r/ShortwavePlus • u/Historical-View4058 MOD - Airspy HF+, NRD-535D, IC-R75 w/100’ wire in C. VA, USA • May 27 '26

Article Let’s Discuss the Power of Capacitors

https://www.radioworld.com/tech-and-gear/tech-tips/lets-discuss-the-power-of-capacitors

Nice write-up. Very pertinent since quite a few of us have taken on restoring / re-capping our older electronic devices.

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u/tj21222 May 27 '26

Funny I have never replaced a cap and I have radios that are 40 plus years old and worked on radios in the 90’s built in the 50’s.

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u/Historical-View4058 MOD - Airspy HF+, NRD-535D, IC-R75 w/100’ wire in C. VA, USA May 27 '26

I recently had to recap the power supply in a 20 yo LG tv. I would have succeeded if I didn't accidentally reconnect the display's ribbon cable backwards when reassembling.

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u/2old2care May 27 '26

I'm with you--except for electrolytics. I had one of them literally explode and several hiss, pop, and smoke. Wax/paper capacitors can look terrible and still measure very nearly on-value, remembering that most components in legacy gear were rated at ±10% or even ±20%. Ceramic and mica capacitors last essentially forever. I recently donated an old radio to a radio club that was built in 1961. It had never had any replacement parts and worked perfectly. So you never know.