Idea for monitoring MMC operation

To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: Idea for monitoring MMC operation
From: "Alex Crow" <user-at-alexcrow.clara-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twf-at-verinet-dot-com>)
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 10:36:47 -0600
Approved: twf-at-verinet-dot-com

Dear all,

I'm sure I've seen this before, but it may have been about HV diodes rather
than caps - but what about putting a little neon lamp and a big resistor
across each cap in a MMC? eg little wire-ended neons and a 4.7M HV
resistor... that way you can see when *any* cap has gone up the spout (if
you're not cross-linking, that is) - the lamp will extinguish/not light so
brightly in the case of a short, and will probably be really bright if
there's an open circuit! And running the thing will be really pretty - all
those lovely orange lights!

I am getting more and more convinced that the MMC is the way to go, not
only because of size, elegance and time savings. If capacitor ratings are
anything like the frequency capability of microprocessors, there are bound
to be *plenty* of underrated (ie underestimated) Polypropylene caps in each
lot you buy. Some will fail near their ratings, but with the neon
indicators, they blow and you replace them, hopefully with one that's
stronger. Others will be 'rock'ard' as they say... beats having to build an
entire new PE cap if one unit goes pop!

If the bulbs sound like a good idea I will rig this thing up, do some
stringent tests with it, and report on my results.

Besides, Gary Lau's cap simply *looks* beautiful!

Alex Crow