[ARC5] Aging Electrolytics

[Don Merz via ARC5]

Restoring for yourself is one thing. Restoring for a client who is paying is another. 
I can take a radio to Phil's TV here locally and pay less than $100 to just "get it working". Or....I can tell Don Polito at Phil's "Restore it so that it will outlive me" and the cost will be $300 and up (probably UP). When I am doing my own work, I can get it working and then see where the project is headed. Then I can make decisions about doing the more  time-consuming stuff. The value of most of these radios is $150 or less. For most makes and models there are thousands floating around in the market, and thousands more comparable makes and models readily and inexpensively available. So is the one (or six!!) on the bench right now a compulsion or a hobby?
It's like starting to read a 400 page book. Do you obsessively finish it whether you like it or not? Or do you cut your losses after 75 pages, having decided the book may not be worth your time? ...and KNOWING for certain that there are thousands of great reads out there. 
We all can all choose to do anything. It's just time and money. 
73 de N3RHT

      From: Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com>
 To: Don Merz <n3rht at yahoo.com>; Brian Carling <bcarling at cfl.rr.com> 
Cc: "arc5 at mailman.qth.net" <arc5 at mailman.qth.net> 
 Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2015 1:16 PM
 Subject: Re: [ARC5] Aging Electrolytics
   
Whenever I receive a unit for alignment, repair, restoration, etc., I definitely replace the paper capacitors and electrolytic capacitors automatically.  The cost, to the client, is generally not that much and the potential savings, in the long run, is well worth the relatively small price at the beginning.
Frankly, when someone is paying to have their unit worked on, they do not want to have to pay more later.
With my own equipment, I don't want to have to go into the unit again for a long time and, as such, do replace the capacitors.  For something that is not going to be used.  That is, sits on a shelf just for "looks", then there is no real need to replace the components.  However, for something that is going to be used, I don't want to take chances that there are going to be problems in the future.  My experience has been that the capacitors do cause problems, down the road, when they are not replaced.
The truth be known, paper capacitors start going bad the day that they are manufactured.  Even sitting on a shelf, brand new, never being installed in equipment, the vast majority of those capacitors are going to be leaky after a decade, or two.  Such is not true of modern replacements.
A unit may appear to work well without replacing the capacitors.  However, in most cases, when the capacitors are replaced, there is a marked improvement in the performance.
Of course, it is the choice of the individual as to whether or not to replace paper capacitors and electrolytics.  But, it is taking a chance and the eventual situation, in the majority of cases, is a failure of these components and that failure often "takes out" a lot more things like transformers, i.f. coils, etc., which are usually quite expensive to obtain replacements if replacements can be actually found. Glen, K9STH

Website: http://k9sth.net
    

  From: Don Merz <n3rht at yahoo.com>
 To: Brian Carling <bcarling at cfl.rr.com>; Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com> 
Cc: "arc5 at mailman.qth.net" <arc5 at mailman.qth.net> 
 Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2015 11:23 AM
 Subject: Re: [ARC5] Aging Electrolytics
   
I agree. Randomly replacing all the caps in a unit is probably a strong indicator that you have too much time on your hands. A surprising amount of this gear can be on the air with little effort. And the truth is that most of these rigs have a WIDE tolerance for component value variations. Sure there are plenty of exceptions. But starting into a project with the idea that "they all need replaced" is not my idea of the way to go.73 de N3RHT