29 Jan
2014
29 Jan
'14
8:39 p.m.
On Jan 28, 2014, at 5:16 PM, Peter Coghlan wrote:
I don't understand where this mythology about capacitors has come from. They
get blamed for every possible kind of equipment failure whether or not there
is evidence to suggest a capacitor might be responsible. It is routinely
suggested that any and every problem can be solved by something which has
come to be known as "re-capping" which I suspect means replacing all the
capacitors in a device. It has even been suggested that no vintage
restoration is complete without replacing all the capacitors.
Probably because replacing them does in a lot of cases fix what ails ya. I can't speak
for others, but I have fixed a lot of old electronics (monitors and computers both) and a
lot were fixed by "re-capping" or replacing one or several electrolytic
capacitors (and in a couple other cases tantalum or polyester). While they weren't
universally at fault, at least 75% of the cases I've worked on required replacing a
capacitor or three.