Capacitor plague
Capacitors are an electronic component essential to any kind of circuit that deals with analog (ie: variable) signals. Audio, power supplies, radio, video, etc... A huge list.
The problem is that some of these are made with an electrochemical component and as the race to the bottom (cheaper prices) developed, quality was not given the consideration that it should have had.
This summer, I will be restoring two cherished pieces of electronic music equipment -- an
Oberheim two-voice and an
Oberheim Xpander -- and the first order of business will be to replace all the capacitors.
Wikipedia has an
excellent article on this problem -- non-technical people can skim over the MEGO parts and still get a good understanding of the problem.
MEGO -- My Eyes Glaze Over
Capacitor plague
The capacitor plague was a problem with a large number of premature failures of aluminum electrolytic capacitors with non-solid or liquid electrolyte of certain brands, especially from some Taiwanese manufacturers. The capacitors failed because of a special water based corrosion effect, due to a poorly formulated electrolyte.
The first flawed capacitors were reported in September 2002. Many publicized press releases about the widespread problem with premature failures of Taiwanese electrolytic capacitors appeared. Most of the affected capacitors failed in the early to middle years of the first decade of the 2000s. High failure rates occurred in various electronic equipment, particularly motherboards, video cards, compact fluorescent lamp ballasts, LCD monitors, and power supplies of personal computers. News of the failures (usually after a few years of use) forced many equipment manufacturers to repair the defects. As of 2013 the problem seems to have receded, with the last major surge of complaints being reported in 2010.
There are also some kinds of cap chemistries (Tantalum) that fail after 20-30 years of operation -- these are my primary focus for these two projects. I have worked on a lot of computer systems and have seen my share of blown caps on recent systems -- shop on price and you do really get what you pay for.
Posted by DaveH at June 24, 2013 10:50 PM