.

I chucked the light out and replaced it with LEDs.

 

[2cvbloke]

I think I have the same tank, and it did the same, they obviously use the cheapest rubbish they can find.

I chucked the light out and replaced it with LEDs.

That idea had crossed my mind, but my mum likes likes plants and the LEDs can't supply the right light spectrum for them and they go all straggly and die off...

The tank's been stored for at least half of this year, as there's been no urgency to get the light repaired & working so it's just been sat doing nowt, but as my mum wants it in the kitchen filled with Guppies it needs a heater aswell which it currently doesn't, but Ill sort it all out when there's a space for it...

The one thing that annoys me about these tanks is that people got out & buy them and stick any old fish they fancy in there, not realising that the fish may not be suited to such a small environment and die off within a few months (if they're lucky, maybe longer, but the fish does suffer badly). A good example is the type of fish my mum has, Orandas, they can grow up to a foot in length in the right environgment, but my sister bought them with the tank and plopped them right in (aswell as another one which died within a couple of days) without "cycling" the tank first...

Anyway, that's all fish talk, not electronics talk, but I'd love to see an electronic fish talk...

 

[TINAC]

Hi there i hope you dont mind me asking but my sons tank the frf 555 has exactly the same problem i was just searching google for a solution lol
thr manufactur are recomending a complete replacement hood to solve problem at £21.
is there any chance you could give me some information on how to fix the problem, is it straight forward to do? thanks Tina x

 

[stuz]

Hi there i hope you dont mind me asking but my sons tank the frf 555 has exactly the same problem i was just searching google for a solution lol
thr manufactur are recomending a complete replacement hood to solve problem at £21.
is there any chance you could give me some information on how to fix the problem, is it straight forward to do? thanks Tina x

If you know your basic electronics then its really easy to do. You need to get a multimeter and find out what component is faulty (do this by testing if current is still flowing from the source, then check voltage drops across resistors etc) then when you find the faulty part its a matter of either eBay or best bet is going down to maplins where you can get components for literally pennies. Then you get out your soldering iron and replace the part, its fairly simple!

 

[2cvbloke]

I forgot to post an update on this, I had replaced the caps, but I think the tube that was with it was pretty much dead, so until I get a new tube for it I won't be able to say whter it worked or not...

Anyway, yes, the best way to replace the light is to replace the entire hood, which seems a bit overkill, especially if the new light is going to fail in exactly the same way!!! This link has a Beech coloured hood for £19.95 (free P&P):

_http://www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/frf555-replacement-beech-hood-assy-p-900.html

If you're good with a drill and a file (or know someone who is), you could fit what's known in the aquatics trade as a Power Compact light in place of the original light, these are better than the little tubes in the FRF tanks as they run on a seperate power source so you can have a timer on it (8-10 hours os best for a tank to preventalgae growth)...

Speaking of tanks, my mum's tank needs one of the filters cleaning out, lovely...

 

[Analoguesat]

The problem is probably continuing fallout from this story.

http://www.niccomp.com/taiwanlowesr.htm

Ive been having problems here at work with external psu's for our 19" monitors blowing. Out of 80 odd monitors Ive had to get over 30 psu's replaced in 18 months.... They caused by bulging capacitors - I smashed one of them open to have a look inside and immediately spotted the wonky caps.

 

[2cvbloke]

The problem is probably continuing fallout from this story.

http://www.niccomp.com/taiwanlowesr.htm

Ive been having problems here at work with external psu's for our 19" monitors blowing. Out of 80 odd monitors Ive had to get over 30 psu's replaced in 18 months.... They caused by bulging capacitors - I smashed one of them open to have a look inside and immediately spotted the wonky caps.

I remember reading an article similar to that one a few years back on dodgy capacitors, and I have seen PC motherboards (cheap low-end ones mostly) with bulging, leaking or even detonated capacitors!!! But how we're still getting these dodgy capacitors is beyond me, they know that there was a dodgy electrolyte recipie, they know they caused serious problems in electronics, but they're still on the market!!! :mad:

But, it's just another example to show that cheap is not good... :-Nooo

 

[Analoguesat]

Yeah but remember there will have been billions made and a lot of those wont fail for a long time under normal use. I bet good money theres still stuff made around then with wonky caps in them stashed in warehouses around the world ready to give buyers a nasty shock 5 years from now

 

[HB13DISH]

I remember reading an article similar to that one a few years back on dodgy capacitors, and I have seen PC motherboards (cheap low-end ones mostly) with bulging, leaking or even detonated capacitors!!! But how we're still getting these dodgy capacitors is beyond me, they know that there was a dodgy electrolyte recipie, they know they caused serious problems in electronics, but they're still on the market!!! :mad:

But, it's just another example to show that cheap is not good... :-Nooo

I am not surprised at all.
When an electronics company designs a product, they start off with protypes, then a part list with all the approved parts used.
When they go into production, their purchasing people look for the cheapest alternatives to use in the assembly lines. Their aim is to lower the price of the products so that the end user can pay less or the company would make a better profit.
These alternatives are not always suitable because they have never been tested and when the products start to fail, then they get the failure analysis with the parts that keep failing.
By this time, the company's name and reputation is affected, but hey who cares?
The purchasing manager can say that he has reduced cost by few cents and therefore he should have a better company's car.
There is another reason. The electrolytic aluminum capacitors are too expensive from American well known manufacturers and therefore they are purchased from the far east which are good in quality in general, but not as good as the better brands.

 

[2cvbloke]

It's ridiculous, they're basically comprimising our safety, and making money off it, not to mention taking our money over and over again when we have to replace the dead electronic items... :mad:

 

[HB13DISH]

It's ridiculous, they're basically comprimising our safety, and making money off it, not to mention taking our money over and over again when we have to replace the dead electronic items... :mad:

You are absolutely right.
That is why I buy only the more expensive products which can save me a bundle on servicing, not to mention that I will not have the product working until I get it to work again.
I bought Nokia receivers in the past and only last month I had a faulty aluminum capacitor, but I replaced it easily and now it is as good as new.

 

[2cvbloke]

You are absolutely right.
That is why I buy only the more expensive products which can save me a bundle on servicing, not to mention that I will not have the product working until I get it to work again.
I bought Nokia receivers in the past and only last month I had a faulty aluminum capacitor, but I replaced it easily and now it is as good as new.

Thing is, sometimes even expensive stuff doesn't always use expensive and tested components, so you still have problems later on...

As for Nokias, well, I have both my 9800S (haven't actually used it in a while) and a 9850T former On-Digital terrestrial box, and both are great, plus my Nokia mobiles over the years have been great too, but they're a different thing...