Hello all,
I have a HP 3400A and some of the capacitors are leaking electrolytic and with the unit being 60 years old, the capacitors obviously need replaced. Am I able (provided the replacements fit on the boards, etc.) use film capacitors as replacements without issue?
If you look at those old electrolytes more closely you'll find they have quite large capacitance. At leadt 10 uF or more. It's qute hard, I would even say impossible to replace them with film capacitors (until you don't have infinite space). So, just replace them with new capacitor of an electrolytic type and that's it.
Where are the leaking capacitors, as I can't see any problems in the picture?
Those capacitors are usually fine, except for early ones with a cream rubber seal. Also the one wet tantalum type 109D or equivalent used on some chopper boards, they are known to leak & corrode things.
The 150D is a solid tant type, with no liquid to leak.
I usually check them with an ESR meter and only replace those that are high ESR or have severely dropped in capacitance, whole recapping HP TE of this age is a waste of money.
David