[Boatanchors] Q of electrolytic capacitors

[J. Forster]

Try a Google search. For example "electrolytic vintage capacitor leakage"
yields:

http://www.vintage-radio.com/projects/capacitor-reformer.shtml

among many others.  The model of a real capacitor is composed of three elements
:

A parallel RC...     the R is the (applied voltage)/(leakage current); C  is C
A series R  ....       which is the ESR

Follow the link for some basics on reforming electrolytics. Forget about you Q
meter reading.

-John


Yong Surk Lee wrote:

> Thanks for your reply. What I want to know is how to test old electrolytic
> caps to see if they leak or not. I thought a leaking cap is equivalent to a
> resistor connected in parallel with the cap. How do I find out if an old cap
> is leaking or not? Also how much it is leaking.
> What I used is an Extech LCR meter. Leaky caps show low Q like 0.5- 2.0 and
> higher cap value than its original cap value.
> Is there any better way?
>