Aged electrolytic

Passive components · High ESR · lost µF

Aluminium electrolytic that has dried out with age and heat · marked 470 µF 25 V · ESR 2 Ω (a new one is about 0.1 Ω)

Try it on the benchThe lab drops it on an empty bench and opens its datasheet card.

Typical part: Aged aluminium electrolytic (for practice)

Pins

• +
• −

Ratings and limits

How to use it

What a capacitor looks like after years in a hot power supply: the capacitance may still read close, the ESR does not. Test with an ESR or LCR meter at 10–100 kHz.

Lessons and builds that use it

• Capacitor ESR check

More in passive components

• Resistor
• Potentiometer
• Photoresistor (LDR)
• Electrolytic capacitor
• Supercapacitor
• Film capacitor
• Toroidal inductor
• Ceramic capacitor
• Variable capacitor
• Axial choke