![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this board, had a bit of a problem with my PSU whining, so I searched the net and found out that the reason might very well be a failing capacitor.
I opened up the PSU, checked to find out that there're 3 capacitors that popped open, so I went to a store, and got another 3, same charge, as this is my first solder job, I got 'a' solder iron, and removed the old ones, attached the new ones, and soldered them in place, turned it on, voila, working with no whine, and what seems to be better stability!
The problem is as follows, I watched the tutorials on this web-site ... http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/ ... he said that the capacitors I just installed have 'certain' polarity to take into account, he also mentioned that I would have been dead if I installed them wrong (lol), so, as Im writing this post ... you know, do I have to re-open it and check on the polarity?
Another problem is that I used the iron too much on the capacitors' leads while soldering, so did I damage them, also, the 'square' and 'circle' polarity markers on the board that the tutorial guy talked about aren't visible, or might not be if I desoldered the area, because, as I mentioned, I used too much heat and seems the paint on the board was melted a bit.
I know what I did was wrong, because I should first read about it, and then do it, but I was in a rush, and didnt really think about it that much, saw it a bit trivial at the time.
To sum up my questions:
1- Even if the capacitor is low voltage, and seems to work right, can it have been installed with wrong polarity?
2- How do I know the polarity is right? Although the board has been damage a bit by heat but still working perfectly.
3- Did the excess heat on the leads damage the capacitors I was installing, how do I make sure they're working?
Thank you in advance for your replies
.
I'm new to this board, had a bit of a problem with my PSU whining, so I searched the net and found out that the reason might very well be a failing capacitor.
I opened up the PSU, checked to find out that there're 3 capacitors that popped open, so I went to a store, and got another 3, same charge, as this is my first solder job, I got 'a' solder iron, and removed the old ones, attached the new ones, and soldered them in place, turned it on, voila, working with no whine, and what seems to be better stability!
The problem is as follows, I watched the tutorials on this web-site ... http://tangentsoft.net/elec/movies/ ... he said that the capacitors I just installed have 'certain' polarity to take into account, he also mentioned that I would have been dead if I installed them wrong (lol), so, as Im writing this post ... you know, do I have to re-open it and check on the polarity?
Another problem is that I used the iron too much on the capacitors' leads while soldering, so did I damage them, also, the 'square' and 'circle' polarity markers on the board that the tutorial guy talked about aren't visible, or might not be if I desoldered the area, because, as I mentioned, I used too much heat and seems the paint on the board was melted a bit.
I know what I did was wrong, because I should first read about it, and then do it, but I was in a rush, and didnt really think about it that much, saw it a bit trivial at the time.
To sum up my questions:
1- Even if the capacitor is low voltage, and seems to work right, can it have been installed with wrong polarity?
2- How do I know the polarity is right? Although the board has been damage a bit by heat but still working perfectly.
3- Did the excess heat on the leads damage the capacitors I was installing, how do I make sure they're working?
Thank you in advance for your replies
.