How do you identify SMD electrolytic caps? I have a bord with some smd caps
on it and they are marked 100 16v.. Is that just a 100uF cap? I was going to
change out all the smt caps with regular caps because the board has been
giving me trouble and I believe one of them is bad but I didn't want to just
solder the wrong value of cap in and ruin something.

- Mike

WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which fail regularly, are replaced with
conventional types.

Hmm.. thats good to know..

The problem is I don't own an ESR meter yet allthough I think I fould the
problem. I did change the larger caps that were on the power supply and
monitor seems to be working correctly now.

I do plan on buying a dick smith build it yourself ESR meter. I just don't
have $80 to spare right now. Maybe I'll get it for my birthday. : )

- Mike

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Michael Kennedy" wrote in message
. ..
How do you identify SMD electrolytic caps? I have a bord with some smd
caps on it and they are marked 100 16v.. Is that just a 100uF cap? I was
going to change out all the smt caps with regular caps because the board
has been giving me trouble and I believe one of them is bad but I didn't
want to just solder the wrong value of cap in and ruin something.

- Mike

That will be a 100uF 16v working cap. However, I would really not
recommend just replacing all the caps just for the hell of it. This is
likely to result in you compounding the original problem - which may not
even be one of the caps in the first place. Better to employ proper
fault-finding techniques to arrive at the cause of the problem, than
guesswork. Also, you should beware of replacing SM electros with
conventional leaded types. The ESR tends to be rather different between
the two cap types, and I can think of one circuit in particular - the
servo board fitted to the bottom of the deck on many Sony CD players from
around 5 - 7 years ago - which WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which fail
regularly, are replaced with conventional types.

Arfa

"Michael Kennedy" wrote in message
. ..
WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which fail regularly, are replaced with
conventional types.

Hmm.. thats good to know..

The problem is I don't own an ESR meter yet allthough I think I fould the
problem. I did change the larger caps that were on the power supply and
monitor seems to be working correctly now.

I do plan on buying a dick smith build it yourself ESR meter. I just don't
have $80 to spare right now. Maybe I'll get it for my birthday. : )

- Mike


A good move Mike, if you're intending doing lots of service work on SMPS's
and the like. As you've probably seen on other ESR posts that I've been
involved with, I own a DS meter, and swear by it as an excellent value for
money instrument. Have you been following the post further down regarding
discharging caps prior to using a DS ( or other ) ESR meter on them ? Have a
look if not. Lots of good advice on doing this, and protecting a DS against
accidental connection to charged resevoir caps.

Arfa
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Michael Kennedy" wrote in message
. ..
How do you identify SMD electrolytic caps? I have a bord with some smd
caps on it and they are marked 100 16v.. Is that just a 100uF cap? I was
going to change out all the smt caps with regular caps because the board
has been giving me trouble and I believe one of them is bad but I didn't
want to just solder the wrong value of cap in and ruin something.

- Mike

That will be a 100uF 16v working cap. However, I would really not
recommend just replacing all the caps just for the hell of it. This is
likely to result in you compounding the original problem - which may not
even be one of the caps in the first place. Better to employ proper
fault-finding techniques to arrive at the cause of the problem, than
guesswork. Also, you should beware of replacing SM electros with
conventional leaded types. The ESR tends to be rather different between
the two cap types, and I can think of one circuit in particular - the
servo board fitted to the bottom of the deck on many Sony CD players from
around 5 - 7 years ago - which WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which fail
regularly, are replaced with conventional types.

Arfa

No I guess I missed that post.. I'll have to check it out.

I don't know that I'll be doing lots of work on smps but I'm trying to learn
the basics of electronics repair. I've known how to solder for a couple of
years and I'm pretty good at soldering now. I've even gotten good at
soldering smd components.

I've got a small collection of tools. I have all the basic soldering tools..
3 different iorns various solder sizes, flux, solder sucker and wick, a DMM,
and an old 1970's 30khz Heathkit O-Scope. I hav't gotten any use out of the
scope yet since I don't really know how to hook it up to something.. I can
get a wave on it if I hook it up to a 12vac transformer but I don't know how
many volts it can take so I've been afraid of hooking it up to things.

Hopefully I'll soon have the DS ESR meter to add to my list.. I think it
will be a great tool since people say that electrlytics are the most likely
thing to fail in electronics.

- Mike
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Michael Kennedy" wrote in message
. ..
WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which fail regularly, are replaced with
conventional types.

Hmm.. thats good to know..

The problem is I don't own an ESR meter yet allthough I think I fould the
problem. I did change the larger caps that were on the power supply and
monitor seems to be working correctly now.

I do plan on buying a dick smith build it yourself ESR meter. I just
don't have $80 to spare right now. Maybe I'll get it for my birthday. : )

- Mike


A good move Mike, if you're intending doing lots of service work on SMPS's
and the like. As you've probably seen on other ESR posts that I've been
involved with, I own a DS meter, and swear by it as an excellent value for
money instrument. Have you been following the post further down regarding
discharging caps prior to using a DS ( or other ) ESR meter on them ? Have
a look if not. Lots of good advice on doing this, and protecting a DS
against accidental connection to charged resevoir caps.

Arfa
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Michael Kennedy" wrote in message
. ..
How do you identify SMD electrolytic caps? I have a bord with some smd
caps on it and they are marked 100 16v.. Is that just a 100uF cap? I
was going to change out all the smt caps with regular caps because the
board has been giving me trouble and I believe one of them is bad but I
didn't want to just solder the wrong value of cap in and ruin
something.

- Mike

That will be a 100uF 16v working cap. However, I would really not
recommend just replacing all the caps just for the hell of it. This is
likely to result in you compounding the original problem - which may not
even be one of the caps in the first place. Better to employ proper
fault-finding techniques to arrive at the cause of the problem, than
guesswork. Also, you should beware of replacing SM electros with
conventional leaded types. The ESR tends to be rather different between
the two cap types, and I can think of one circuit in particular - the
servo board fitted to the bottom of the deck on many Sony CD players
from around 5 - 7 years ago - which WILL NOT WORK if the SM caps, which
fail regularly, are replaced with conventional types.

Arfa