Recapping Vintage Strips with NOS caps?

I have 7 circa 1980 channel strips that I am planning on recapping. I have found NOS caps that are 63v vs 40v and can fit in the footprint kinda cheap, and I was wondering if using such caps would be better than a modern equivalent. 220uf 40v axial caps add up when you are talking about 70. Is this a bad compromise?

http://cgi.ebay.com/SIEMENS-AXIAL-LYTIC-CAPACITOR-220UF-63V-10PC-LOTS-/250774254777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a634f74b9

Electrolytic capacitors have a limited shelf life and deteriorates even if left unused. As production date is unknow you may order a few samples and test them with a capacitor/ESR meter. Replacing old capacitors with old (or even older ?) capacitors is unwise and probably only a waste of time. I would use new fresh capacitors from a reputable source.

I have a load of the original Phillips electrolytics from the 70's as used by Neve etc.  ie. bc components, vishay.  These are all unused and came from an electronic enginners personal effects when he died.  When randomly checking them with my esr meter they are basically all unusable,  I'm not saying the oines you are thinking of using are definitely dead, but be forewarned................

Thanks guys... I guess it would be like putting NOS tires and belts on the Delorian I bought on Craigslist...

Hey watch out when driving that Delorian, they seem to make the white lines on the road disappear as you drive over them.

I read somewhere on the interwebs about reviving NOS lytics... somthing about charging them up to half their rated voltage and discharging them slowly, repeating a couple times. Then charging to full voltage and repeating? I don't remember exaclty, and it could be complete rubbish.

gemini86 said:

Hey watch out when driving that Delorian, they seem to make the white lines on the road disappear as you drive over them.

I read somewhere on the interwebs about reviving NOS lytics... somthing about charging them up to half their rated voltage and discharging them slowly, repeating a couple times. Then charging to full voltage and repeating? I don't remember exaclty, and it could be complete rubbish.

Click to expand...

If the electrolyte has dried up or leaked out, the charge/discharge thing won't do anything.

Buy new caps. Modern parts are much better than the old stuff.

-a

Yeah that process you are talking about charging and discharging the capacitor is called reforming, the theory is that the oxide on the capacitor plates will reform if you slowly add current to the capacitor through a resistor of somehow large value, depending on how old or how much it has been left unused is the time youll be needing to reform it so you can use it again. Ive tried it in the past, it kinda works, meaning you can use a capacitor, but it doesnt make your capacitor like new. It takes a long time to reform a cap, its not worth the electricity youll be spending to do it, get new caps