We, too, have lived through a "flaming tantalum" phase.  Caps with not a
lot of margin (12v on a 15v-rated cap, perhaps) would "give up"
spectacularly.  What mystifies me is that a "spike" arriving at a capacitor
should be absorbed by it, not destroyed by it.  If said spike was "too
narrow to see" then the low-value ceramic caps around it should absorb it,
and if it's a long duration spike thought to have enough energy to overcome
the cap, then we should have been able to see it on a 'scope.  This without
considering where spikes would be coming from off a regulated supply in the
first place.  Needless to say, we found another way to filter our power
traces.
--=20
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