100% Of The Capacitors Turn-Around In My Old WhiffCo.

It is a fixed voltage power supply. Nothing more nothing less. It feeds a Lifeline and I can rely on it for maintaining the battery while under supervision. I now have so many Meanwells, Cheapos, and Mega's it isn't funny. But the Whiff's 55 ampere capability intrigues me. When I want to zap the battery I'll use the BORG at 14.4. volts, timed for X minutes. When the BORG is resting the float can maintain 13.2 (temp 30+C) or whatever I choose. When the Spirit goes months at a time out of service in Guatemala I'll connect a cheapo under-hood, and dial in 13.4 volts. The 1 Quetzal local bus and 20 Quetzal cross-lake water taxi is too much to resist. Panajachel is tourist city +. Start off with Eggs Benedict at Al Chisme, and fake it from there.

I just do not like WRONG charging settings forced on me. The day I do not have 10-seconds free to check the batteries is the day I cash it all in.

At both Las Pe?as and Santiago, my main daily duty will be playing Green Acres with gardens. Raising baby cucumbers for GENUINE kosher dill pickles, cantaloupes, monster radishes and yellow USA corn for tender corn on the cob. My last cantaloupe planting in a 10X14' area yielded 304 fruit, the heaviest weighing almost 2 kg. Stretching heavy commercial fishing nets in a giant X across the garden 8' tall, did the trick. The vines climbed up and down the net. The area is rife with honey bees.

But all this is no fun when the lights go out. I have a pair of Endless breeze fans and a NOOK to keep me busy at night. In the tropics there is zero twilight. It goes from light to black in nothing flat. High power UV lighting in the bedroom and bathroom to find scorpions in a flash of green. On/On switches between LED and UV. These lights have found and doomed more than 100 scorpions. Get a wall full of scorpions at night and bring a couple of hens. The roosters follow. To them it's like a trip to Tony Roma's. There are on the other hand no "alacranes" at the lake.

Here where I am presently, there are six-inch long scorpions called "Emperor Scorpions". Fat. The curved barb on the tail measures 1/4" in length. Locals call them alacranes de mamá.

Yep. I need reliable batteries, chargers and LED lighting. South of the border IS without question, "The School of Hard Knocks".

When my Meanwell rsp-500-15 fails, it will be a sad day. I've grown extrmemely fond of it.

To forestall that day, I have greatly increased ventilation and heatsinking adjacent to the transistors on casing exterior.


I thought that most here consider the Wfco to be a failure waiting to happen, and a battery murderer until that point.

WyoTraveler wrote:
Interesting. Been in electronics since about 1954 and never thought much about how long capacitors last. They do fail and get replaced when they fail. Never replaced them before they fail. I guess having a supply on hand is a good idea. Seems to me a capacitor that is guaranteed to last 10,000 hours is a little over 1 year. I just changed out a cap in a piece of equipment I bought new in 1992. That is 23 years. I do agree when it failed there was down time. So guess I don't understand your logic changing out them out before they fail. BTW Mouser electronics does sell parts with mil specs etc.

Caps failing was a pretty popular and easy repair for many TVs I serviced in the 1980s-2,000.. So they can and do fail..

Fast forward to modern day switching power supplies, these guys can and will eat caps for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you use standard caps due to the high frequency and high voltage spikes they endure with switchers.

Low ESR caps are a definite requirement and yes 105C should be fine under most conditions.

If you are concerned about "life" you could move up to the next available voltage rating provided it will physically fit. This will give you some additional headroom to work with.

I believe those specs are worded as to reflect hours of operation at 105c which I will try to avoid. Mil-Spec is a guarantee that the device will perform as spec'ced and has an elaborately recorded history from where the raw material originated all the way forward to who tied the twine on the packing box.

My concern is this: A failed component leading to failure of related components such as inductors that I will not have.

So, I'm way the hell and gone down here and an inductor blows. Peruse the catalog. Choose an inductor for three dollars. It ships via DHL for seventy two dollars. It must pass through Mexican Customs. "Product Of Far East!" they declare. 400% tax added and if I do not beg the vendor to HIDE the DHL shipping charge or the customs people will tax the entire amount. DHL collects the tax. I spend thirty five dollars to drive back and forth from DHL. A hundred plus dollars, a two and a half week wait, a three hour journey to DHL all for a three dollar inductor. WAIT! I forgot the cost of the phone call...!

Life down here is different. When there is nothing, when something breaks you learn to live without it. With a CPAP ir BiPAP machine and a power outage things get serious. In a power outage no lights, no fan, no AC no boob-tube, unless batteries or a generator are used and the nearest fuel is a 72 mile round trip. This gives a person whole new outlook on what kind of stuff to buy and how to take care of it. Solar panels in triple canopy rain forest? Life, ordinary existence down here is more challenging than most north of the border boondocking camping trips.

Interesting. Been in electronics since about 1954 and never thought much about how long capacitors last. They do fail and get replaced when they fail. Never replaced them before they fail. I guess having a supply on hand is a good idea. Seems to me a capacitor that is guaranteed to last 10,000 hours is a little over 1 year. I just changed out a cap in a piece of equipment I bought new in 1992. That is 23 years. I do agree when it failed there was down time. So guess I don't understand your logic changing out them out before they fail. BTW Mouser electronics does sell parts with mil specs etc.