I have a bunch of Elna Cerafines which i dearly love 🙂 They must be around 10-12 years old, some used, some nos. As i needed to replace a large electrolytic in a crossover i thought i should give the Cerafines a try. To my surprise they all consistenly measured around 15% short of their rated capacitance.
Is this unusual? Are they drying out? Electrolytics are not known for accuracy and -15% is probably within stated limits, but i think most electrolytics err on the upside, while these are very consistently low.
Yes, tried reforming them. None of them needed it. Leakage current at rated voltage is a low 2uA.
Is this unusual? Are they drying out? Electrolytics are not known for accuracy and -15% is probably within stated limits, but i think most electrolytics err on the upside, while these are very consistently low.
Yes, tried reforming them. None of them needed it. Leakage current at rated voltage is a low 2uA.
I don't think they are not rated for the currents you'd see in a crossover. They are a cap for local power supply decoupling and signal coupling in line level applications. Mayve you have some of the big main filter caps that they don't make any more. I have some 22,000 uf ones, but my cap meter won't measure that high a value
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I noticed the same 15-20% lower values for cerafines that have been in circuit for a decade. I'd say that this is typical for gradual dry-out of non-aqueous electrolytes - though the Cerafine's temperature rating of 85c could suggest an aqueous electrolyte also.
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