On Sun, 09 Feb 2020 21:49:54 -0000, Rod Speed wrote:



"Commander Kinsey" wrote in message
newsp.0fqghipbwdg98l@glass...
On Sun, 09 Feb 2020 16:43:30 -0000, alan_m wrote:

On 09/02/2020 16:06, Brian Gaff (Sofa 2) wrote:
Stop excessive crosposting...

I suppose cos they can get them el chepo. I also have found toward the
end
of the 90s, those little tantalum caps that look like blobs of resin
coloured blue tend to go leaky and damage the rest of the circuit.
Nothing is supposed to last any more.
Brian

I remember working on (expensive) test equipment in the 80s and a common
failure mechanism with the tantalum bead capacitors was a short circuit
taking out other components.

Were those visibly obviously damaged? It's just I've never seen one fail,

Most likely because you werent involved with the gear they were used in.

Almost everything uses them.

and was wondering if I could tell from a visual inspection.

Yes with the ones that leak, no with the ones that go short.

Then I may have seen one :-)

The electrolytics have clearly failed when they bulge or burst - I see it
all the time in old/cheap motherboards, or inside TVs.