PSA: Don't buy those cheap capacitor kits off Aliexpress

I spent $35 on a 200-piece capacitor assortment from a seller called PartsMall2019 and every single one tested way out of spec on my Peak ESR meter. The 100uF caps were reading 80uF at best and three were dead on arrival. Has anyone else gotten burned by these cheap kits or am I just unlucky?

3 comments

3 Comments

grayc2716d ago

$35 for 200 caps shouldve been your first red flag honestly.

the_avery16d ago

Got burned the exact same way honestly. I used to defend those cheap kits because hey, they're cheap right? But after testing a batch of 47uF caps that all came in at like 35uF I changed my mind completely. Theres zero QC on that stuff, just random parts thrown in a bag. @grayc27 is right, $35 for 200 pieces was definitely the first red flag I ignored too. I ended up buying from Mouser and Digikey after that, yeah its more money but at least the parts actually work. Its not worth the headache of troubleshooting dead caps in a build.

wesley_martin1d ago

Yeah I'm definitely changing my mind after hearing this. I used to think those cheap kits were a decent deal if you just needed random caps for testing, but if half of them are dead or way out of spec that's just throwing money away. Did you have any luck with certain sellers before this or was it all bad?