Can NOS Capacitors be trusted?


I have a box of over 100 NOS Sprague, Mallory & General Instrument FT & Twist-Lock Mulit-Section caps i've been hanging on to for years. My question is, even with proper "Reforming" can parts that old be trusted for the long term?
ampx61

Showing 1 response by hifigeek1

Just so you know Kirkus the new CE caps for the Dynaco are awful. They are only rated at 55 deg. C and get overheated easily by the 5AR4 that stands next to it. I have tried them repeatedly and they seem to fail after about a year. There are now circuit boards being made with single section radial caps built up for the multi sections that are rated at a much higher ambient temperature 105 deg. C that work great. Generally speaking twist locks were awful caps even when they were new. I generally avoid them as much as possible. If you have some radial caps or axial caps and the rubber gaskets on the + side aren't cracked and you can reform them and test their leakage current, and its low, their probably safe to use. That being said caution is advised.