VT100 PSU smelling.

Mattis Lind mattislind at gmail.com
Sat Jan 23 04:40:46 CST 2016


>>>
>> I don't have a ESR meter or similar. It is not shorted at least and the
>> resistance is in the several mega ohm range when measuring in circuit. Are
>> they likely to go bad in a non catastrophic way?
>>
>
> They can. The translucent yellow Rifa (now owned by Kemet) class X/Y
> safety capacitors in particular have a 100% failure rate and are on my
> replace-on-sight list. They usually begin to show visible signs of cracking
> in their outer casing before they finally go out with a bang. It seems to
> be due to chemical decomposition of the paper insulator which swells over
> time and causes the case to crack. I usually replace them with a film
> capacitor from Epcos of the same value and safety class.
>

This is a 0.0033 uF 1600VDC SPARAGUE capacitor. It looks nice and orange
and there are no signs of cracks whatsoever.

What is the likelihood of this being bad?

/Mattis


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