Oooo been there, good luck 
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68kMLA
SophieRose
Phipli
Just a heads up, it's worth getting 25V tants in the future.
ClassicGuyPhilly
@SophieRose thanks! And most definitely remember your legendary IIfx journey 
ClassicGuyPhilly
@Phipli I went by what was recommended on the recap-a-mac site. What's the real world difference between what I bought and the 25Vs? Note I know nothing about this stuff 
Phipli
@ClassicGuyPhilly
With Tantalums increasing the voltage from 16V to 25V doesn't have the negative affects of some other types of capacitor, but on the other hand, due to historic reasons, it is now recommended that when selecting tantalums, you use at least double the working voltage. A 16V is therefore only recommend for up to 8V and not enough for 12V circuits.
With Tantalums increasing the voltage from 16V to 25V doesn't have the negative affects of some other types of capacitor, but on the other hand, due to historic reasons, it is now recommended that when selecting tantalums, you use at least double the working voltage. A 16V is therefore only recommend for up to 8V and not enough for 12V circuits.
Phipli
...
On the other hand, a 25V is within spec for a 12V rail, but also works fine with 5V.
It means if you use 25V parts you can just buy a load, shove them in the drawer and use them anywhere without having to work out the voltage it might see.
On the other hand, a 25V is within spec for a 12V rail, but also works fine with 5V.
It means if you use 25V parts you can just buy a load, shove them in the drawer and use them anywhere without having to work out the voltage it might see.
Phipli
The reason the labels don't make sense (why not just label the 16V part 8V??) Is historic. They used to recommend a smaller margin, but with time, there were a lot of in service tantalum failures, so now the datasheets recommend the 100% (double) margin on the voltage. This means you'll find 90s macs with lower rated tantalums... But you'll also find 90s macs with failed tantalums.
ClassicGuyPhilly
@Phipli thanks, that's good info for me to digest. I really need to learn more about such things, gonna find a layman's intro YT video on capacitors, the Wiki was over my head
ClassicGuyPhilly
Maybe I should have spent more time with this when I was a kid. Was an awesome learning toy though! I think this was the actual kit I had.
Phipli
@ClassicGuyPhilly I only found out about it being wise to use 25V parts after having ordered a load of 16V capacitors. I've wasted loads of time since having to work out which are definitely on the 5V rail to use up the 16V parts
Phipli
Sadly I didn't have one of those kits as a kid.
Over YouTube videos I'd recommend buying and building Velleman kits. The manuals explain how the circuit works and they're very educational. YouTube... I find when they're doing something complicated I can't absorb as much as just doing things myself from written instructions.
Over YouTube videos I'd recommend buying and building Velleman kits. The manuals explain how the circuit works and they're very educational. YouTube... I find when they're doing something complicated I can't absorb as much as just doing things myself from written instructions.