While in the process of repairing an early 1960s Channel Master 6515 "Super Fringe" AM transistor radio, all of the eight electrolytics were first tested in-circuit and later removed and replaced. For in-circuit testing a Capacitor Wizard was used, followed by out-of-circuit testing using a meter. The Super Fringe was made for Channel Master by Sanyo Electronics.
Rogue's Gallery of Faulty Capacitors from a 60-year-old Radio
- Thread starter spongella
- Start date
BinaryMode
Blondie Once Said To Call Her But Never Answerd
Interesting. Midwest Devices LLC Capacitor Wizard® ESR Meter. Measure ESR in circuit with this analyzer
Probably something else I have to have. LOL
Were they good or bad though? I'm curious. I'm sure they made things a heck of a lot better back then, you know?
Probably something else I have to have. LOL
Were they good or bad though? I'm curious. I'm sure they made things a heck of a lot better back then, you know?
Thanks for the comment BinaryMode. All capacitors were exceedingly low when tested with a capacitance meter. I replaced them one by one and checked how the radio worked at each replacement. Some made a small difference, others a large difference. When all were replaced the radio worked 100% better - many stations were rec'd and the volume control started working again.
This was an EBay purchase with the seller stating it worked perfectly. This wasn't my first rodeo though, so I took it with a grain o'salt.
The Capacitor Wizard is great because it lets you check electrolytic capacitors in circuit with no need to observe polarity. Just one caveat: smaller capacitors like 5 - 10 uF will read as a "compare" on the meter. In other words you'd need a "good" capacitor to check the reading against the old one.
As for whether these capacitors were considered good quality back then - everything I heard about this line of Channel Master radios is that these Sanyo capacitors are the first things to check when troubleshooting and historically go bad with time.
This was an EBay purchase with the seller stating it worked perfectly. This wasn't my first rodeo though, so I took it with a grain o'salt.
The Capacitor Wizard is great because it lets you check electrolytic capacitors in circuit with no need to observe polarity. Just one caveat: smaller capacitors like 5 - 10 uF will read as a "compare" on the meter. In other words you'd need a "good" capacitor to check the reading against the old one.
As for whether these capacitors were considered good quality back then - everything I heard about this line of Channel Master radios is that these Sanyo capacitors are the first things to check when troubleshooting and historically go bad with time.
