I just saw the first circuit in a drawing by Bill Marsden and wonder...why have I been using diodes all these years? My mistake or his?
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That is true if the values of the two caps are identical. However, as you know the tolerances of most electrolytics are notoriously bad! So commercially made NP capacitors are SUPPOSED to be better matched than "do it yourself ones." though I'm not sure how true that is.It seems to me that the voltage will be divided equally between the 2 capacitors unless the dielectric fails. Have I got this belief wrong?
When an electrolytic capacitor has reverse voltage applied to it the leakage current begins to increase. The higher the reverse voltage the quicker the leakage current increases. If not too much of this occurs then the capacitor generally will recover. But if it continues, heat will physically damage the electrolyte thus destroying the capacitor......... Do aluminum electrolytics just give up and short out the instant the charge gets backwards? ......