Great recipe for a cap explosion. A dried up cap can short out, boil the water, and blow aluminum foil and slime everywhere. Any electrolytic cap over 20 years old, best to pull it out of the circuit. You can test the ESR for presence of water, but not the tensile strength of the rubber seal to keep it in when it gets hot.
I use >3000 hour rated radial lead e-caps from major distributors (leaving out the junk and old stock suppliers on e-bay) that I put under the deck on terminal strips from tubesandmore.com, triodeelectronics.com electronicsurplus.com or apexelectronic.com. Cinch used to make these solder strips but only these tube and surplus houses stock them anymore, that I can find. And nobody seems to stock them in Europe. Pick up some 600 v rated tin plated wire on the same order, silver plated teflon insulated wire is going $.60 a foot at major suppliers.
How ?
Adding a new capacitor in parallel of an other do not increase the possibility of an explosion.
If the old capacitor is dried, of course it should be removed, but there is no mention about such.
MESSY BANG
Using a big electrolytic cap over 25 years old has a big chance of explosion, whatever else is connected parallel to it. Voltage across aluminum-aluminum joint without insulating chemicals is a short, and that causes heat. Parallel connections maintain the full voltage on the old cap, until it is disconnected.
Magnavox went out production of tube amps about 1972, as did everybody. This part has got to be that old, unless the owner had it replaced. Highly unlikely on a consumer product like this. Look at some 1972 tires, say on an old bicycle, and tell me how good you think the seal is going to be on this cap. The chance of an OEM cap being a silicon rubber seal or epoxy seal, is zero in a Magnavox amp.
If one thinks the cap was replaced, EIA (USA) date code was YYWW where year is 19YY. Foreign brand (oriental) caps might be post 1982, but are very unlikely in an amp that wasn't in a professional maintenance program in a church or a band. However much one tests ESR, he hasn't tested the rubber seal on an old cap until he heats it up (say in an environmental chamber) for a long time and then tests the ESR.
WONG!!!!!!!!!!!
Using a big electrolytic cap over 25 years old has a big chance of explosion, whatever else is connected parallel to it. Voltage across aluminum-aluminum joint without insulating chemicals is a short, and that causes heat. Parallel connections maintain the full voltage on the old cap, until it is disconnected.
Magnavox went out production of tube amps about 1972, as did everybody. This part has got to be that old, unless the owner had it replaced. Highly unlikely on a consumer product like this. Look at some 1972 tires, say on an old bicycle, and tell me how good you think the seal is going to be on this cap. The chance of an OEM cap being a silicon rubber seal or epoxy seal, is zero in a Magnavox amp.
If one thinks the cap was replaced, EIA (USA) date code was YYWW where year is 19YY. Foreign brand (oriental) caps might be post 1982, but are very unlikely in an amp that wasn't in a professional maintenance program in a church or a band. However much one tests ESR, he hasn't tested the rubber seal on an old cap until he heats it up (say in an environmental chamber) for a long time and then tests the ESR.
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I still do not see how the parallel connection of electrolytes adds the risk of any kind explosion.
If you instead try to explain that 25 years capacitor is too old and should therefore be replaced, that is completely separate issue.
I just answered to question: can two electrolyte capacitors be connected parallel
and my answer still is yes.
If you instead try to explain that 25 years capacitor is too old and should therefore be replaced, that is completely separate issue.
I just answered to question: can two electrolyte capacitors be connected parallel
and my answer still is yes.
hello, i very much respect the info provided by all of the audiophiles here, i am a hobbiest and wouldn't have this hobby to enjoy if the audiophiles here didn't share there hard earned knowledge.
it seems to me if i was to be using an old electrolyte cap-witch i am using for a month untill i can afford new ones- that the cap would benefit, or reduce its load, by connecting an additional cap to help it out. ----Or the extra cap would be storing more energy that could overload the old cap.
anyways i will play it safe.
it seems to me if i was to be using an old electrolyte cap-witch i am using for a month untill i can afford new ones- that the cap would benefit, or reduce its load, by connecting an additional cap to help it out. ----Or the extra cap would be storing more energy that could overload the old cap.
anyways i will play it safe.
This is not the case.
But if you think that your existing power supply electrolytes are at the end of their life time, just replace them.
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