I have been thinking about how nice it has been to able to order just about any electrolytic or mylar cap I have needed to fix my old tube type radios and TV's from distributors like Mouser and get them brand new and in 2 days. I can still even order things like terminal strips which likely wouldn't be used in most of today's electronics.

I have wondered if I need to stock up on things like mylar caps which do not degrade over time so that, in 20 years for instance, I can still maintain and repair my equipment. Is it things like switching power supplies that are still using 450 and 630 volt rated caps? Would the devices which use these kind of caps be on the phase-out?
I wouldn't want to have a time in the future where a .047/630 volt cap for instance ends up being $5 or $10 a piece or unavailable because there's not a mass commercial demand for them.

See how easy it is to get a set of tubes for an AA5, about 40 years after they
stopped making those radios? I wouldn't worry about that kind of capacitors.
Plenty of people in power electronics research lab are using such parts
routinely, I don't think production is even decreasing. Good luck!

I don't think there's anything to worry about, either. There is still plenty of HV equipment in service to warrant production of such caps.

You ever open up one of the new electronic florescent light ballasts or one of the compact florescent lamps? There are several 1600 volters in those. I dont think they are going anywhere for some time.

And I dont know about the 'they dont go bad with age' thing. I have replaced several bad ones in late 60s early 70s sets and those are American made. Time will only tell how these Chinese ones are going to fair.
I also have a Elmenco orange drop kit here from the 70s and they are all bad.

I also have a Elmenco orange drop kit here from the 70s and they are all bad.

Funny, all of my brown elmencos (actually "Arco-ElMencos") check well within tolerance and are leak-free. My 90V battery I use for leakage testing is dead, so I fired up my trusty HP-Harrison 400V HV supply to 430V (the most it'll put out), and not a drop of leakage on six of eight values. I tried a "Good-all" .1@600 for comparison - the "good-all" shows 12 uA of DC leakage at only 100V.

I also have several of the elmenco kits, most obtained from TV shops long ago. The silver mica cap kits are valuable - the 1000V rating is rare these days, and one went on eBay for 68 bucks - we're talking only 20 or so caps still in the kit!

BTW - SBE, the maker of orange drops for themselves and Vishay-Sprague, has shifted their production to China. I got a load of caps from Mouser, (Vishay-Sprague orange drops) and the labeled country of origin was "CN" A quick email to Mouser verified this meant China, and another email to SBE verified the shift of production as well. Nuthin' is made here anymore...:mad:

The orange drops from China all check well within tolerances. I gave up on other caps when my 1949 freshly-recapped Silvertone radio started smoking. A .047uf cap (ETR branded, made in China) shorted and got really hot. I pulled it and every other ETR cap out, no damage done. I love orange drops - the smaller values are tough to find, but Epcos, Illinois Capacitor (MPR/MSR) and Panasonic make those values too. Trouble is, you gotta go to three different distributors...

Take a look on Alibaba - you can get .01uF 630V axials from China for 2 cents each - how much Quality testing goes on if they can afford to sell them for 2 cents each?:thumbsdn:

I fixed an inverter for a buddy that had shorted caps across the input. No other problems once the Chinese "MIEC" branded 220uF 63V caps were pulled. I thought he had juiced it with 24V, but with 63V caps, such couldn't be the case. I put in some Mouser-supplied United Chemicons (made in Taiwan) that are holding up just fine.

So Chad, to get to your question, no, HV caps aren't going away. Digi-key sells the Panasonic 450V radials, Allied sells the Illinois Capacitor 630V axials and the ASC 2000V+ axials (love em!) and Mouser and Allied both sell the 600V Orange drops. All quality stuff.

Cheers,