wrote in message
...
On Nov 30, 9:46 am, "peter" wrote:
Electrolytic capacitors sometimes blow up -- due to heat, old age, or
lack
of use(?).

I have some old studio flashes used for photography and they contain some
high voltage electrolytic capacitors. I use them once in a long while.
But
if they ever blow up, it would be very unpleasant.

Could someone reassure me that it is not going to happen, or suggest a
solution?


Photo-flash caps are typically "good chemistry" and also typically
charged quite slowly from a relatively LV supply (batteries).

snip

I think that the cap he is referring to, is the energy discharge source for
striking the xenon flash tube, in which case, they are not charged from a
low voltage battery supply - rather from a high voltage supply derived from
an inverter circuit, which is itself powered by the low voltage and
impedance batteries.

Given that the (largely) urban myth stories about unused electrolytics
exploding, generally refer to those strapped across high voltage supplies, I
would guess that this is what prompted the OP's question.

Arfa