Hi Rich, On Saturday 08 July 2006 23:25, Rich Koziol Inscribed Thus: > On 8 Jul 2006 at 21:13, Gaffer wrote: > > It might help to understand why capacitors, in particular > > Electrolytic ones fail, possibly more than any other electronic > > component. Particularly on mainboards. > > Can't tell you exactly why they fail suddenly.
They don't fail suddenly !! They get hot and that causes pressure buildup. That pressure gets vented, usually through the top of the can. Those cross marks in the top of the can are where the metal is weakened to allow gasses to escape ! Once the can is perforated, electrolyte is forced out as well. That is seen as the brown material on the top and down the side of the can. > Electrolytics have been around for a long time, since the first radio > or power supply. Thy use an electroyte, as the name implies, which > can "go bad" due to constant heat, or bad electrolyte, or usage times > of all equipment has increased. My experience is that as long as the component is not faulty from new, or not mistreated in some way these capacitors will go on for years. I have equipment from the second world war that is using electrolytic capacitors for smoothing still running fine today. > At one time, people listened to the radio or watched TV for a couple > of hours a day. Now equipemnet is on all the time (see my other > post). > > All the equipment is designed to work only a few days longer, than > the warranty period. I agree that some equipment manufacturers use "Life Fuses" But I don't think that your comment on warranties is true !! > Even if all else was fine ie. desing for cont use and correct > ambient, there's a suggesting on the net, that the Orientals > (Chinese) ripped off the electrolyte formula, but never got it right. Now that is something that is quite possible. Certainly there is some manufacturing defect ! > I first became aware of this problem in late 1990's, when the mobo I > have was reported to suffer from cap failure. Later it came up in > other stuff, like DVD players, etc. > > It may be a bad formula, or a combination of above factors. > There's a plague - read about it here: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague > http://www.mrsci.com/Motherboard/Capacitor_plague.php > http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_30328/article.html > > There was a webpage decicated just to this problem, but do not have > it handy. > > Rich -- Best Regards: Derrick. Pontefract Linux Users Group. plug at play-net.co.uk -- ---------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Is your picture included in the Official Win-Home List Members Profiles Page? http://www.besteffort.com/winhome/Profiles.html If not, write to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
