Please identify this part.

[Stefan]

Hi, I'm new to this forum and also new to electronics. A friend told me that i should replace this part on my PC graphic card (which started causing problems) before i throw it away and buy a new one.

I know that I can just go to the store and tell them to give me exactly this, but I'm curious and I want to know what this part is I've noticed that the capacitors in a PC look exactly the same but the codes are different.

Thanks in advance.

 

[(*steve*)]

I would say it's a 330uF 16V electrolytic capacitor.

However that doesn't tell the whole story. This may be a low ESR capacitor, or may have other characteristics.

Why do you think it's faulty anyway?

 

[shrtrnd]

The key is the manufacturer's logo.
Yours is Fujitsu.
Start looking for Fujisu data.

 

[Stefan]

Thanks for the info guys. I don't know if its faulty btw, my friend mentioned that there are rare occasions when these parts can be faulty even if they arent showing it. So there are 5 x 1500uF 6.3V capacitors (replaced them with new ones) and the one i posted a jpg of.

P.S I didint know that the "F" stands for manufacturer's logo, so I'll google for a Fujitsu database.

 

[Stefan]

And i googled for "Fujitsu solid capacitors"

and found this out:

The 'b' in this case indicates the series...which is RE/R7, meaning 7 mohms ESR.
331 = 33 + 1x0
330 uf
16v

thx again

 

[(*steve*)]

Here is the current data. However it doesn't list 851b...

 

[Stefan]

K now, can it be replaced with an electrolytic capacitor with the same values? Cause the store that im currently shopping from isnt that much specialized and they dont got solid state capacitors

 

[(*steve*)]

Is the capacitor rated for 105C and is it low ESR?

If not then it will either fail very soon, or be worse than the one you removed. From what I can tell, the capacitor you removed had very impressive specs and are probably unlikely to be matched by a normal electrolytic -- even a low ESR cap.

It is possible that this capacitor was used in a non-critical position where it's specs mean it's overrated, but this would also mean it's not highly stressed an unlikely to fail.

You still haven't told us why you think it failed.

Unlike normal electrolytics, these capacitors don't leak or dry out. I'm also not exactly sure how they do fail...

edit: you probably want to read this page to see why you don't want to replace a solid polymer (not solid state) capacitor with a normal electrolytic.

 

[Stefan]

Here's how they fail

I pulled these out of the same graphic card... and i know solid state are better than electrolytic. And since capacitors are extremely cheap, my friend suggested changing them all before throwing away the card...

So I guess by pulling the impressive specs capacitor I messed it up
Ah well... it wasnt working anyway xD

edit: oh wait... i just read the link u posted... i guess these ARE just wet electrolytic... cause they got "K" on top (sorry, im new)

 

[(*steve*)]

AHA! Those have very definitely failed.

And I note that one of them may have gotten very warm too.

Capacitors with the right specs may not be as cheap as you think, but they're not too expensive. If you can, I'd put the red labelled one back in. Do you remember which way around it went?

 

[Stefan]

yep... i'll put that one back in, and replace the others with new ones (since they are electorlytic).

edit: the graphic card is working just fine i guess the obviously failed ones were the problem. thanks for everything!

 

[(*steve*)]

Yeah, an obvious failure like that can cause faults

If the new capacitors you have are not good enough, you will find they will fail.

They may swell up, or leak, or fail like the originals.

If this happens, you'll need to replace them with better capacitors.