ESR and You
"The Deadly Mystery"
Sorry, trying to spice it up a bit. ESR is a large threat
to the continued enjoyment of our beloved Personal System/2s. Mechanically,
our wee bairns are rocks. But the electrolytic capacitors are mortal and
are vulnerable to drying out due to a number of reasons, the worst being
high temperatures.
Alan Douglas
I was going to look up Al's page and suggest this too.
I repaired
three such drives, following this suggestion to check the electrolytics
for ESR (effective series resistance).
They go open-circuit with age, and not just the ones circled
on Al's
page, but caps in the motor-drive board too. I found, as I recall,
a
total of five open caps in three floppy drives.
I replaced mine with ceramic (0.22µF) chips or tantalum
chips. The
easiest way I found was to cut through the cans with flush-cutting
dikes, then remove the rubber seal, then unsolder each pad
individually.
ESR is best measured in-circuit with the Dick Smith kit
or can be
done with a 100kHz generator and a DVM. Some pertinent
web pages:
Designer Bob Parker's web
page: K-7204 ESR meter US$40.00
Stephen Powell''s 99
cent ESR tester: Info and links
USA: Anatek Corp (NH)
Canada: John's Jukes (Vancouver)
England: Satcure
(Sandbach, Cheshire)
Capacitor Testing,
Safe Discharging and Other Related Information
Version 2.36 © 1994-2001 Samuel
M. Goldwasser
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