Are higher rated capacitors interchangeable with lower rated ones?

Question

I have the follow capacitors that I need to change:

I can't find these specific ones on mouser or digikey and I can't buy in such huge quantities neither if they did have. I was told that I can use the following replacement for the Pink ones:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RBC8F62/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1BBEKKND9EC89&psc=1

EKZE250ELL821MJ25S, Cap Aluminum Lytic 820uF 25V 20%(10 X 25mm) Radial 5mm 2150mA 4000h 105°C Bulk (50 Items)

But would I be able to use these same ones to replace the smaller blue ones too? These caps are both 16V, but the uF is different only, 470 vs 270. The replacement ones are 820uF and 25V much higher numbers.

I'd like to know why would these high rated ones work aswell?

What if I purchased or extracted caps from other boards that are greater than 470uF and 16V would those also work too?

Even though they do not look the same?

Answer 1

Higher voltage ratings are probably ok, but it's not great generally to use higher capacitance values unless you know what its for. For the replacements, all you need to do is look for one that will fit on digikey that is 16V 470uF. Digikey will sell you most parts in single quantity. Try this list:

https://www.digikey.com/short/z9q7qt

Answer 2

It depends on the application, if the application is a power filter capacitor (used on Vcc of a component) then bigger capacitors have the same function. What is happening is we are forming an RLC filter. The LC components are formed by wires or traces. To prevent power dips sudden changes in Vcc we place a power capacitor to source power when the voltage drops (because the load changes), the value of C doesn't change the filter pole that much and bigger is usually better (but not if the ESR of the cap changes when we move to a bigger value).

When replacing power filter caps the voltage needs to be greater than that of the power rail, if you don't know what that is, then just make sure it's bigger than the cap. Make sure the ESR is equal to or smaller, and the value of the cap is equal to or bigger.

If the application is an audio filter or some other filter where the filter pole needs to be exact, then it's best to replace the cap with the exact parameters (ESR and component value) to get the same result.

So you could probably replace all caps on that board with the 470uF's (if you could figure out a way to make them fit) but not the other way around.

Answer 3

Higher voltage ratings are okay in and of themselves. But all things being equal, higher voltage caps have higher ESR and that might affect things if it's used in a switching circuit. You're probably good though unless the ESR is much higher or the circuit was borderline designed.

Answer 4

Before you replace any capacitors,
you need to determine what caused them to blow in the first place.
eg.If the circuit was designed & intended to be used in the 90V -> 120 Volt range then using at 232V would explain the damage.