Garage Door - Capacitor Help

[coopns]

I am guessing my 25 year old Boston Garage Door Opener was working intermittently for about 5 months, would go half way...start / stop. Finally called someone and they replaced the capacitor with a used one (and still charged $100 15 mins). Worked for 2 days. He said could work but to order a new one. Thanks. So I have the original capacitor and have been looking them up on ebay. Does it matter the opener brand or just the capacity/volts of capacitor? Are they like batteries with different names?

Here is my ebay search... Ebay Search Capacitor

Please advise.

See attachment for original capacitor.

 

[CT8]

I have enough experience with door openers to recommend to you the best thing to do is buy a new opener. The Capacitor was taken out be something down stream . You already wasted $100.00 on a worn out opener.

 

[OldSparks]

Any motor start capacitor of the same voltage rating and capacitance should work. They can dry out over time, or sometimes leak the electrolyte...

wiki

You can go to a local electrical supply store/HVAC store/motor rewinder to source one...

 

[barryh]

Any capacitor of the same voltage rating or higher and close to the same capacitance value will be fine. Starting capacitor failure is not uncommon after 25 years due to old age. I had one fail on my pressure washer and found a replacement on ebay.

 

[CourierDriver]

go to a aircondition parts house,,they will have one. mf-micro farads is important and voltage is important, i use to do hvac work,,recommend exact replacement..

 

[HerrStig]

You can try Digikey or Mouser on the internet. I hope you didn't pay 100 bucks for a used one. Ten bucks is more like it for a new one.

 

[BigD1]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chamberlain-Craftsman-LiftMaster-Garage-Door-Opener-Capacitor-53-64-Mfd-30B363-/280744349386?hash=item415daaceca:g:UmkAAOxyyiBR6ZKo

Original part for 1/2 horse power Liftmaster garage door openers.

 

[redbone3]

Originally Posted By: BigD1
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chamberlain-Craftsman-LiftMaster-Garage-Door-Opener-Capacitor-53-64-Mfd-30B363-/280744349386?hash=item415daaceca:g:UmkAAOxyyiBR6ZKo

Original part for 1/2 horse power Liftmaster garage door openers.


This guy has it right. The capacitor has to be NON POLARIZED, about the same capacitance, and equal or greater voltage rating.

 

[Nick1994]

Home Depot has a Chamberlain garage door opener on sale for $88

 

[coopns]

Thanks for all the replies.

My brand is Overhead 1/2 Horse. Just confirming that the brand doesn't matter with the capacitor.

I think I will try 1 for $20 bucks.

 

[Warstud]

Originally Posted By: OldSparks
You can go to a local electrical supply store/HVAC store/motor rewinder to source one...


Buy one locally because if it isn't a bad capacitor you may be able to return it. My Genie opener quit working a couple years ago so I bought a new capacitor but that wasn't the problem. So I ended up buying a new opener when I found out how old it was.

 

[djb]

You are unlikely to be able to return a used capacitor.

Replace with a capacitor of roughly the same capacitance. Most people think the capacitance is the key metric, but it's not. The exact value isn't critical, but you don't want to be more than about 20% off of the original.

The voltage should be rated the same, or slightly higher. Using a capacitor with a much higher voltage rating will result in a shorter service life for the capacitor and may even be a problem for the motor. The capacitance is rated at a specific percentage of the rated voltage, and may be lower at lower voltage.

The most important detail is the service type. This is an intermittent duty motor run capacitor. It needs to be non-polar, ruling out common electrolytic types used for DC electronics. It will be passing significant current while in use, thus must be constructed to not immediately burn out the foil internal connections. It only needs to work intermittently, so moderate internal heating is OK, but they still need to be sturdier than motor-start-only capacitors. There are also a whole slew of other ratings (X-rating, Y-rating for self-healing and direct mains connections, temperature ratings, etc).