[sdiy] What are they?

[KA4HJH]

>'Allo all,
>
>I got this rather substancial bag of... things from an antique radio swap
>meet.
>
>http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/modius13/whatsits.jpg
>
>They look kinda like capacitors to me, but I've never seen this sort of
>markings and can't find them anywhere.
>
>Markings I've spotted rummaging through the bag:
>27.35 2 +

K 47M + 15 = 47uF @15V  --some of the other tantalums are similar to this

They're polarized. The "+" marks the positive lead. Some of the tantalums
appear to be used--watch out for bad ones. I've seen used ones that check
out fine but in circuit things go crazy.
>
>There's about two or three hundred of the little buggers in the bag. Feels
>like five ounces.

Could be something useful in there but watch out for those bad tantalums.
And don't over-voltage them. They fail more easily than aluminum
electrolytics.

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"