Electronics, storage, and "power them up every couple of years"

[CkRtech]

I'm going to come clean on this - I enjoy repairing stuff, and I certainly have a lot of "stuff" - but I haven't really stuck by the idea of consciously powering stuff up every few years. I'll pull OLD stuff from an estate sale, garage sale, etc., do some spot checks and various other things before powering it on to save a possible boom...and sometimes it is so cheap and time is limited - so I just plug my ears and do a smoke test. If something fails, fix it.

For some guys that collect and treasure these old electronics (and don't really do repairs, themselves), they say to power them up and run them a bit every so often - most notably stating that they should be powered up as frequent as once a year to prevent caps from going bad faster than they should.

I mostly just try to keep my stuff in good environment where I can and address future problems as they happen.

I'll just open this up:
1: What sort of truth is there to powering up something every few years for preservation of components?
2: Is it worth it?

I have a few pieces that store settings and use rechargeable batteries/super capacitors - and those are the only ones I bother to power every so often.

[tautech]

1. Yes
2. Yes

The most susceptible components to aging are electrolytics but there are options if powering up unused equipment.
Variac, and gently ramp up the supply to give the electrolytics time to reform or a simple dim bulb tester.

[CkRtech]

Variac, and gently ramp up the supply to give the electrolytics time to reform or a simple dim bulb tester.

I take back what I said - I have waited until picking up variac/building a dim bulb tester prior to servicing a late 70s/early 80s stereo.

Addendum - What about powering up something (say - early 80s IBM computer) with a number of tantalums after it has been sitting for a few decades? This is an initial approach question in addition to a maintain question (after initial service).

[tautech]

IMO Tants are another issue, yes somewhat related as they're susceptible to surges especially if they haven't been downrated WRT working voltages.
If the rest of the circuit is not behaving as designed (old dry caps) then tants can be at risk.