Blown cap in a Speco signal tracer amp
Well I was bored this afternoon so I hauled out the box of test gear I shipped home from Ontario this summer. My gramps had an electronics repair shop back in the days the pre-date color tv and he had tons of tubes and test gear all over the place. Pity though, he never owned an oscilloscope.
Anyways, one of the items I brough home was a Speco signal tracer amp with it's probe and manual. Before I plugged it in I read the manual and learned that the unit needed to be plugged in a certain way or else you would blow the unit (this is also the days before polarized plugs) so after I properly plugged it in (or so I thought) I turned and to my delight it did work but I was getting an excess buzz from somewhere. I then tried it out with the signal marking generator (which also worked but did not need a polarized plug) and after a while the unit suddenly stopped responding to the probe and a few moments later I was greeted with a fizz and then a "pop" and at which point I promptly yanked the plug from the wall.
I was expecting something very destructive but after opening the case it looks like a single cap that went to ground heated up, shorted and vented by blowing out one of the half-melted wax ends, spraying wax everywhere!
It's a .25 MFD (.25uf?), 200 VDC cap (that's as far as I know) and once it's replaced the unit should run fine again.
Now, I need to find a modern equivalent for this cap, will it be hard?
Also, would it be okay to replace the current plug with a polarized one since electricians now must follow a code that follows proper polarization?
Anyways, one of the items I brough home was a Speco signal tracer amp with it's probe and manual. Before I plugged it in I read the manual and learned that the unit needed to be plugged in a certain way or else you would blow the unit (this is also the days before polarized plugs) so after I properly plugged it in (or so I thought) I turned and to my delight it did work but I was getting an excess buzz from somewhere. I then tried it out with the signal marking generator (which also worked but did not need a polarized plug) and after a while the unit suddenly stopped responding to the probe and a few moments later I was greeted with a fizz and then a "pop" and at which point I promptly yanked the plug from the wall.
I was expecting something very destructive but after opening the case it looks like a single cap that went to ground heated up, shorted and vented by blowing out one of the half-melted wax ends, spraying wax everywhere!
It's a .25 MFD (.25uf?), 200 VDC cap (that's as far as I know) and once it's replaced the unit should run fine again.
Now, I need to find a modern equivalent for this cap, will it be hard?
Also, would it be okay to replace the current plug with a polarized one since electricians now must follow a code that follows proper polarization?
Attached Files
<----Computer says I need more beer.
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