Re: Capacitor problems

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Re: Capacitor problems
From: Malcolm Watts <MALCOLM-at-directorate.wnp.ac.nz>
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 18:15:18 +1200

Hi Richard,

> I have had a few such problems myself in the past, Ohmeters may be of 
> little use.  Capacitance meters also are of little value in this 
> scenario.  When it is a "puzzlement", you should isolate the the 
> components individually in a separate working circuit or system at full 
> working voltage!
> 
> You can blow a 3" hole through three levels of a rolled cap in oil and it 
> will neve check shorted!  The capacitance will be totally unaffected, 
> too.  Only once the real working voltage (RF only) is placed on the unit, 
> will it fail.

The curious thing about this failure is that Ed said that the line 
current was near zero. Boy has that got me wondering. I once had an
old oil-filled unit go o/c due to the thin lead-in wires eventually 
giving up after a prolonged run. I admit I can't see that happening
to units with these ratings, but who knows?

Malcolm