How long will they last?

From: A.R. Duell <ard12_at_eng.cam.ac.uk>
Date: Mon Apr 7 18:06:59 1997

>
> > > No - we're using computer-assisted equipment from the 60's (74
> > > type logic) where the tanatalum's are going short-circuit or leaky, so
> > > allow for a 20-30 year lifetime.
>
> It sounds like you just may have a bunch of cruddy capacitors (or a power
> supply problem that is not killing the chips). I have never found a bad
> tantalum capacitor.

I had a tantalum bead fail on an IBM CGA card the other week. I wanted to
verify a bug occured with the genuine card, so I pulled it out of my
spares box, plugged it in and powered up. _One_ tantalum capacitor
exploded, giving off a small cloud of smoke and an unpleasant smell, and
the remains seemed to be glowing red hot. The rest of the card worked
fine, and still does AFAIK.

That card was about 15 years old, of course.

> William Donzelli

--
-tony
ard12_at_eng.cam.ac.uk
The gates in my computer are AND,OR and NOT, not Bill
Received on Mon Apr 07 1997 - 18:06:59 BST

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