Is there a way to look at the capacitors on the power board and know if
I they are suspect? Or should I simply bite the bullet and buy the
capacitors specified in the Wiki (for the Orion II) and plan to spend an
afternoon doing the job?
Kim N5OP
On 11/14/2015 11:23 AM, Gary J FollettDukes HiFi wrote:
I think the reason Ten Tec its so adamant about having people routinely do the
capacitor change is that, when the suspect capacitors fail, it us usually without
warning and can be quite dramatic, causing irreversible damage to PC boards. Also,
likely inhaling the results of the vaporization of the chemicals in the capacitors is
not in one’s best interests either. Therefore, to avoid possible liability
issues, Ten Tec has chosen the path of strongly encouraging this upgrade even if the
radio is working fine.
In reality, I agree with them on their approach, though I wish they would be forthcoming as
to the reason and admit that they too went with “the lowest bidder” on these
capacitors. That openness would probably encourage more people to do the work as a
preventative measure instead of waiting for the inevitable failures to take place.
Going forward, every Orion I pass through my buying and selling business will
get this upgrade before leaving my hands, just for the added safety level it
offers for my buyers.
Gary
On Nov 14, 2015, at 7:56 AM, Kim Elmore <cw_de_n5op@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
What a fascinating article on those capacitors! I've seen those failures on
computer motherbaords. My O II was purchased June 2007 and hasn't yet shown any
signs of capacitor problems. I wonder if it will bite me like it has so many
others? It was sent to TT service for transmit power output issues in 2013 and
they replaced the battery as a matter of course, so I should be good for a
while yet on that. So far, it's been a wonderful rig!
Kim N5OP
On 11/13/2015 9:25 AM, Gary J FollettDukes HiFi wrote:
I have considerable background in Aluminum processing as well as in the
analytical methods used by the researchers in the Woki article surrounding the
electrolytic plague.
I must admit that I was very impressed by the Wiki article in terms of its
detail and depth. Anyone who wants to understand electrolytic capacitors and
why they do what they do should read this.
Thank you for the reference. I learned a lot from it.
Gary
On Nov 13, 2015, at 8:37 AM, Duane Calvin <ac5aa1@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks for the reminder, Ron. I notice the Wiki article is not complete.
It leaves out the news story that came out a while after the plague began
that told of how someone had infiltrated the premiere electrolytic maker in
Taiwan and stole the recipe for the "secret sauce" inside. Problem was, the
company had hid away the real recipe, and had left a phony copy where it
could be stolen in order to foil competitors. And, sadly, that is how we
have been cursed with the bad capacitors for lo these many years! Here's
one of the online references with a slightly different twist, but it's
close:
http://www.pctools.com/security-news/faulty-capacitors/
And that's our intrigue for a Friday morning, the 13th!
73, Duane
Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas
ac5aa@ac5aa.com
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Ron Castro
Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2015 11:10 PM
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Bad Capacitors (WAS: Orion II master resetting each
turn on)
The bad capacitors were produced from around 1999 to 2003, but the effects
lasted for several years afterward. Dell got burned for some $420 Million,
also Apple, HP, Intel, IBM and others got hit for huge sums. Here's the sad
story from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
At the end is the speculation about the stolen formula, which is intriguing
to say the least! This hit Ten Tec as well, and even if you sent your radio
back to them, they replaced the caps with ones from the same bad batch
before all of this was known.
Ron Castro
N6IE
www.N6IE.com
Member:
ARRL
Redwood Empire DX Assn.
Northern California Contest Club
Northern California DX Foundation
Society of Broadcast Engineers
-----Original Message-----
From: TenTec [mailto:tentec-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of Duane
Calvin
Sent: November 12, 2015 8:33 PM
To: 'Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment'
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II master resetting each turn on
For some period of time a few years back, EVERYONE had problems with
electrolytics due to a stolen fake formula for the electrolytic compound in
the caps. Sure caused a lot of problems. I had to repair my Samsung
big-screen TV by replacing electrolytics on the power supply board, for
example. I used to know the years this occurred, but no room in my memory
for that any more!
73, Duane
Duane Calvin, AC5AA
Austin, Texas
ac5aa@ac5aa.com
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--
Kim Elmore, Ph.D. (Adj. Assoc. Prof., OU School of Meteorology, CCM, PP
SEL/MEL/Glider, N5OP, 2nd Class Radiotelegraph, GROL)
/"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in practice, there is."
//– Attributed to many people; it’s so true that it doesn’t matter who said it./
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--
Kim Elmore, Ph.D. (Adj. Assoc. Prof., OU School of Meteorology, CCM, PP
SEL/MEL/Glider, N5OP, 2nd Class Radiotelegraph, GROL)
/"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. But, in
practice, there is." //– Attributed to many people; it’s so true that it
doesn’t matter who said it./
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