Rifa, a Swedish capacitors manufacturer, produced many of these metalized paper capacitors. The epoxy housing srinks over time and compressing the metalized paper roll inside and ended up in short circuit. These capacitors are intended for supressing arcs ect. in mains parts. These are used by many brands in the world and I found them in nearly any European brands but even in Japanese brands like Akai, Luxman ect. I had a bunch of these capacitors new on stock but after 10 to 20 years the epoxy housing start to crack recognizable of al the hairline cracks. In my workshop is it standard practice to open up a device and check for visable damage, burned parts and see if Rifa capacitors in it before the device will be plugged in. If you find Rifa capacitors with hairline cracks in it remove or replace them first. For reducing arcing they can be temporarily removed, if for motor control like in Revox open reel machines for example replacement must be done before switching on.
It's an unavoidable failure mode for any (molded) paper capacitor. The epoxy housing just accellerates it but the ones in the white housing blow up as well.
As a teenager I once found and salvaged a Luxor (Swedish brand too) TV set from trash. Brought it in and plugged in. As first impression, it seemed to power up just fine, but almost right away I saw exactly same kind of smoke coming out. Pulled the plug and opened the thing up. Rifa capacitor on mains cracked and burned. Replaced it and the tv set served for long, long time.
In all the years of retailing Hifi, I don't recall any Revox product that was less than outstanding. this is simply an example of product age, but thankfully an easy fix.
Not just audio gear. I am still miffed than after this happened on her expensive Viking sewing machine my mother thought the motor had burnt out so threw away all the accessories like the pedal and asked me to take the machine to the tip. When I looked inside it was the RIFA capacitor across the motor that had blown. I could have easily fixed it for her without even using a soldering iron but too late.
Dang! That's nasty. At least my Dual 701 gave me a "warning" when it's cap blew. No smoke, no explosions. Just the turntable shutting off and a burning smell.
That RIFA was not an electrolytic. It's an X2 class; they're usually connected across the mains for RF suppression purposes. Indiscriminate replacement of electrolytics is often unnecessary. Some types/brands in certain situations will definitely need replacement while others will last for many decades.
Reminds me of a time I was about 10 years old. I had a stereo tape player my dad gave me for xmas. Once I was playing a tape kind of loud & saw smoke coming from the speaker.
It happened to me just like in the above video, but I couldn't find any burned parts afterward. Which parts should I replace? Please advise me; I appreciate it!
@@dlee1952 Look for sharp cornered rectangular capacitors made from a yellowish translucent plastic. Usually around mains voltages e.g. across the mains input. Normally full of cracks by now even if they haven't exploded. The cracks let in moisture causing this to happen.
At least it wasn't in your vacuum cleaner. That spreads the smoke throughout the room super quick. Check out the TRS80 PSU RIFA capacitor video to see what actually happens. The person who filmed that was so confident the capacitor would film he pointed a camera at it. As it was he had to wait over 20 minutes before all the magic smoke escaped.
Yes, can confirm that. Happened to my Lux D790 vacuum cleaner, and left my freshly cleaned room with a smell of a forest fire that lasted 2 hours after I opened the window.😄
I also have a B790 very unique machine but you. should change all rifa filter caps and all electrolytic cap too. And i strongly advise you to change the AC to DC bridge rectifiers in the power supply too because in case of failure it can destroy the logic borad. The rest is bulletproof.
@@Tat2Dragons It probably smells bad and disgusting. For example: If I was in that person’s house and smelled it, it would be disgusting I believe. Would not want to inhale such fumes.
Yeah, well, what to say. Every device works on white smoke. Once that smoke comes out, the device works no more... Btw: I have here ReVox A77 and, as I recall, once it had similar cap replaced by my cousin electronics technician (I am also an electrician, but haven't had enough experience back then). I didn't use it in a while, because everything now is computerized and digitalized so no actual need, but when lastly used it worked ok.. Cheers!
That disgusting smell....happened with mine after a 3 decades standstill at my brother on a high shelf. Haven't replaced the Rifa after removal. The Revox is a project i have to finish. Turntable worked but on a certain moment the arm started returning after a few minutes. The sound of the turntable was very pleasant (with Shure 97HE instead of the Ortofon) Opened the Revox and 1 of the 3 Ptc was cut, think 50% was left of it, broken off and that must have consequenses, this might be the problem? The other two looked good but might be faulty too..
I just love those RIFA capacitors. Really! One failed one shorted the PSU of a B795 that I purchased cheaply because it was "totally Kaput". But that was years ago, before the behavior was documented and known widely.
What I want to know is how the hell did that tonearm lift itself at the moment the fault occurred instead of becoming frozen solid in its place and thus damaging the record?
It happened to me just like in the above video, but I couldn't find any burned parts afterward. Which parts should I replace? Please advise me; I appreciate it!
@@dlee1952 Maybe there are no other burned parts? I had it in a TV set, all i had to to is to clean the PCB from spilled electrolyte and solder a new capacitor.
Ahh yes, in the UK these things are often found in many car dashboards, BBC Acorn Computer PSU's, and JPM MPS series Slot machine PSU's (I know this one especially well), all from the 80's, with our Slot Machine Restoration Community calling them "Bob Marley's", they stink when they let go.... smoke that RIFA :D
It happened to me just like in the above video, but I couldn't find any burned parts afterward. Which parts should I replace? Please advise me; I appreciate it!
