There have been "failures" on the CE can capacitors that have been discussed on ARF. I still am a firm believer of using modern, well respected brand manufacturers of capacitors to "restuff" or hide in the chassis to restore vintage equipment and to provide longevity.
There are only 2 brands of electrolytics I really focus on using for use on my personal stuff. There are other brands as well, but here's my 2 go-to's:
Matsushita/Panasonic and Nichicon.
No one should be using XICON. This is an in-house brand of Mouser. There are NO date codes on these capacitors or trace codes. When I worked in contract manufacturing, our quality control guy called Mouser to inquire about a Xicon subminiature audio transformer the customer specified in their product that had issues with excessive wax on the leads. He was told by the Mouser rep, that "XICON" is basically a name placed on products that is "bid" by whoever is willing to produce the item at X cost and X quantity.
My translation: It could be a highly respected Chinese manufacturer or a smelt pit in the ground.
I have had no real issues with Xicon resistors, miniature passive parts like audio transformers, but I would NEVER use Xicon caps regardless of voltage ratings. Years ago, a long time member of ARF who I have much respect for posted he had purchased a large group of Xicon electrolytic caps that were new and when he went to measure their ESR values, they were all unacceptably high even though they were brand spanking new!
So, I always shake my head in disgust when I see some beautifully restored radios on ARF and someone shows an underside-of-the-chassis photo and there are the baby blue Xicon electrolytic caps being used as the main filter capacitors. To me, that is is like finding a mint Auburn or Cord in a barn, making sure the engine is free and then going to Orielly's and buying their cheapest in-house brand motor oil to use to fill up the crankcase and drive it around. "Sure, it works fine, so what is the problem?"
Off of soap box.
There have been "failures" on the CE can capacitors that have been discussed on ARF. I still am a firm believer of using modern, well respected brand manufacturers of capacitors to "restuff" or hide in the chassis to restore vintage equipment and to provide longevity.
There are only 2 brands of electrolytics I really focus on using for use on my personal stuff. There are other brands as well, but here's my 2 go-to's:
Matsushita/Panasonic and Nichicon.
No one should be using XICON. This is an in-house brand of Mouser. There are NO date codes on these capacitors or trace codes. When I worked in contract manufacturing, our quality control guy called Mouser to inquire about a Xicon subminiature audio transformer the customer specified in their product that had issues with excessive wax on the leads. He was told by the Mouser rep, that "XICON" is basically a name placed on products that is "bid" by whoever is willing to produce the item at X cost and X quantity.
My translation: It could be a highly respected Chinese manufacturer or a smelt pit in the ground.
I have had no real issues with Xicon resistors, miniature passive parts like audio transformers, but I would NEVER use Xicon caps regardless of voltage ratings. Years ago, a long time member of ARF who I have much respect for posted he had purchased a large group of Xicon electrolytic caps that were new and when he went to measure their ESR values, they were all unacceptably high even though they were brand spanking new!
So, I always shake my head in disgust when I see some beautifully restored radios on ARF and someone shows an underside-of-the-chassis photo and there are the baby blue Xicon electrolytic caps being used as the main filter capacitors. To me, that is is like finding a mint Auburn or Cord in a barn, making sure the engine is free and then going to Orielly's and buying their cheapest in-house brand motor oil to use to fill up the crankcase and drive it around. "Sure, it works fine, so what is the problem?" :x :x :x
Off of soap box.
