When to replace electrolyctic capacitors and other parts?

Hi,

Genreally speaking I was wondering at what age I should change an
electronic device's capacitors to keep them from drying up and
shorting. Also are there any other parts that need to be replaced in
certain time intervals? Is it worth it to do this, or better just to
wait till something doesn't work to fix it?

TIA,

--Rob

 

[Sofie]

Rob:

Don't fix it if it ain't broken......
If there are symptoms, then fix it.

Now on mechanical devices (like VCRs, Automobiles, etc) there are preventive
maintenance things like lubrication, cleaning and adjustment that are needed
to prolong the life of the mechanism and to provide best performance.
--
Best Regards,
Daniel Sofie
Electronics Supply & Repair
-----------------------


<atlafndotorg@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ea5c17e.0402080155.2fec440b@posting.google.com...

Hi,

Genreally speaking I was wondering at what age I should change an
electronic device's capacitors to keep them from drying up and
shorting. Also are there any other parts that need to be replaced in
certain time intervals? Is it worth it to do this, or better just to
wait till something doesn't work to fix it?

TIA,

--Rob

 

[James Sweet]

<atlafndotorg@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ea5c17e.0402080155.2fec440b@posting.google.com...

Hi,

Genreally speaking I was wondering at what age I should change an
electronic device's capacitors to keep them from drying up and
shorting. Also are there any other parts that need to be replaced in
certain time intervals? Is it worth it to do this, or better just to
wait till something doesn't work to fix it?

TIA,

--Rob

Capacitors rarely short, they usually get higher and higher series
resistance. You replace them when the device's performance degrades, not at
a specific interval.

 

[Chris]

On Sun, 08 Feb 2004 08:01:50 -0800, Sofie wrote:

Rob:

Don't fix it if it ain't broken...... If there are symptoms, then fix it.

Now on mechanical devices (like VCRs, Automobiles, etc) there are
preventive maintenance things like lubrication, cleaning and adjustment
that are needed to prolong the life of the mechanism and to provide best
performance.

On some equipment, it might be wise to do a pre-emptive repair. For
example the first sign of dry power supply caps in some VCRs is when the
switching transistor goes up in smoke. Some models have a very high
failure rate as the original caps were underated for either voltage or
temp. For those models, it might be cheaper to replace the caps before the
they take out more expensive parts.

If you're worried about it, do a quick web-search to see if the
model has any common faults that cause expensive (relatively) parts
to fail. An example would be a monitor that always seeks to develop
dry solder joints that kills the HOT.

-Chris

 

Okay so generally I should leave it alone unless I notice a decrease
in performance which might indicate a part beginning to fail. I was
just asking because a power supply died (from an old apple printer)
because of a capacitor short. I also have inherited some old 1980's
equpiment - a turntable / stereo, computer equipment, etc). I
wouldn't know if the machine's performance has degraded because I
haven't had the equipment until lately. I guess I'll check the
capacitors with my dmm and if everything checks out okay I'll leave
them alone.

One last question - since power supplies are under heavy use and wear,
would it be wise to check the parts in such equipment? Or does the
above still apply?

Thanks everyone for your input - it's much appreciated.

--Rob


"James Sweet" <jamessweet@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<S7wVb.199779$Rc4.1663369@attbi_s54>...

atlafndotorg@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ea5c17e.0402080155.2fec440b@posting.google.com...
Hi,

Genreally speaking I was wondering at what age I should change an
electronic device's capacitors to keep them from drying up and
shorting. Also are there any other parts that need to be replaced in
certain time intervals? Is it worth it to do this, or better just to
wait till something doesn't work to fix it?

TIA,

--Rob


Capacitors rarely short, they usually get higher and higher series
resistance. You replace them when the device's performance degrades, not at
a specific interval.

 

[James Sweet]

<atlafndotorg@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3ea5c17e.0402082221.55a31199@posting.google.com...

Okay so generally I should leave it alone unless I notice a decrease
in performance which might indicate a part beginning to fail. I was
just asking because a power supply died (from an old apple printer)
because of a capacitor short. I also have inherited some old 1980's
equpiment - a turntable / stereo, computer equipment, etc). I
wouldn't know if the machine's performance has degraded because I
haven't had the equipment until lately. I guess I'll check the
capacitors with my dmm and if everything checks out okay I'll leave
them alone.

One last question - since power supplies are under heavy use and wear,
would it be wise to check the parts in such equipment? Or does the
above still apply?

Thanks everyone for your input - it's much appreciated.

--Rob

Generally the only place I find bad capacitors are in switching power
supplies and other high frequency/high load applications, and places where
the caps get heated externally by other components. If you're really worried
about it you could test them with an ESR meter but generally failing
capacitors show up plenty of time in advance by poor cold performance that
improves as it warms up, but gets gradually worse over time.