I have gotten yet again more odd parts.

[CodeMonk]

I get 90% of my parts from here : http://www.apexelectronic.com/index.htm
Its a surplus electronics supply place. And its heaven on earth for DIY folks.
Not exactly a Radioshack, Fry's or whatever type of place.
You want a component of whatever value,  you take what you can find (or something close to it) and be happy with it.
Hell, I was there a few weeks ago looking for 10k resistors. None. Found some nice 9.31K - 1% resistors though.
Also found some 100K 1% metal film resistors. Got 500+ of them for around $5

The other day, I was looking for some 4.7K resistors, found these (4.75K - 0.01%):





Anyway, my reason for this post...
These are 0.22uF caps.
Measured out to 0.22uF so I'm not going by just the marking.
Some of the markings are a bit worn/rubbed off.
224Z (WTF +80%, -20% ?)
I tested 20 and the farthest out was 0.208uF
I got about 200 of them.
Curious as to the type of caps they are.
Anyone?

[screechingowl]

These look like ceramic SMD caps inside a glass case.... very strange.

[nexekho]

(WTF +80%, -20% ?)

Yeah, Bitsbox's ceramics are the same, I don't see how anything with such a massive tolerance could be of any use.  If you were building a stereo pedal you'd DEFINITELY hear differences between the two channels.

[a soBer Newt]

I love Apex never go there looking for something tho.

[CodeMonk]

I go there about 1, 2 times a month.
May not always find exactly what I am looking for, but quite often, I find something good.

[PRR]

> WTF +80%, -20% ?

They are specced for power rail bypass in RF and logic circuits. Where audio has 10uFd or 100uFd across the power rails, often dozens in large system, RF or logic has point-something caps. 80% upside tolerance just makes the rail more solid.

They are glass-encapsulated for some aircraft or outer-space purpose, or maybe for use around solvents or in vacuum.

They probably cost somebody $5-$50 each when new.

[artifus]

polystyrene?

[CodeMonk]

> WTF +80%, -20% ?

They are specced for power rail bypass in RF and logic circuits. Where audio has 10uFd or 100uFd across the power rails, often dozens in large system, RF or logic has point-something caps. 80% upside tolerance just makes the rail more solid.

They are glass-encapsulated for some aircraft or outer-space purpose, or maybe for use around solvents or in vacuum.

They probably cost somebody $5-$50 each when new.

That sounds kinda interesting.

High priced stuff at insanely great deals happens a lot at Apex.
Those caps accounted for about 10% of what I bought that day.
My total bill for that day was $30.
I really love that place.
a "shopping" trip there for me averages about 4 hours.
For the most part, things are not sorted out there to well. Parts get mixed up a lot.
But its A LOT like a treasure hunt. And like I said, sometimes you do find treasure.
On my last visit, I picked up a handful of 2N3569's and when I got home, I noticed that I had several 2N3565's in there. Which I was looking for but their box was empty (For a Fozz Tone Machine I am building in a few days.


@soBer New
You really need to go looking for effects components. Although they only have boxes for 2N transistors on the shelves, I found some 2SC536's (For Shin-EI Companion Fuzz FY-2) there a while back.