I'm in the process of recapping the Avanti and ran across this tantalum. In the schematics it's listed as a 2.2uf 20V. I tried to verify this, but the color code is off (can't find what the yellow side means). The red, violet and green note it as a 2.7uf 16V (not to far off from SM). The yellow side doesn't match with any coding charts.

I'm going to leave it alone for now.

Thanks

I doubt it's bad. Probably best to leave it alone.

The yellow mark appears to be at least a polarity indicator - don't know if it could also indicate tolerance. If it has never been abused (like installing backwards) it is probably OK.

I've decided to leave it for now. Every time I look at it, I hear Bob Marley singing.

I really hate tantalums. I replace them in all my vintage audio gear because of their habit of failing completely with a dead short. No warning, etc. I guess I can live with this one.

'tis definitely a 2.7uf (red-violet-green = 275, or 2700000 picofarads, or 2.7microfarads.

The color code is always read in picofarads, and then just move the decimal to the left by six places (pico= 10 to the -12th and micro= 10 to the -6th)

The stripe on the side is a polarity indicator, yes.

Cheers,

'tis definitely a 2.7uf (red-violet-green = 275, or 2700000 picofarads, or 2.7microfarads.

The color code is always read in picofarads, and then just move the decimal to the left by six places (pico= 10 to the -12th and micro= 10 to the -6th)

The stripe on the side is a polarity indicator, yes.

Cheers,

Thanks for the confirmation. I wasn't sure I was decoding it correctly as the numbers 2.7uf 16V didn't match the schematics 2.2uf 20V. I know they sometimes make changes during production, but I didn't want to take any chances.

Those little tantalums rarely give problems. The cheaper ones in some later Harmon Kardon receivers were terrible. Yes, they love to short out. If a manufacturer used a good tantalum they rarely give any trouble. My Infinity SWAMPS are loaded with them and they are not the troublemakers. Usually it's the ceramic discs and the early zener diodes.
I see those little tants mostly in vertical timing circuits of BPC TV's. If I remember, only one ever was bad.

Those little tantalums rarely give problems. The cheaper ones in some later Harmon Kardon receivers were terrible. Yes, they love to short out. If a manufacturer used a good tantalum they rarely give any trouble. My Infinity SWAMPS are loaded with them and they are not the troublemakers. Usually it's the ceramic discs and the early zener diodes.
I see those little tants mostly in vertical timing circuits of BPC TV's. If I remember, only one ever was bad.

I replaced all the ones in the audio chain of my Pioneer receiver, but left all the ones in the tuner section. I figured if I changed all the caps on tuner, I'd have to recalibrate it and I don't have the tools for that.

I replaced all the ones in the audio chain of my Pioneer receiver, but left all the ones in the tuner section. I figured if I changed all the caps on tuner, I'd have to recalibrate it and I don't have the tools for that.

These large value caps would not be part of any critical tuning, only B+ filters. So, not to worry if you really need to replace one.

I would replace that sad little electrolytic next to it...

I would replace that sad little electrolytic next to it...

That pic is before the recap job. The only electrolytic left is the canister and this tant.