Ceramic Cap for Electrolytic

[JohnCT]

Originally Posted by vol.2

Thanks!

I got an X8R class one, so it at least seems like it's a better cap than the OG. I guess maybe they just hadn't advanced ceramics quite so far in 1976 and they *had* to use an electrolytic. Or maybe there's some other reason I just don't know.

Cost vs reliability was what they were looking at when selecting parts. A part that lasts 2 years is a problem, a part that lasts 80 years is a waste of money. They were looking for parts that would last 20 plus years and be cheap to buy.

Spending 0.25c for a better part doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you are buying a million of them and buying for dozens or hundred parts for a given model times the units sold, fractions of pennies add up big time.

That cap is a non critical bypass filter, literally anything would have worked.

John