Ripple Current Question

Passives Capacitors
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Hi. For the main filter capacitors in a home stereo amplifier, is higher or lower ripple current “better” or preferable? I’m replacing the caps in this amplifier and my two choices are these:

https://www.partsconnexion.com/MUNDORF-79745.html

There’s a tab that allows you to see the spec sheet for these Mundorf caps in that link.

Note that the CDE capacitor is the OEM capacitors in this amplifier. There are a total of 4 filter caps in this amplifier, 2 per channel or 20,000uF per channel. The amp is around 20 years old and, while it was used sparingly, I suspect it’s probably time to replace those 4 big caps …

Being a home stereo amplifier, I’m tempted to use the “audio grade” Mundorf capacitors. However, as you’ll notice in the spec sheets, the ripple current is much different between the CDE and Mundorf caps …

2

Welcome to the forum.

A higher ripple current tolerance spec is always better. If the ripple in the power applied to the capacitor exceeds the max limit the lifetime will be vastly reduced and may lead to a violent capacitor death.
Ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor#Ripple_current