18-03-2011, 07:55 PM
As regards wax caps, I prefer not to change them all but take them out of circuit (one leg) and test them with an analogue meter, for example an avo 8.
If you are not sure of how to do it........
put meter on highest resistance setting and put probes on the legs of the cap, the needle will kick right and slowly go back down, when the needle has stopped, if you remove one probe and the needle drops further the cap is leaky..........replace it. The bigger the drop the more leakage.
This only tends to work on the higher value caps like the uf, not very reliable on the pf range but these don't usually fail often as they are low voltage in the circuit.
I find it better, and costs less in caps to check them, also helps in understanding the components and circuit.
cheers Mark
Keep on Fiddling!