On 06/08/2017 01:28 PM, Cursitor Doom wrote:

This is the only pic that came out for some reason, but it's got most of
the important info on it. You can't quite see, but it has 5 terminals for
some reason, but on the board only 2 of them are connected. It's gone
seriously low-res internally, BTW, so *does* need replacing.

Questions: what makes this thing so special as to cost so much?
Why have the designers used such a huge capacity cap in this low current
drain application?

Probably because they got a bunch of large value weird-ass caps cheap
and that's what they use in everything. Like a guy who asked me why they
used a 1N4002 in this one mass-produced rack effects box when a 1N4001
would've been fine from a ratings perspective and it's cuz "that's what
they use in everything"

If I can source a generic electrolytic of the same spec or better for
30 quid, why should I not use that instead of the bespoke replacement??

They're like 5 bucks:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/United-Chemi-Con/ESMH160VSN473MR50T/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMtZ1n0r9vR22dBjIkbB%252b54P4MErU9o8dM Q%3d