Reforming and capacitor leakage current

Old capacitors present several types of problems for vintage radio restorers:

• their identification - nature and characteristic values
• their replacement with current components
• their eventual reforming (electrolytic capacitors)

When restoring an old radio, electrolytic capacitors are the components that age the worst. To test the health of filtering capacitors, one must be concerned with their leakage current rather than their ESR.
This leakage current must be measured under rated voltage conditions (150 to 450V). For this purpose, measurement and reforming devices are given here.

The tables above were established using the following empirical formula: \(I_{Max}= K . C_{\mu F} + 0,3\) where the current is in mA. The small calculator is based on this empirical form.