Inon Z240 capacitors

Hi, 

My wife and I have had Z240s for years, and one by one they seem to die in the same way - the power drops off and is not controllable.  I don't believe this is the magnet problem - I've replaced most of them - but I'm led to believe it is the capacitors failing.  Capacitors can die, so I thought I'd strip one of the units and see what I can see.  The 240 has two capacitors in parallel - 500uF 330V, and should be reasonably easy to replace....if you can find them!  The problem appears to be that they are small - 20mm diameter and 40mm long.  In that size I can only find 350uF; the smallest 500uF are both longer and fatter. 

Has anyone managed to replace these capacitors, and if so where did you find the replacements?

PS ....yes I did discharge them before touching them!                  Pete

Google is probably your best bet, if you have a description or part number or other on your capacitor then try searching for that.  As to whether it's a capacitor, certainly if the capacitor has lost capacity it won't deliver full power dumps anymore, but if it's not controllable I would think that points to a different problem.  The capacitor is just an energy store and the control is via a thyristor which cuts off the power at the right time. 

Those ultra small size capacitors were produced by Japan manufacturer HITACHI, in limited quantities, by special orders of Inon and Sea&Sea. This is HD6 family of capacitors, it has always been in short supply due to a rare type of very rough foil inside. They are unavailable on casual open market of capacitors.  Of course, Inon can replace the capacitors together with the main electronic board in the service center, but it is not cheap including delivery costs.

Chris Ross already have written above, that problem may be not only in capacitors but also in the main electronic board. A year ago the spare PCB for Z240 was available, even including eBay, but currently product is totally discontinued. It may be available only in Inon service center. But officially, that spare PCB is discontinued.

The good way for repairing Z240 now can be in purchasing a damaged Z240, disassembling it for spare parts. Sometimes i used to buy it very cheap. Many people have them on hands, because this model was in production so many years.

Thanks for the replies, guys.  These strobes are probably now over 15 years old, and capacitors - particularly aluminium ones - don't have an infinite life.  We've got 3 or 4 of them, all of which exhibit the same performance so the problem is common to them.  Because of this, I'd also discounted a PCB/component failure. 

Pity, as apart from not working they look fine!!!  Looks like I need to raid the bank again....

Thanks.  Pete