[Boatanchors] leaky cap data point

[Phil]

Bill,
Do you mind sharing with us how you 'safely' get into those CFLs?

73 de Phil,  KO6BB
http://www.qsl.net/ko6bb/  (Web Page)

PRESENT RADIOS:
Grundigs:    S-350 (~2006), G6 (2011) & S450DLX (2014).
HOMEBREW:    7 Tube+Rect Regenerative RX for LF (built 2015)
Icom:        R-75 With Cascaded 250 & 125Hz CW Filters. (~2005)
Icom:        IC-7200 Transceiver (~2015).
Radio Shack: DX-380 digital portable (~1990).
SDR:         Softrock Ensemble LF On Loan
Zenith:      Royal-7000 Transoceanic Portable (~1968).

ACCESSORIES: HOMEBREW LF-MF Pre-Amp, MFJ-993B HF Auto-Tuner.
              HOMEBREW 8 Hz Audio Filter.

ANTENNAS:  88 foot Long Ladder-line fed dipole at 35 feet AGL for MW/SW.
            HOMEBREW Active Mini-Whip at 36 Feet AGL for LF/MW/SW.
            HOMEBREW 37 foot "Low Noise Vertical" at 11 feet AGL for LF/MW/SW.

Merced, Central California, 37, 18, 37N   120, 30, 6W CM97rh

On 9/23/2015 1:18 AM, Bill Cromwell wrote:
> Hi
>
> I had a little time to go into an old AM-FM-SW receiver from the 1940s 
> to examine the caps with my "new" Heathkit C-2. I haven't played with 
> the C-2 very much and I wondered if *all* of those old caps could be 
> *that* bad. So I got out some caps I have recently bought(in this 
> century) and the C-2 likes every one of them. I'll inventory what is 
> needed in the radio (all of the paper and electrolytic caps) but I'm 
> guessing I will be replacing around a dozen or so caps. The 
> electrolytics in the pwr supply filter are dead short! I probably have 
> all I need right here. The power supply caps are only 40-20-20 at 200 
> volts and I think I have some good ones near that value harvested from 
> curly CFL bulbs. I hate those high power RFI generators but they do 
> have a few nice parts inside:) I don' wait for them to fail before the 
> harvest <evil grin>.
>
> After running the leakage tests on the new caps I was really surprised 
> at the fat, loud sparks I drew when I discharged them! I suppose they 
> are in good condition. I have more confidence in the C-2 now an old 
> radio will soon be coming back to life.
>
> 73,
>
> Bill  KU8H