A question about the PHOTO-FLASH capacitor

[ghanbari]

Hello,
I want to make a circuit using a photo-flash capacitor rating above to 100uf/100v, but here in my country (Iran) i cant find this kind of capacitors. Can i use several normal electrolytic capacitors in parallel instead of it? Do several identical capacitors in parallel work as a single Low-ESR one like a Photo-Flash capacitor? Can they tolerate High currents without extreme heating?
thank you very much.

 

[shanky887614]

you would be better off looking on an electronics forum

element14 or eevblog are good ones

 

[Marvo]

Yes, you can use 2 x 50uF or 5 x 20uF in parallel to work as a 100uF. Just make sure they all are rated at 100v.

 

[Knobhead]

100V seems low for anything to do with a rapid "flash" discharge. You're going to have to be careful of the recharge rate.

 

[DPG]

Don't limit yourself to 100V caps - you can use higher voltage rated items also. Daz

 

[Lucien Nunes]

Photoflash capacitors used to have specially prepared anode foils to give the desired low ESR, sometimes using tunnel-etching to make a porous foil and two anode foils per cathode, to get the gratest anode area per unit volume. I would expect that with modern low-ESR caps you will get close, if not equal, performance as far as rate of discharge is concerned. Photoflash caps were never intended to sustain continuous high ripple, and would not tolerate much self-heating, so if this is a factor in your design, the alternatives might actually be better. As for ultimate lifespan with high peak discharge currents, you will be outside the parameters of most standard cap ranges so you would have to do your own tests as published data won't exist.

 

[pennychew]

you would be better off looking on an electronics forum

element14 or eevblog are good ones

I'm going to take a look on those, cheers Shanky

 

[ghanbari]

Hi Lucien, your perfect answer was very helpful for me.

 

[Knobhead]

Photoflash capacitors used to have specially prepared anode foils to give the desired low ESR, sometimes using tunnel-etching to make a porous foil and two anode foils per cathode, to get the gratest anode area per unit volume. I would expect that with modern low-ESR caps you will get close, if not equal, performance as far as rate of discharge is concerned. Photoflash caps were never intended to sustain continuous high ripple, and would not tolerate much self-heating, so if this is a factor in your design, the alternatives might actually be better. As for ultimate lifespan with high peak discharge currents, you will be outside the parameters of most standard cap ranges so you would have to do your own tests as published data won't exist.

I was a service agent for Bowens studio units. I calculated the O/P from my 1000j unit. The figures make your eyes water, 450A @660V.

Nasty if things go wrong.