6 Oct
2010
6 Oct
'10
10:36 a.m.
On 6 Oct 2010 at 11:18, Richard wrote:
On alt.sys.pdp11 it was recently claimed:
That is certainly true of wet-electrolyte aluminum-foil capacitors,
but they can be brought back by "reforming". However, ESR is a big
problem with newer equipment, causing heating of the contents of an
electrolytic and once those go, they're gone.
So you're damned if you don't and damned if you do.
All in all, I'd think that age is the big enemy, causing things to
dry out, plastics to crack and conductors to corrode.
--Chuck
Lack of use speeds up deterioration of things
like capacitors
(especially electrolytics).
Now I know that capacitors tend to the component most likely to fail
on a piece of vintage equipment, but this is the first time I recall
seeing it claimed that lack of use accelerates deterioriation of
capacitors.