"The mains-side filter caps for switching supplies tend to be large in
capacitance (100-200 and > uF), and typically are not suitable for
replacing the ~ 8-40uF B+ filter caps in vintage tube electronics that have
tube rectifiers."
This is true.
All of the common vacuum diode rectifiers have fairly significant
limitations, for the 1st cap in a cap-input PSU.
Devices like the 5U4 and 5AR4 might tolerate as much as 40-80uF at the
first pole (which is still fairly light), while others such as 5V4 might
only tolerate as little 4uF.
Point of my post - it seems as if the tube audio folks were being blamed
and/or shamed for the cost of high-voltage electrolytics.. and if anything,
they keep both the volume and demand up, and the prices reasonable.
On Wed, Nov 16, 2016 at 11:37 PM, Brent Hilpert <hilpert at cs.ubc.ca> wrote:
On 2016-Nov-16, at 8:44 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
On 11/16/2016 10:10 PM, drlegendre . wrote:
> "Note the "tube audio" folks gravitate to that stuff and tend to
cause
> seriously sick prices, because tubes."
>
>
> FYI - I've installed dozens of the new-production CE / Mallory caps,
all
of
> them in the 350-525V range. Zero complaints,
zero comebacks, in as long
as
I've
installed them. For those of us in that field, they're like a gift
from the gods.
Vintage tube audio doesn't need to get involved, except for the
old-style twist-lock Mallory cap design.
All the off-line switching supplies use either
250 V (120 supply only)
or 400+ (120/240 supply) capacitors as the main input
filter. So, at least,
capacitors in that voltage range are STILL being made, and are in all
computers, TVs and other home appliances. (Yes, I know the OP needed a 30
V cap.)
So, some other tube gear replacement parts may be scarcer than hen's
teeth,
but the HV caps are easily available.
(tending off-topic . . )
As long as one is being careful about the size (capacitance) of the
replacements.
IME, I've found limited benefit in trying to use/source/scavenge
switching-supply caps for tube gear.
The mains-side filter caps for switching supplies tend to be large in
capacitance (100-200 and > uF), and typically are not suitable for
replacing the ~ 8-40uF B+ filter caps in vintage tube electronics that have
tube rectifiers.
Maybe there are smaller ones in the smaller switching supplies around
these days, I haven't looked at those recently.