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Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

Re: Are tantalum capacitors polar?

FWIW, on mine the two leads are exactly the same length, but you are correct about the fact that the + lead is to the right when one is looking at the side of the cap with the lettering. Also the cap is an assymetric tear drop shape, and the assymetry is consistently an indicator of polarity (I now notice). But I had left my brains somewhere else when I first installed four of them in my preamp, two of which were randomly "backwards". These turned into Roman candles about 5 minutes after a test run began; after the brief fireworks, they calmly caught fire and burnt to a crisp. One op amp was destroyed in the conflagration. Live and learn, I guess. I did consider in advance the possibility that they might be polar, but when I saw no marking (because the writing is very faint and tiny, and I cannot see squat these days), I just went ahead. Bad idea.


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