# Help me to identify tantalum capacitors



## uciocciucorsu (Feb 13, 2018)

Hi, 

A few days ago, I collected some capacitors soldered on a very old telecom motherboard.

I initially thought they were tantalum capacitors. But now I have a doubt.




Could you give me your opinion ? 

Thanks in advance

U ciocciu corsu


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## Topher_osAUrus (Feb 13, 2018)

It makes me sad to see those Ta caps get scrapped... have you seen what they fetch a piece or per pair on eBay?
...man, oh man...

I used to never think about that (when I first started scrapping), but that was before I started making my own circuits and stuff, and started buying a few components that I needed (which, sadly I had scrapped so, so many times before)... 

anyways, yes, I see tantalum caps there. Could be a couple are not, but I am no expert on the matter. Just a sad tinkerer 

edit to add:
I googled up a couple of the datasheets for the part numbers and it appears the majority of them are indeed solid electrolyte tantalum caps. If they all have numbers on them, just type them into google with "xxxx cap datasheet" and it should come up on mouser, or digikey, or vishay, or a dozen other websites. -just a quick way to confirm or deny suspicion on any number of electronic parts


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## g_axelsson (Feb 13, 2018)

First red glob... maybe. Cut it open, a tantalum capacitor has a black hard metallic slug inside. It is also polarized with a positive and negative side.

Second picture, MOV, Metal Oxide Varistors or maybe ceramic capacitors. Not tantalum at least.
Cut open and take a look.

Third picture, probably MLCC, Multi Layer Ceramic Capacitors. Might be good stuff depending on age.
Cut open, at closer inspection it's usually possible to see the layered structure.

Göran


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## uciocciucorsu (Feb 13, 2018)

Thank you so much Goran.

Dealing with the third picture,if they are MLCC, may I put them in my classical MLCC bucket, for silver and palladium recovery ?


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## Geo (Feb 19, 2018)

The red one is a tantalum. Resin coated MLCC's will need to be incinerated before the acids can dissolve the metal.


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## jimdoc (Feb 19, 2018)

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=15909&p=160322&hilit=buying+tantalum#p160145


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## Andyanvil (Jun 2, 2020)

uciocciucorsu said:


> Hi,
> 
> A few days ago, I collected some capacitors soldered on a very old telecom motherboard.
> 
> ...









More for the people that find this the way I did than a response to this 2 year old post. That red one is the right shape. That oblong oval shape. Look for a + mark. That's how I recognize them as tantalum.


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## Andyanvil (Jun 2, 2020)

jimdoc said:


> tantalum capacitors



That is what I was looking for thank you very much.


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