Vibrograf MU 700 With a Commonly Failed Tantalum Capacitor

[@hugeshows]

This part was failed on the last two of these I opened. I'm going to replace with a higher voltage rating (35v instead of 16v)

[@murrayedington]

Ferrite cores aren't very conductive - the short circuit within the cap itself will be the problem. There's really no situation where a different capacitor technology can't be used, ideally one that doesn't fail short! If a polarised cap really is required, a conventional electrolytic is a much better choice.

[@hugeshows]

@@murrayedington measurement from the cap to the coil core was bouncing between 17 ohms and around 2k ohms. The cap was also internally shorted. Tantalum caps typically have lower ESR and (when not defective) lower leakage current. They're more expensive than electrolytic caps, so generally speaking they're chosen for a reason.