UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post

cmjones01 · 13th Mar 2018, 2:38 pm

The modern ones will be fine. Today's electrolytic capacitors are much smaller than their vintage counterparts because the materials and construction techniques have improved a lot.

The only time that the physical size of an electrolytic capacitor really matters is when it's being worked hard with a high ripple current at high frequency, and it has to dissipate the resulting losses as heat. Then bigger is better.

The reservoir capacitors in a 1970s audio amplifier have, by today's standards, a very easy job, so smaller capacitors will be fine.

Chris

13th Mar 2018, 2:38 pm	#2
cmjones01 Nonode Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Warsaw, Poland and Cambridge, UK Posts: 2,677	Re: Capacitors. Is physical size important? The modern ones will be fine. Today's electrolytic capacitors are much smaller than their vintage counterparts because the materials and construction techniques have improved a lot. The only time that the physical size of an electrolytic capacitor really matters is when it's being worked hard with a high ripple current at high frequency, and it has to dissipate the resulting losses as heat. Then bigger is better. The reservoir capacitors in a 1970s audio amplifier have, by today's standards, a very easy job, so smaller capacitors will be fine. Chris __________________ What's going on in the workshop? http://martin-jones.com/