> From: Tothwolf > How do you know those aluminum electrolytic capacitors are functioning > just as good as they did when they were new? Unless you've tested them > out of circuit ... > ... aluminum electrolytic capacitors by their very electrochemical > nature degrade as they age and as they are used.
I am way out of my knowledge range in this discussion, but here's something I wanted to ask about: how do you reconcile this observation (assertion?) with the observations from several people (e.g. the PDP-1 people) that they _have_ measured the electrolytics in their power supplies, and despite being N decades old (where N ~= 5), they are _still_ within specs? If the very nature of electrolytics mandates that they degrade, how are these still meeting specs? I'm very confused... Noel