"Jeff Liebermann"
"Phil Allison"

"Jeff Liebermann"
Note that this is for a perfectly normal electrolytic capacitor and
not the defective bulging variety caused by counterfeit electrolyte.
When a normal cap fails, it doesn't bulge. However, it does loose
capacitance and ESR rather rapidly. End-o-life is considered a 20%
drop in capacitance.

** Electros do not lose capacitance until the ESR value has risen
dramatically.

Read what I wrote.


** I did and it was misleading.

So I improved it for you.


I said that ..


** There would be no need for you to completely re-write it if it was OK
the first time.

when *NORMAL* cazapitors fail they
don't bulge but do have their ESR increase rather rapidly.

** Nonsense - bulging at the end of life in a hot environment is 100%
NORMAL for modern electros.


When the
basic tolerance on the cazapitor is -20%/+80%, an additional -20% loss
in cazapitance could easily result in a measured value of 60% of the
rated cazapitance.

** Fraid the ESR would have gone so high the electro cap would not be doing
its job long before that.


I've seen some loss of cazapitance with high ESR cazapitors but not
all of them.

** Purely academic to even measure it.


ESR increase is a much better indication of impending failure than
cazapitance loss.

** Goody - this it what you missed previously.


This is why service techs use ESR meters to find bad and failing electro
caps and not capacitance meters.

Yeah, yeah...

** Smug prick.


http://members.ozemail.com.au/~bobpar/esrmeter.htm

I bought the Dick Smith ESR tester designed by Bob Parker. Really
nice and handy (as long as I remember to discharge the cap before
testing).

** Bob designed the project single handed and " Electronics Australia "
magazine published it - that meant it was available for any kit supplier
to market as a kit. However the programmed uP was available only from Bob.

Dick Smith Electronics was one of four retailers in Australia that did a kit
and included the uP - one of them did not.

So the unit is the " Bob Parker ESR meter" or "Electronics Australia ESR
meter".



..... Phil