Cap Checker

[Electric Moo]

I have some old gear that Shirley needs new caps. A tester would be useful but I think I'll just replace them all!

 

[Gimme 4]

One of the funniest lines in that movie! I need to get that on Blu ray.

I'd get a tester. Reduces the chance of something going wrong just shotgunning all the caps. Least amount of de-soldering and re-soldering.

If you are inclined to do repairs an ESR meter can be useful for other things too. I've fixed an answering machine, a computer monitor, a couple of VCRs, the garage door opener and a few other electronic things around here with one.

 

[Imbobman]

One of the funniest lines in that movie! I need to get that on Blu ray.

I'd get a tester. Reduces the chance of something going wrong just shotgunning all the caps. Least amount of de-soldering and re-coldering.

If you are inclined to do repairs an ESR meter can be useful for other things too. I've fixed an answering machine, a computer monitor, a couple of VCRs, the garage door opener and a few other electronic things around here with one.

Yes, I agree about getting a tester. You can save yourself a lot a time & potentially many problems by testing. I even test new caps I get to see if they are within spec/tolerance range.
I've had new caps that were not within specs. I wouldn't have known w/o being able to measure beforehand.

 

[Gimme 4]

Yes, I agree about getting a tester. You can save yourself a lot a time & potentially many problems by testing. I even test new caps I get to see if they are within spec/tolerance range.
I've had new caps that were not within specs. I wouldn't have known w/o being able to measure beforehand.

Most new capacitors will test a little over spec. That's normal. ESR will be almost zero Ohms too depending on the capacitance, usually 33 to 47 uFd and bigger, and whether it's rated a "low ESR" cap. When a "new" one tests under, I wouldn't use that one. Just my observations.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Alltronics with two Ls is a surplus electronics place. When my local place finally folded after sixty years I think they bought up part of the corpse.

Yup. Looks like a real surplus place:
https://www.ebay.com/str/alltronicsllcI must say I miss Meshna, Etco, Poly Paks....

 

[ar surround]

AR used very high quality caps.

I guess they were high quality for the vintage, but the 6uF Callins NPEs were absolute crap. One of them actually failed on me and that's when I finally decided to dive into the recapping adventure.

My AR-9's with serial numbers in the 3400 range are earlier than your pairs. You will note that by the time AR made your AR-9's, they had ditched the Callins 6uF NPE cap for a Made-in-Mexico yellow mylar cap. I despised the sound of that mylar cap. They were in my AR-90's and the tweeters always produced "chuh" highs rather than "shhhh" the way they should. You will also note that AR also ditched several of the Callins caps for gray Unicon NPE caps.

It always amazed me that the AR-9 required nine capacitors while my two-way Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers only required one.

 

[Gimme 4]

Yup. Looks like a real surplus place:
https://www.ebay.com/str/alltronicsllcI must say I miss Meshna, Etco, Poly Paks....

We lost Tanner Electronics here, was 2 miles from my house. Not as well known as the others but they did internet sales too. In business about 33 years. Surplus parts started drying up as local manufacturing slowed down or ceased. I found an old interview with Jim Tanner in a "Hackaday" article online. They closed up two years ago. There went my local source I could drive to in a few minutes if I needed a few parts.

https://hackaday.com/2015/12/07/the-death-of-surplus/

 

[MidiMagic]

Yep that's what I use on the big uFd value caps.

I forgot. I also have this General Radio 650-A impedance bridge. Yes, it is as heavy as it looks.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

I forgot. I also have this General Radio 650-A impedance bridge. Yes, it is as heavy as it looks.

View attachment 79642

I used to have a General Grain Whole Wheastone Bridge in my area. It crossed the Little Blue River.

 

[Gimme 4]

I forgot. I also have this General Radio 650-A impedance bridge. Yes, it is as heavy as it looks.

View attachment 79642

Looks like something Marconi himself might have used!

 

[Imbobman]

I guess they were high quality for the vintage, but the 6uF Callins NPEs were absolute crap. One of them actually failed on me and that's when I finally decided to dive into the recapping adventure.

My AR-9's with serial numbers in the 3400 range are earlier than your pairs. You will note that by the time AR made your AR-9's, they had ditched the Callins 6uF NPE cap for a Made-in-Mexico yellow mylar cap. I despised the sound of that mylar cap. They were in my AR-90's and the tweeters always produced "chuh" highs rather than "shhhh" the way they should. You will also note that AR also ditched several of the Callins caps for gray Unicon NPE caps.

It always amazed me that the AR-9 required nine capacitors while my two-way Boston Acoustics bookshelf speakers only required one.

Wow, yours are very early ar-9s with serial # 3400's. Do you know what year they are?.
Mine are 1980 & 1981, I believe.
My 80 uf & 2500uf were still Callins & with-in spec when removed. The 2500uf is a massive thing! First time around, I didn't replace them.
But after some debate, I wind-up bunching five 500uf caps together to get the 2500uf value. I couldn't find a reasonable priced single 2500uf npe cap
The Ar-9 crossover was very elaborate.
If you ever look at a schematic of it, you just shake your head.
I believe it was the pinnacle of ar's designs.

 

[ar surround]

Wow, yours are very early ar-9s with serial # 3400's. Do you know what year they are?.

I bought them new in August 1978.