Cap reformation question

JC, AFAIK the issue with reforming old electrolytics is that the caps will have very high leakage currents until they reform. The goal is to limit the power dissipation of the cap to something low enough that it won't vent (or explode!) until it's recovered. Lots of people use Variacs for this purpose and they'll certainly do the job, but they don't give you any way to measure the leakage current. I prefer the simple technique of putting a light bulb in series with the AC side of the supply - when it's bright, the current is high and as it gradually dims and goes out, the current is low. If it's a linear supply then it's probably happy without a load, and there's no sense in wasting even a junk board. If it's a switching supply then it depends on the design, but most likely it will require some kind of load on at least some of the outputs to maintain regulation. Bob