General > General Technical Chat
old electronic devices electrolytic capacitors
<< < (3/5) > >>
WattsThat:
Worring about electrolytic caps in consumer electronics is like worrying about... navel lint.

The only real world issue that I deal with has already been mentioned, high ripple in high voltage applications. Specifically, large value, high voltage filter caps in ac variable frequency drives. Most manufacturers recommend no more than two years of unpowered storage before reforming is recommended when placing stored equipment back into service. My personal experience has been that the higher the kw rating of the drive, typically over 50kw, the more likely the caps will fail when hit with full ripple current after about 6-7 years of idle storage.

https://library.e.abb.com/public/43b21606a20648d79c6c1029f2fc5f48/EN_Capacitor_reforming_instructions_G_A4.pdf

The interesting stuff begins in chapter 2. Page 10. 1 hour of reform time per year of storage time.
james_s:
The thing to watch for is physical leakage of electrolyte, it makes a big mess when that happens. Some capacitors are much more prone to leaking than others. A sniff test is one of the more reliable methods, if it smells like fish there is a leak that should be dealt with immediately.
classicsamus87:

I don’t apply low voltage on electrolytic capacitors, I have video games and crt TVs from the 90s that I want to keep and the information that a friend told me was to use these devices every month for 30 minutes because the electrolytic capacitors on these devices are not new and yes old electrolytics but I look for information from the manufacturers I don't have their email
Gyro:

--- Quote from: classicsamus87 on November 08, 2020, 11:46:50 am ---...but I look for information from the manufacturers I don't have their email

--- End quote ---

Look on the manufacturers' websites, download the readily available datasheets and (if they have any,) app notes. That's all the information you're going to get out of them.
Wallace Gasiewicz:
I try to power up old tube type electronics with a variac over maybe a couple hours.
Supposedly this "reforms" the electrolytic caps.

I have had non electrolytic caps explode (more like a small firecracker) once in an old DC to AC converter, that was in an old radio.
Don't really know what the root problem was since the radio was damaged by someone using the wrong power cord, wrong pinout, had to rebuild the converter.
Made a mess in the garage.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod