• SMPS Behaviour at low supply voltages

    From Cursitor Doom@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 10 10:25:13 2023
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed
    before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter. This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and
    certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.

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  • From Fred Bloggs@21:1/5 to Cursitor Doom on Sun Sep 10 07:18:02 2023
    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 5:25:22 AM UTC-4, Cursitor Doom wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter. This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.

    Nichicon specializes in very low leakage e-caps mainly intended for timing. Their reforming procedure is for testing/ quality control purposes, and not intended for general applications for which it is mostly inapplicable.

    See the section on reforming:

    https://www.tdk-electronics.tdk.com/download/185386/e724fb43668a157bc547c65b0cff75f8/pdf-generaltechnicalinformation.pdf

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  • From John Larkin@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 10 07:54:57 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
    wrote:

    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed
    before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter.

    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.




    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage >equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.

    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to
    be.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Fred Bloggs@21:1/5 to John Larkin on Sun Sep 10 08:08:31 2023
    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18 AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com> wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed >before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say >resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage >equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to
    be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Cursitor Doom@21:1/5 to bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com on Sun Sep 10 16:31:59 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 08:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com>
    wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed
    before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and
    certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage
    equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to
    be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    I'm afraid neither you nor John (undoubtedly august personages that
    you are) have actually answered the question....

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  • From legg@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 10 11:52:41 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
    wrote:

    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed
    before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter. This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage >equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.

    You can refer to MIL-HDBK-1131 for electrolytic cap storage and
    reformation recommendations.

    They suggest limiting current to 5mA, below the rated voltage of
    the part, as the control during reforming.

    RL

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  • From piglet@21:1/5 to Cursitor Doom on Sun Sep 10 17:28:50 2023
    On 10/09/2023 16:31, Cursitor Doom wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 08:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com>
    wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed >>>> before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90% >>>> of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged >>>> for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >>>> certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage
    equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment >>>> in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to
    be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    I'm afraid neither you nor John (undoubtedly august personages that
    you are) have actually answered the question....

    Isn't the app note talking about reforming individual capacitors? In a completed piece of equipment you'd need to do that to each capacitor.
    Possibly even having to unsolder at least one lead. Imagine an
    electrolytic bypassing a low value emitter resistor in an amplifier - a
    10K resistor there would have no chance against that in-circuit load.

    If you mean putting 10k in series with the mains supply then the short
    answer is NO. The first capacitor after the rectifier may see a little
    voltage but I doubt the supply would startup and certainly no other
    downstream capacitors would get reformed.

    piglet

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  • From Cursitor Doom@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 10 17:39:30 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 17:28:50 +0100, piglet <erichpwagner@hotmail.com>
    wrote:

    On 10/09/2023 16:31, Cursitor Doom wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 08:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs
    <bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com> >>>> wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated >>>>> that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed >>>>> before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90% >>>>> of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged >>>>> for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >>>>> certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps >>>>> back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test >>>>> gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which >>>>> is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in >>>>> and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage >>>>> equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment >>>>> in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone >>>>> care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to >>>> be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    I'm afraid neither you nor John (undoubtedly august personages that
    you are) have actually answered the question....

    Isn't the app note talking about reforming individual capacitors?

    Yes.


    In a
    completed piece of equipment you'd need to do that to each capacitor. >Possibly even having to unsolder at least one lead. Imagine an
    electrolytic bypassing a low value emitter resistor in an amplifier - a
    10K resistor there would have no chance against that in-circuit load.

    If you mean putting 10k in series with the mains supply then the short
    answer is NO. The first capacitor after the rectifier may see a little >voltage but I doubt the supply would startup and certainly no other >downstream capacitors would get reformed.

    piglet


    Oh bugger. I hadn't thought of that.Thanks, Piglet.

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  • From John Larkin@21:1/5 to All on Sun Sep 10 11:01:01 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 16:31:59 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 08:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs ><bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com>
    wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed
    before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90%
    of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged
    for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and
    certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage
    equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment
    in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to
    be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    I'm afraid neither you nor John (undoubtedly august personages that
    you are) have actually answered the question....

