PDP 11 gear finally moved

[Noel Chiappa]

    > From: Tothwolf

    > How do you know those aluminum electrolytic capacitors are functioning
    > just as good as they did when they were new? Unless you've tested them
    > out of circuit ...
    > ... aluminum electrolytic capacitors by their very electrochemical
    > nature degrade as they age and as they are used.

I am way out of my knowledge range in this discussion, but here's something I
wanted to ask about: how do you reconcile this observation (assertion?) with
the observations from several people (e.g. the PDP-1 people) that they _have_
measured the electrolytics in their power supplies, and despite being N
decades old (where N ~= 5), they are _still_ within specs? If the very nature
of electrolytics mandates that they degrade, how are these still meeting
specs?

I'm very confused...

	Noel