Reply To: Old condensers wanted for magazine article

[wmohat]

To Mumbles, Tom and Seakaye12:

I usually drill out the top of a condenser, and pull out the guts. I then drill one tiny hole (1/16″) or so in the center of the bottom of the case. I insert the new capacitor, and then bend the lead over sideways and solder it down. ( The silver colored condensers are usually mild steel, coated in solder -matte tin, usually- so it’s easy to solder to.) I then point the can up. and solder the old stranded wire condenser lead to the top of the cap, and then seal it with JB Weld epoxy. These things look EXACTLY like a “stock” unit, but will last FAR longer than the original condenser.

But….. what I’m trying to locate are some of the very old (1910s, 1920s) condensers off of very early Johnson, Caille (etc) outboards…..the ones
that are about 2 to 5 times larger than your standard condenser. I’d like to measure their value (in microfarads), then “rebuild” a few of them to “better than factory OEM equipment” standards.

Does ANYONE have any really old, BIG condensers (dead!) they can donate for this effort? Thanks!
–Bill

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Bill Mohat MS/CIS, BSEET, CCNA

"You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality." --Ayn Rand **********************************************