Slightly OT ceramic caps - not in DECs - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

17 Mar 2005

...
 From: "Geoffrey Thomas" <geoffreythomas at
onetel.com> ---snip---
...

That is not quite as unusual for monolithic caps of that vintage. What you
are seeing is silver dendrite growth through cracks in ceramic. ---snip---

Hi
 This seems to be worse on the glass encapulated,
"Mil Spec" capacitors. I've replaced quite a few of
these. Many more than the older disc and epoxy ones.
In pinball machines, failed disc caps are quite common
on the switch sense lines.
 So, it seems that this is a common source of failure.
Dwight