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Old 17th Jun 2017, 7:26 pm   #1
Boater Sam
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Default New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

Did anyone ever use new Hunts' capacitors in the days of yore to replace failed Hunts' capacitors?
Or is our current mania for replacing them a recent development due to the age of them?
What was used as replacements in the late 50s and 60s, mostly Radiospares I assume?
Sorting through some NOS caps, I found some new Rifa and Wima caps, all cracked! Anybody want any for crackers at Christmas?

Sam.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 8:06 pm   #2
Philips210
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

Hi

If anyone has any old Radiospares catalogues from the late 1950's it would be interesting to see what was available to the trade as replacements.

Quote:
Sorting through some NOS caps, I found some new Rifa and Wima caps, all cracked! Anybody want any for crackers at Christmas?
Maybe best kept for bonfire night as a complement to the fireworks

Regards
Symon.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 8:10 pm   #3
Boater Sam
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

"Cracking" idea Symon.
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 9:08 pm   #4
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

Perhaps one of the first genuinely "fit and forget" replacement types would have been the Mullard C296 polyesters, ("mustards", though I believe early types may also have been green or blue before the dull yellow became ubiquitous). They must have been welcome progress to those weary of Hunts etc. types that would soon upset high impedance/high voltage circuits after just a few years.

They seemed to acquire a good reputation that lasts to this day- I wonder if Philips played it safe at the time with their initial design, after all part of component development over the years is finding just how close things can be shaved!
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 10:33 pm   #5
Boater Sam
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

So were the crumbling Hunts we know and berate available as spares for sets that had them originally? Thinking of all those Bush VHF sets.
And when did they stop being used either in production or as spares?

Last edited by Boater Sam; 17th Jun 2017 at 10:33 pm. Reason: added
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Old 17th Jun 2017, 11:35 pm   #6
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

They stopped being used by manufacturers around 1960 as cost effective ceramic and plastic film caps became available. I think they took a while to deteriorate, and by the time they went bad the technology was obsolete. The Mullard/Philips 'mustard' and 'tropical fish' caps were available by the late 60s.
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Old 18th Jun 2017, 6:57 am   #7
John M0GLN
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Philips210 View Post
Hi

If anyone has any old Radiospares catalogues from the late 1950's it would be interesting to see what was available to the trade as replacements.

Regards
Symon.
Not much choice in the 1953 catalogue.

John
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Old 18th Jun 2017, 7:45 am   #8
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

I saw Mullard Mustards which had been fitted from new in some makes of set, but never as repair replacements. It seemed Radiospares had a monopoly in that area.

I suppose it all came down to availability with the Radiospares man a regular visitor at most repair shops. Their parts seemed reassuringly expensive at retail prices.

David
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Old 18th Jun 2017, 8:12 am   #9
dazzlevision
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Default Re: New Hunts'replacement capacitors?

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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
I saw Mullard Mustards which had been fitted from new in some makes of set, but never as repair replacements. It seemed Radiospares had a monopoly in that area.
David
Not entirely, but they had an enviable reputation for the very prompt execution and delivery of customer orders.

In the 1960s, the Pye/Ekco service company, Radio & Television Services Ltd ("RTS"), established a components catalogue and offered mainly "TCC" (later Plessey TCC) branded paper and mixed dielectric axial capacitor types to the repair trade.

In the 1960s, Philips' UK service company, Amalgamated Electric Services Ltd ("AES"), also offered kits of "generic" components, such as axial paper capacitors to their dealers.

After Philips acquired a controlling interest in the Pye group in 1967, their two service companies were rapidly merged to become Combined Electronic Services Ltd, which carried on the components catalogue operation under the "CES" brand name and also offered "WIMA" branded capacitors from West Germany and (unsurprisingly) Philips/Mullard C296 series "mustard" types.

This thread might be of interest with regard to "historic" capacitor brands and types:

https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...ad.php?t=98964

Rank Bush Murphy Ltd also got into the act around 1972, with the launch of their components catalogue, later to be known as "RSVP" - Rapid Sound and Vision Parts.

I'd have to look at some of the above named distributor's catalogues to give a full list of which capacitor brands they offered.

Of course, there were also the TV spares companies that were not aligned/associated with TV manufacturers, such as Willow Vale, SEME, Charles Hyde, etc. They also sold capacitors (not sourced from Radiospares, of course).

I've been repairing TVs since the late 1960s and have only ever been sold Hunts Moldseal capacitors by ITT Consumer Products Services (the successors to K-B and CRTS). That was in the early 1970s, when I ordered some 0.05uF/1500Vdc capacitors that were used in their VC2/3/4/51/52/53/100 series of "hand wired chassis" sets (Boost HT decoupling/smoothing, if my memory is correct). By that time, Erie Electronics Ltd, had taken over A H Hunt (Capacitors) Ltd, but still sold much of the Hunts range rebranded as ERIE.

Last edited by dazzlevision; 18th Jun 2017 at 8:25 am. Reason: Added text.
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