| Forum Home | ||||
| PC World Chat | ||||
| Thread ID: 97475 | 2009-02-17 09:15:00 | What does "out of spec capacitor" mean? | 2sons (14628) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 748648 | 2009-02-17 09:15:00 | The invoice we received following the repair of our 3 year old fridgefreezer, which stopped working without warning, detailed the fault as having been traced to "open circuited overload protector and out of spec capacitor". Can someone PLEASE tell me what a capacitor is, and what it means when it's out of spec (aside from 'your fridge freezer won't go')? | 2sons (14628) | ||
| 748649 | 2009-02-17 09:22:00 | www.businessdictionary.com en.wikipedia.org All I can do to help, have almost no knowledge of this stuff:p Hope it helps Blam |
Blam (54) | ||
| 748650 | 2009-02-17 09:25:00 | Capacitor is an electronic component that is capable of temporarily store a charge. It is the reason why a camera is able to emit a bright flash based on only two AA batteries, which works by storing the charge from the two batteries first before discharging it to the bulb. Anyway, you don't need to know above for the fridge. Cheers :) |
Renmoo (66) | ||
| 748651 | 2009-02-17 09:35:00 | Thanks for the explanation and links. I'm still struggling with the "out of spec" part but it's looking like it means the capacitor isn't performing at full strength? | 2sons (14628) | ||
| 748652 | 2009-02-17 09:36:00 | The capacitor in this case may be used in conjunction with the start relay to energise a "Start winding" in the unit's motor. (Rough analogy - like using 1st gear in the car until you get moving.) When this capacitor goes "out of spec" it means that the motor is going to strain it's little phoo-phoo valve trying to start, just like a car trying to get moving in top gear. To prevent the entire energy of the electric grid trying to get your motor spinning, the overload protector cuts off the power. Let this happen enough times and the protector dies saving your motor. The capacitor being out of specification possibly means that it was not letting the starting circuit work effectively, so overheating the motorand activating the overload protector.. (Or not, as the case may be.) |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 748653 | 2009-02-17 09:54:00 | Thanks, thats a really helpful explanation - although something about the term 'phoo-phoo valve' gives me the giggles ;). Sounds like it's just a wear-n-tear occurance and we should be very grateful (cost wise) to the overload protector! :) | 2sons (14628) | ||
| 748654 | 2009-02-17 10:03:00 | Sorry - Phoo-phoo valve is an old expression for things that have gone awry, whether it be children's innards or a car's more magic bits. Maybe it should be spelled foo-foo valve, or if you are in Whanganui, whoo-whoo valve. |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 748655 | 2009-02-17 10:35:00 | To put it all in plain English, the out of spec capacitor means it had the wrong one. :) |
Trev (427) | ||
| 748656 | 2009-02-17 18:00:00 | Imagine a shock absorber on your car . It takes the "shock" out of the suspension when you hit a rock, and pretty much a capacitor has the same purpose in an electrical circuit . The electric motor needs to have the capacitor (old term: condenser) take the peaks (or hard hits) out of the electrical current that would just generate heat in the compressor motor in your refrigerator and waste electricity, creating high amperage draw by the motor and shortening it's life . It collects these current peaks and valleys and is usually designed to slowly remove them to ground or to keep the current flow more consistent and smoother . Starting a motor, (spinning it up from non-running) requires a lot of energy and these capacitors are in use now to help smooth the flow of electricity to your various devices in your home and industry, reducing the draw on the electrical grid, thereby reducing the cost of generating electricity for which you ultimately pay . This "new" technology is called "E-efficient" or "Green-efficient" and lowers the load on generating stations worldwide . "Out-of-specs" can mean that the capacitor became OPENED or shorted; in either case it isn't working up to snuff . I hope this is a little less-muddied and "graspable" for you . |
SurferJoe46 (51) | ||
| 748657 | 2009-02-17 21:18:00 | Not really a function employed in "Start Capacitors", it is used to give a short time phase shift of some of the mains AC enabling a second winding to act ensuring the motor starts in the desired direction with a rather enhanced torque. And to sound impressive too. ;) |
R2x1 (4628) | ||
| 1 2 3 4 | |||||