Condenser delema

[billw]

I have a 1961 Fastwin that I am fixing up. I went to get condensers for it and found, to my surprise, that 580321s were called for. 1962 and up called for 580422 which changed to 581419. I never remembered 580321s being used on bigger motors. I know condensers are supposed to be matched to coils. That’s fine. But when you’ve changed the coil to a modern one, now what are you really supposed to use for a condenser? (Orange drops are not my thing. I want it to look like it’s supposed to look.) I know that I can probably use either one and it won’t make a bit of difference; but what is the right thing to do here?

Long live American manufacturing!

[chris-p]

Some of the PN# changes were simply the lead length. Same UF rating.

[frankr]

I used to think I understood the relationship between the OMC coils and condensers, but now I think I don’t understand all that I think I know.
I used to think 580422 condenser was used with the thick lamination coils 580197 and 580321 condenser with the thin coils 580416

But that ain’t necessarily so. See chart, 580422 with thick 580197 coil on 15hp AND 580321 with thick 580197 coil 40hp. There’s gotta be another variable somewhere. Magnet size???

[joecb]

Here you go , Joe’s free opinion on condensers ( you know about what is said about free advice) …. For the vast majority of the motors that we commonly deal with a capacitor of .22 uf will do the job. The idea of "matching" to the coil and mag is no doubt a great thing in theory. However in practical terms, even the modern caps are rated plus/ minus 10% of labeled value. I would guess that the old paper/ wax caps of days gone by were lucky to be +/- 20%. If you look at most charts the range of recommended capacitance is 5 uf. so add to that a +/- 20% and you begin to get a better picture of what will work in a particular motor. Thanks to the help of one of our members that is tech savey we have found a modern foil cap that has yet failed to bring back to life any motor that we have tried it on. Vishay 1839HQ .22uf +/- 5% rated at 850 volt. And best of all they are small enough to retrofit into most of the old cap "cans" for those that like to maintain the original appearance.

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[jeff-register]

Joe,
I remember researching that with you,

[amuller]

OK! If I’ve found the right one they are $3.48 or $28 for ten at Digi-Key. https://www.digikey.com/products/en?mpa … 084HQ&v=56

Anyone found a better place to get these?

Some people seem to be using the orange gumdrop capacitors. How do they compare?

[billw]

Lol. Well, thanks for the inputs, everyone. While I have always tried to use the correct OEM type condenser for every application, when there are no options, I always resort to the old Post Office advertising slogan, "If it fits, it ships." I have never had a problem with that. I just put the ‘321s (since I don’t have any ‘419s in stock and I want to run the motor Saturday) in my 18 last night; and it has the typical, OMC big whack. It’ll be just fine.

Long live American manufacturing!

[bob-d]

Here is the entire list of all of the different values offered.
I believe Mumbles was the first one to come up with these.
Bob D

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