Amps
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [Amps] How Do You Know When Filter Caps Begin to Fail?

To: amps <amps@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [Amps] How Do You Know When Filter Caps Begin to Fail?
From: Ron Youvan <ka4inm@gmail.com>
Reply-to: ka4inm@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 23:40:26 -0400
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>
   Carl KM1H wrote:

> Why? They aren't much more reliable.

>> I guess switching over to a few oil caps with appropriate bleeders
>> standing by externally isn't a bad idea after all.
>> Now I know why Henry used them.

   Electrolytic capacitors and light bulbs are the only items in a HAM 
amplifier (or almost anything 
else) that have a pre-determined life expectancy.
   It doesn't mater if 99% of ham amplifiers use brute force filtering it is a 
bad idea on many 
levels, just the stored energy discharged during "an event" makes it the 
poorest of engineering 
practices.  It is so poor I discourage it whenever I can.  Like now.

   After working on hundreds of power supplies of all Voltages over almost 50 
years, almost 100% 
using Pi network (low pass) filters with oil filled capacitors, a very few had 
any problem other 
than springing an oil leak, most frequently at a bushing.
-- 
    73 Ron KA4INM - All E-mail sent to this address shall linger in the Google 
cloud forever!
_______________________________________________
Amps mailing list
Amps@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/amps

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>