|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
72.75.117.58
I'm using tants to bypass the supply rails to an op amp in my otherwise tube preamp. As far as I can see there is no marking on them to indicate that they are polar, but so far three have failed spectacularly on the negative supply rail to the op amp, so it suddenly occurred to me that I may be wiring them backwards. Help?
Follow Ups:
The two leads are different lengths. The longer one is +.
Also the right hand lead when facing the printing is usually +.
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.
No flames.
HowdyMore than one engineer I've worked with refused to use them just because in the rare case that they were inserted backwards they fail so spectacularly. It's been years but even to a software weenie like me the indications of polarity were obvious after they were pointed out.
The polarity markings on my caps are so tiny and faint that I had to use a magnifying glass finally to see that I had been making the bonehead error of wiring them backwards with respect to the negative supply rail for the op amp. Yep, the failure mode IS spectacular, I can tell you.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: