Help Identifying Cap.....

[dmongrain]

I need help identifying the values of this cap to replace it, I'm hoping that someone can help.......

 

[Apex Jr]

This might not be a cap... The lettering leads me to think
it might be a MOV... Metal Oxide Varistor

Steve @ Apex Jr.

 

[dmongrain]

Forgive my ignorance, but what does that do on a crossover? I did a little search and could only find articles relating to surge protection, is that what it would be used for?

 

[SA-12]

lets see another photo, top real close and back side real close.

 

[PH104]

Is that a Pioneer speaker?

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=158350

 

[Westerp]

40 volt varistor to protect the tweeter imho

 

[DigitalJunkie]

Or maybe one of those self-resetting fuses,to protect the tweeter?

 

[dmongrain]

To be honest the crossover is from a cheapo speaker that I am messing around with, I'm trying different things like bracing, stuffing, etc to see what effects they have on the sound.

I can take a pic of it later today (not at home right now...), but from memory the disc is about 3/16" dia and not very thick with no markings on the back.

From memory, there is one resistor, two caps (electrolytic I think...) with two inductors, again, I'll take a pic when I get home.

 

[SA-12]

in your pics pay extra close attention to the legs of the device and how they go into the body, is there a bulge on the body or do they seem to just go inside?.

 

[Westerp]

Just scrape away some of the coating to see. Might be my poor eyes
but I think I see a little bulge from the right side wire in the middle.
Also the left leg seems to do the same on the backside as far as
it can be guessed from this angle.

 

[SA-12]

if it is so then it is a varistor, 40 or 60 v. Why would you want to change this?

 

[SA-12]

I remember when I first got into this I was changing all the perfectly good caps in amps I would pick up at yardsales and such. Years of reading books, and wasting money showed me quickly that ceramic disc caps are very rare bad, no point in messin with them. Focus on old electrolitic and film caps. Also mica caps tend to live a long life so save your pennies. Tantalum caps are worth checking. The best equipment I have used to date to check caps is a esr meter that I bought as a kit and built, you can get it here http://www.mainelectronics.com/esrkit.htm

This combined with a capacitance meter will save you big bucks, never mind changing every cap anymore most are still ok anyway.

 

[unclejed613]

that device is a "poly-switch" self resetting fuse. they frequently go bad in crossovers. they're used to protect the tweeter, and what frequently happens is once they activate, they cut the power going to the tweeter by about half. so somebody turns the highs up more to compensate, and sssssssstt! the poly switch burns open. it's better to use a lamp in series with the tweeter as the lamp will actually limit the current. poly switches just switch to a high resistance state and stay there until they cool down.

 

[SA-12]

I always wondered why my bose 601 series 1 speakers had small lightbulbs inside .