HI all,
Electrolytics of all values tend to fall under suspicion when any vintage piece of equipment develops a fault. I'm just seeking a bit of clarification on a couple of points:
1) Axial electros are getting really hard to find new and even my old spares bin doesn't have that many to choose from. I find increasingly there's no option but to replace axials with radials. This results in longer lead lengths than one would like, however. Is that likely to be a problem generally speaking (ignoring the issue of whether they can be accommodated on a board 'expecting' axials).
2) Unused old caps ("NOS" stock). Is there any reason why one shouldn't use NOS electros for repairs? Assuming they can be reformed and pass muster with an ESR meter, of course?
Yes, I know ideally you'd want to use brand new caps, but with so many cheap Chinese fakes around, I'm wondering if I'd be better off using NOS caps from unquestionably high-end manufacturers. Even Mouser's supply chain got infected with these a while ago!