> > > > The ones I have seen are metalised paper and do have a deserved > > reputation for being antisocial. They split open and emit clouds of > > evil-smelling magic smoke. > > Yep. Famous here in the UK for being used in every single Acorn BBC Micro > PSU (also ASTEC) plus a lot of monitors and TVs of that era. Classrooms all > over the land with that oh-so-familiar smell. Also my kitchen on Monday > night.
They turn up everywhere. A couple of months back I was upgrading a TRS-80 Model 4 for a friend. It had a couple of said capacitors which filled my Large Machine Room with magic smoke... Also found them in HP machines. Fortunately, they don't do much other damage when they go. They do not catch fire in my experience. They may blow a fuse or trip the RCD in the consumer unit if you are unlucky, but nothing worse. > Exact modern replacements are roughly ukp2 each from Farnell which is half > the price of some ebay chancers, some other reading I was doing suggested > EVOX/KEMET or WIMA so that'll do me. I think I would go for those. Actually, while we all moan about the original RIFA ones, they have lasted over 30 years in most cases. I don't think that's too bad. If the replacements last as long then I won't complain. -tony