    Demand a refund!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dan Green@21:1/5 to jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com on Sun Sep 10 21:31:03 2023
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 11:01:01 -0700, John Larkin <jjlarkin@highlandtechnology.com> wrote:

    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 16:31:59 +0100, Cursitor Doom <cd@notformail.com>
    wrote:

    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 08:08:31 -0700 (PDT), Fred Bloggs >><bloggs.fredbloggs.fred@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Sunday, September 10, 2023 at 10:55:18?AM UTC-4, John Larkin wrote:
    On Sun, 10 Sep 2023 10:25:13 +0100, Cursitor Doom <c...@notformail.com> >>>> wrote:
    Gentlemen,

    An app note I was referred to recently (Nichicon source IIRC) stated
    that even new electrolytic caps should have their oxide layer reformed >>>> >before being put into service if they've been on the shelf for as
    little as 12 months. They suggested doing this by charging them to 90% >>>> >of max stated voltage via a 1k resistor and leaving them fully charged >>>> >for 30 minutes. thereafter.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps in stock that
    are several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they
    used to be.
    This gives the oxide layer a chance to
    reform, they say. It's actually quite a rapid charge in most cases and >>>> >certainl much faster than we would use for bringing vintage/NOS caps
    back to a serviceable condition. But for convenience you can't beat
    it. Anyway, cut a long story short. Previously I've brought old test
    gear back to life by manually bringing the supply voltage up via a
    variac and monitoring the current for any 'abberent behaviour' which
    is rather time consuming. In future I think I'll just use a 10k say
    resistor in the hot wire and leave it to its own devices, plugged in
    and switched on for 12 hours. That should be suitably kind to vintage >>>> >equipment. But then I thought - would this still work if the equipment >>>> >in question had an SMPS? It's fine for linear PSUs, but SMPS? Anyone
    care to offer an informed opinion?

    CD.
    We don't do that in production, and we surely have caps that are
    several years old. I think elec caps are much better than they used to >>>> be.

    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to
    operating voltage.

    I'm afraid neither you nor John (undoubtedly august personages that
    you are) have actually answered the question....

    Demand a refund!

    Good idea. The Larkin's advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Phil Allison@21:1/5 to Fred Bloggs on Mon Sep 11 00:39:46 2023
    Fred Bloggs wrote:
    -------------------------------


    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about,
    then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to operating voltage.


    ** IMO allowing PSU electros to ever go over voltage is piss poor design.

    At some stage during production testing or regular servicing, tube based items may need to be operated on test with some or all the tubes removed - in which case a 30 second time limit is absurdly brief.
    Supply voltages, negative grid bias voltages and drive signals need to be verified to be within tolerance BEFORE expensive new tubes are installed. When some a problem emerges, one does not need the clock ticking before PSU electros turn into
    firecrackers to worry about during trouble shooting.


    ...... Phil

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  • From Fred Bloggs@21:1/5 to Phil Allison on Mon Sep 11 07:00:39 2023
    On Monday, September 11, 2023 at 3:39:51 AM UTC-4, Phil Allison wrote:
    Fred Bloggs wrote:
    -------------------------------


    I always wondered what that 30 second overvoltage rating was all about, then I powered up a largely vacuum tube product and watched that voltage zoom into overvoltage until the filaments heated up and pulled the old fashioned regulator output to operating voltage.
    ** IMO allowing PSU electros to ever go over voltage is piss poor design.

    That's the way they did at the time. The one piece of equipment I observed was 1940s broadcast band AM receiver.


    At some stage during production testing or regular servicing, tube based items may need to be operated on test with some or all the tubes removed - in which case a 30 second time limit is absurdly brief.
    Supply voltages, negative grid bias voltages and drive signals need to be verified to be within tolerance BEFORE expensive new tubes are installed. When some a problem emerges, one does not need the clock ticking before PSU electros turn into
    firecrackers to worry about during trouble shooting.

    Aren't most of the small signal tubes biased for 10mA or something? Not going to take much to hang a load on the power supply to draw it down, something like a wirewound rheostat. The other tube electrodes are biased with uA, in effect nothing.



    ...... Phil

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