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previous: R.G. >>Another way to reform an old or -- 11/10/1997 2:01 AM

Re: new capacitors

12/2/1997 12:52 AM
Don	Re: new capacitors In Weber's new book, he states: I talked to a friend who works for a company that manufactures caps and he informed me that all electrolytic caps begin to crystallize after one year . . . . The way my friend described it, the inside of a cap is filled with a liquid electrolyte. Just like honey crystallizes inside the honey jar, the electrolyte does the same thing inside the cap. He informed me that his company tracked their inventory and baked any cap that was not sold within a year. This baking causes the electrolyte to re-liquify--just like heating crystallized honey changes the honey back into a liquid. I asked him how I could bake caps and he suggested placing the caps to be baked in a shoe box and heating them with a hair dryer until [they were] quite hot to the touch (approximately 130-140F). You could also make a small oven with a metal box and a light bulb, experimenting with different wattage bulbs and a thermometer to get the right amount of heat. . . . He assured me that this would reform the electrolytic. According to my friend, if a cap is several years old and has not been reformed every year, it can never be reformed! END QUOTATION Weber goes on to discuss another opinion about it. Cheers, don daput@pe.net Idyllwild Brewing Company

12/2/1997 12:52 AM

Don

Re: new capacitors

In Weber's new book, he states:

I talked to a friend who works for a company that manufactures caps and he informed me that all electrolytic caps begin to crystallize after one year . . . . The way my friend described it, the inside of a cap is filled with a liquid electrolyte. Just like honey crystallizes inside the honey jar, the electrolyte does the same thing inside the cap. He informed me that his company tracked their inventory and baked any cap that was not sold within a year. This baking causes the electrolyte to re-liquify--just like heating crystallized honey changes the honey back into a liquid.

I asked him how I could bake caps and he suggested placing the caps to be baked in a shoe box and heating them with a hair dryer until [they were] quite hot to the touch (approximately 130-140F). You could also make a small oven with a metal box and a light bulb, experimenting with different wattage bulbs and a thermometer to get the right amount of heat. . . . He assured me that this would reform the electrolytic. According to my friend, if a cap is several years old and has not been reformed every year, it can never be reformed!

END QUOTATION

Weber goes on to discuss another opinion about it.

Cheers,

don
daput@pe.net
Idyllwild Brewing Company

Replies:

anonymous >>...the inside of a cap is filled ... -- 12/2/1997 8:21 AM
R.G. Sorry - I forgot to include my name... -- 12/2/1997 8:22 AM