MFM card

Closeup of damage

Exploded capacitor vs his unexploded friend


Collateral damage


digger wrote:The last time I tried to start up the Olivetti M24 I grew up with, it would refuse to boot. I measured the voltages of the PSU and they were extremely low, so probably a few capacitors in the PSU had given out. I never heard anything pop, though. But at this point, the machine is well over 30 years old, so perhaps I should thoroughly check all of the capacitors (not just the ones in the PSU) before starting it up again.
I'm also thinking about poly-modding the motherboard of the M24. I know, polymer capacitors are not "era-appropriate" as many purists will point out. But I want vintage hardware like this to last a long time. These are pieces of history and will become antiques one day. Also, if I'm going to go through the trouble of replacing capacitors in such a vintage piece of hardware, I might as well put the most durable and high-quality caps in there, right? Also, since capacitors go bad and need to be replaced over time anyway, having those not be identical to the caps that the machine originally shipped with isn't that much of an issue, I think.
However, from what research I have done on this so far, poly-modding may not be possible or practical for the PSU, since those typically use much higher capacity capacitors. So for those, I'd just have to find the most high quality (Japanese?) capacitors I can get with the same specs as the original ones.
I really hope the system hasn't yet sustained any damage from leaking capacitors.
Any thoughts on this? Is it crazy, sacrilegious or otherwise pointless to poly-mod a vintage computer?
root42 wrote:Replace them with good brand tantalums of the same rating, or slightly higher voltage rating if you want to be safe. New tantalums have less catastrophic failure modes and should last a long time.
novasilisko wrote:root42 wrote:Replace them with good brand tantalums of the same rating, or slightly higher voltage rating if you want to be safe. New tantalums have less catastrophic failure modes and should last a long time.
I have a question. What electrical characteristics do tantalum capacitors have that can't be matched by normal electrolytics? What negative impacts might be had by replacing them with equivalent typical tin-can electrolytics, or the solid polymer ones, etc?
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