Bottlehead Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: azrockitman on June 27, 2013, 07:00:21 AM

Title: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: azrockitman on June 27, 2013, 07:00:21 AM

I brushed against one of the large black capacitors on my stereomour kit with my soldering iron shaft. Needless to say, I left a nice little divot on the capacitor housing.  Should I replace it now? Or is it likely fine/unharmed?  No guts or blood appears to be oozing out.  But if I likely did real harm,I'd rather cut my losses now rather than have to pull it out when I'm 100% done.   Any suggestions would be appreciated.   Thanks. 

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: HF9 on June 27, 2013, 07:08:03 AM

Was it a film cap or electrolytic? You may want to post a picture. Seeing the "divot" should allow us to ascertain if it's still usable. Even if you did knick it good, the cost to replace is only a few $$.

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: azrockitman on June 27, 2013, 07:30:32 AM

It's one of the 220uF 250V electrolytic capacitors

I'll try to post a pic shortly. 

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: Doc B. on June 27, 2013, 07:43:57 AM

If you just melted the plastic cover with a hot iron there is no problem. If you dented the metal can underneath it should be replaced.

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: azrockitman on June 27, 2013, 08:31:43 AM

the metal is exposed, but not sure if it's damaged or not

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: 4krow on June 27, 2013, 10:43:54 AM

Yah, at 52kb it's pretty hard to tell  maybe at 200-300kb it would show up.

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: azrockitman on June 27, 2013, 01:19:01 PM

I had to keep reducing the size of the photo to get it to send.  But Doc took a look at it and thought it looked ok so I'm moving forward with fingers crossed.  Thanks.   

Title: Re: Capacitor "divot"
Post by: Paul Birkeland on June 27, 2013, 01:43:25 PM

Those electrolytics are tough, I wouldn't worry too much about it.

(Sorry I didn't see your e-mail until now)