[Photon46]

I've been conversing with a well known after market modification business who has told me they no longer use Black Gate capacitors because, in part, they suffer from sub-par reliability. I'm curious what others have to say about this, as I've not heard this before. In fact, I've often seen the Black Gates advertised as having a much longer than average life. I know they are no longer manufactured, so perhaps this is influencing their advice?

[mgalusha]

I've used them in various projects and have so far never had a problem. All or at least most other manufactures rate the lifetime of their caps relative to temperature but I can't recall seeing these published for Black Gates. Perhaps that didn't fit in with some of the, shall we say, non-technical writings on their web site.

[*Scotty*]

I have had zero problems with them in my projects and I used them for over a decade before switching to Panasonic FM caps. I switched for performance related reasons and not reliability concerns.
One reason a mod business might be inclined to stop using them is that Rubycon ceased making them so the cost of remaining NOS has gone up and some values and voltages may no longer be available. I think their claims for longevity may be over stated. That said the chances that a component will become obsolete or fail from some other cause unrelated to cap failure is much more likely these days.
Scotty

[art]

Sounds like someone is trying to ease you into why they can't get them any longer.

Some of the stuff Gelmax writes makes no sense. I tend to ignore what they say, and use them when I deem necessary.

Pat