Bowens esprit 500 replacement capacitors

[paulc]

my friend has been given one of these with a blown capacitor and was wondering if anyone knew of a place to get a replacement, it is an epcos 3200uf 400v...any help would be appreciated, I will try bowens and maplins but I am hoping that someone on here may know of a reasonable place to get a replacement.

thankyou in advance.

 

[Darkroom]

Don't know if the spares from Bowens are cheaper than elsewhere but their technical department in Essex are very helpful.

You could try CPC or RS

http://cpc.farnell.com/
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/home.html

 

[paulc]

Thanks for the reply Darkroom I am going to have a look around today.

Cheers
paul

 

[cowasaki]

You could do with unsoldering one of the caps and showing the top of it plus the height and diameter.

The spec is 3200uF but you can go for anything of that voltage or higher so anything higher than 400V is fine.

 

[paulc]

Thanks Cowasaki, the top of the cap is just two soldered terminals and although i have not measured the diameter yet because I was hoping to get a direct epcos replacement but it is about 4" long and 1.5" diameter...presently I cant find one on ebay or internetville :-(

 

[ChrisH]

Have a look at Farnell, CPS, Radio spares.

Thats not the sort of thing you will get on ebay.

When you say it's blown, what signs does it show ?

 

[paulc]

Have looked on farnell,cps,rs and maplin all to no avail, bowens said we only sell to calumet and warehouse express so I am awaiting a return call off caulumet.

the cap has exploded at the front and apparently went off like a shotgun...i will put up some more images in a moment.

 

[paulc]

pictures added to original post, you can see that one cap has exploded.

 

[timmygcsc2308]

not sure if I need to tell you this but be careful, the other beefy cap could still be holding a charge, if it discharges on you..owww
Anyway, try rapid electronics:
http://www.rapidonline.com/

I used them when I built a couple of amplifiers, good service.

Farnells are awsome too

 

[Hairyduck]

You'll probably find that it's cheaper to get another second hand unit of ebay...

The caps are usually fast discharge ones and come in as very expensive. Bowens won't supply parts like this to non approved repairers. I can't echo the be careful bit enough, having blown up a quad pack a few years by acidentally shorting out a connection with a meter probe I can tell you they go with a hell of a bang, thanksfully it wasn't my body that absorbed it but the meter probe, which it melted totally as well as vaporising all of the tracks on the main circuit board.

 

[paulc]

Yes thanks for the warning these caps have two drain resistors attached so they dump quickly without being dischgarged.

 

[Oggy]

This should do.

Can I just re-iterate Timmy's warning. These things pack a very nasty bight.

 

[paulc]

Cheers Oggy i was looking at one of these on ebay for £25.00