powering up old unused electrinics equipment

[paulmars]

I remember in electronics school in the 1980s we learned that the
best way to damage a very old piece of electronic equipment was to
power it on with full voltage. After a long time with no power caps
go to zero ufd, which will pass the full voltage and burn out other
components. Something like that. Im looking on the internet for
info about this, but I cant find any. Do you know of any?

tks,
pa

 

[itsmoked]

1) Capacitors dry out and "lose it". Those are toast and must be replaced.

2) Capacitors 'deform' and need to be "re-formed". You do that by slowly raising the voltage to them. Lots of threads in here on the subject. Use the search function.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[OperaHouse]

A lamp in series with the AC power is often a good fallback with old equipment. Start with a low wattage to let the capacitors start to reform for several hours and then try higher watt lamps.