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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Help me identify this capacitor!

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Help!

I was taking apart my laptop in a hurry and my big clumsy gorilla hands broke off this capacitor... It was near the power supply section of the board, so I fear it may be vital, and I don't feel like powering the laptop up without it to find out...

Sorry if it's not strictly laser related, but it's an emergency!

I'm not sure, is it a 720nf or is it a 56pf? 2.5v or 25v? What does the PC stand for?

HELP!!!
 

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Being that it is a can and with a polarization mark, I think its an electrolytic.  My guess is 560 mfd at 2.5 volts.  That 2.5 doesn't seem to be high enough for most applications.  Just a guess.

Mike

I looked in DigiKey and there are 560 mfd - 2.5 volt caps listed.
 
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Yeah, 2.5v seems really low, especially considering where in the laptop it was.. It was right near where the AC adapter jack comes in, and is attached to two very large contacts on the board... My guess is that section of the board handles 18v, so I'm guessing the cap is 25v rather than 2.5...
 
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Can you send a photo of the board? Is it a SMT device? I saw a nice page some time ago explaining notations of SMT devices, but I can't find it again... You could make a basic circuit to test it out - do you have the basic electronic stuff to build a capacitor tester?

Sorry if I'm missing something but why can't you resolder it, and if you can't then how does identifying it help you? I agree that 2.5v is too small but without knowing the board's layout etc it's quite hard.
 
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You can't hurt anything going to a higher rated voltage... and like HM said..
it looks like a 560uF electrolytic to me as well...

Normally large caps are used to filter the Power supply of electronic devices...
and that value and voltage seems to make sense..

Check the DigiKey data sheets for Electrolytic caps of this value and voltage
and check their physical size compared to yours. Manufactures of Electrolytic
caps try to keep the size down to a minimum (costs) and a 560uF/25V electrolytic
cap can only be made so small.


Jerry
 
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25V is a more common value for capacitors than 2.5V and it is more likely 560uf and it is an electrolytic cap.
 
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Thanks guys,

I think I figured it out... I'm guessing it really is 2.5v, as odd as that may be... I found a similar cap on a dead motherboard, soldered it to some wires (since it was too big), and it seems to be working fine now... The markings on the replacement cap are: 544 SEPC 560 4, so I'm guessing it's 560uf, 4v...
Too bad I couldn't find a better place to put it though, I kinda wanted that slot for like a second wifi card, a bluetooth card, or an SSD... Oh well. At least it works.

Charlie Bruce: I actually broke off one of the pins when I did it, so there was no simply soldering it back in place... I'm interested in any links to building a capacitance tester though... That could be useful down the line..
 

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pseudolobster said:
Thanks guys,

I think I figured it out... I'm guessing it really is 2.5v, as  odd as that may be... I found a similar cap on a dead motherboard, soldered it to some wires (since it was too big), and it seems to be working fine now... The markings on the replacement cap are: 544 SEPC 560 4, so I'm guessing it's 560uf, 4v...
Too bad I couldn't find a better place to put it though, I kinda wanted that slot for like a second wifi card, a bluetooth card,  or an SSD... Oh well. At least it works.

Charlie Bruce: I actually broke off one of the pins when I did it, so there was no simply soldering it back in place... I'm interested in any links to building a capacitance tester though... That could be useful down the line..

It's not worth building one... when you can buy a capacitance meter with other functions
so inexpensively....
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Digital-Multimet...ryZ73160QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Jerry
 




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