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The Capacitor Plague

deadprogrammer.com

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Re: The Capacitor Plague

#4

Post by pasbesoin »

Ixiaus wrote: post #2

Interesting post, I never knew about the Capacitor Plague! Will be sure to remember it.

Marginal (although not always illicit; sometimes just marginally spec-ed) capacitors have long been an issue including in consumer electronics.

As an example, the Mac Plus power supply was notorious [well, at least if you were repairing them] for failing. Some people put out instructions for upgrading it by replacing a subset of components including IIRC certain capacitors.

I've also read accounts of people improving the output e.g. of cheaper CD and DVD players, by replacing certain components particularly in the post DAC circuitry, again including capacitors, with better quality/rating components. I've never experienced this first hand, so I can only pass on second hand anecdote.

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#5

Post by wgj »

I once bought a set of monolight strobes (for photography) made by a respected brand name (Bowens.) Every unit in the set failed shortly after the 1-year warranty due to failure of the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply. I used these lights heavily, so for other users, they might last two or three years. That's still a remarkably short time to failure for this kind of component.

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#6

Post by cakeface »

Is this a long running problem? I remember reading somewhere that most of the problems with old hi/fi and tv electronics were due to bad capacitors which can easily be replaced.

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#7

Post by ejs »

Electrolytic caps typically have low lifespans compared to other types of caps, especially over larger temp ranges.. even with proper construction.

When I use to do design for circuits that needed a long lifetime I would really question any use of electrolytic caps.

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#8

Post by mey »

So basically, this, plus looking at the pics he links from the over clockers forums leads me to this conclusion.

You should buy

     A whole house surge protector
     A really nice UPS supply with a lead acid battery that does line cleaning for your computer equipment.
Doesn't solve the real problem, but at least saves a significant amount of hassle... Why systems survive so well in a proper colo environment over most homes. (Aside from air particles and temperature).

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#9

Post by jws »

mey wrote: post #8

So basically, this, plus looking at the pics he links from the over clockers forums leads me to this conclusion. You should buy A whole house surge protector A really nice UPS supply with a lead acid battery that does line cleaning for your computer equipment. Doesn't solve the real problem, but at least saves a significant amount of hassle... Why systems survive so well in a proper colo environment over most homes.…

That is a different sort of ripple. Your big electrolytic capacitors are used in the AC/DC conversion where the rectified sine wave is smoothed into a constant voltage.

  |                           |
  |  _   _   _         ===>>  |
  | / \ / \ / \ /             |--------------
  +V---V---V---V-             +---------------
The capacitors store energy during the peaks and return it during the troughs. The ripple is the current in and out of the capacitor which heats them and does "stuff-I-don't-understand" to their chemistry.

The article complains that some capacitors don't last their 4000 rated hours. But even if they do, 4000/24 is 167. All of your electrolytic capacitors are tiny time bombs.

Re: The Capacitor Plague

#10

Post by thaumaturgy »

mey wrote: post #8

So basically, this, plus looking at the pics he links from the over clockers forums leads me to this conclusion. You should buy A whole house surge protector A really nice UPS supply with a lead acid battery that does line cleaning for your computer equipment. Doesn't solve the real problem, but at least saves a significant amount of hassle... Why systems survive so well in a proper colo environment over most homes.…

I have wanted one of these for a really long time: http://www.brickwall.com/
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