AW: AW: multiple power supplies in a modular

[Mark Amundson]

The Dark force of dance wrote:
> Y-ellow Ladies and Diodes and Mark.
> At 06:42 PM 2/9/98 -0800, Mark Amundson wrote:
> >Beware that "wet slug" tantalums (usually in a insulated tubular
> >cylinder with axial leads) will perform as badly or worse than
> >electrolytics. Last time I saw them used was on 1970's vintage Torpedo
> >guidance circuitry.

> Tell me. Are those the little yellow axial caps I often run across on old
> digital boards? They often have a red end. Sometimes they're marked with a
> polarity but they don't look like electros. Just that I seem to have run
> across a number of them in the past year or so and was wondering what 'n'
> hell they were. Thanks in advance.  batzman at gist.net.au / aek at gist.net.au

I think "little" is the key here. Most early wet and dry slug tantalums
were relatively large tubular parts and in general, tin cases with
markings on them and a clear plastic overwrap. I have seen some later
dry slug tantalums that are plastic encapsulated with axial leads;
Sprague comes to mind with a taper end to mark polarity. Most of the
small axial caps I have seen are ceramic bypass capacitors for logic
usage.

The old wet slug tantalums tended to be completely sealed and offered
more storage life than electrolytics (military apps) but similar
capacitance per volume.

Mark,