You can't "variac" any device that uses a switchmode power supply.
You'll need to go through and test each cap in the machine, taken apart.
Proper reforming (assuming any of the caps even need reforming) by
variac alone is extremely tedious to do.. and probably not even possible
especially if you're attempting to variac an entire machine at once.
A variac is far better employed to just give your devices a "soft
start." Quickly turn the voltage from 0 to 110V, then slower to its
normal voltage. This is better than an instant-on, at least.
Electrolytic forming can be maintained by occasionally applying working
voltage to the cap. How often it's needed depends on capacitor
manufacturer and particular production run (due to varying rates of
oxide breakdown).
But for all practical purposes, if a device is powered up every 1-3
("several") years for 30-60 minutes, the capacitors should not fail from
lack of forming. They'll still fail from other reasons -- like drying out.
Capacitors instead of exploding more often just slowly become less
effective.
Re hot caps: a cap that gets hot should be replaced. Excessive leakage
and/or too high an ESR is causing too much (DC or AC, respectively)
power to be dissipated in the capacitor.
Eric J Korpela wrote:
Some of the smoke came out of my Osborne 1 this
weekend. It doesn't
appear to have been fatal, as it was still functioning when I cut the
power. I'm giving the CRT some time to fully discharge before I open
it up, probably next weekend. It was probably a failing capacitor,
although it didn't explode, it merely got really warm over a period of
hours. But since there are some similar machines that I haven't
recently used, this question came to mind.
I've used the variac technique to reform capacitors, but thus far
haven't done this on a machine that contains a CRT because I don't
know what the reduced voltage is going to do to the CRT. The next
machine to power up on my list is a Compucolor II. Dare I power it at
15 volts for a few days before starting the slow ramp up to 115? Or
do I need to go in and detach the CRT circuitry before I try anything
like that.?