Heat and having too high a voltage across the capacitors is what will
reduce their lifespan. In a properly designed device the electrolytic
capacitors can last for dozens of years. It is the question of the
quality choice of the capacitors, and the design of the device that
they are to be used in.

There are many devices used in industry and high end consumer products
where the capacitors will last more than the life usage of the
product.


Jerry G.





On Aug 19, 5:54*pm, David Nebenzahl wrote:
There's a lot of discussion here about the quality and longevity of
electrolytic capacitors, and to read much of it, one would think that
these are the most failure-prone of all electronic components, and that
any piece of equipment you may have around the house (or lab) that uses
them is likely to fail any day now.

I can't really dispute any of this, except to say that this is not my
experience at all.

Three pieces of electronic equipment I use every day: my computer
(motherboard is about 10 years old), my "good" audio equipment (Technics
amplifier, Vector Research tuner, both somewhere between 15-20 years
old), and the receiver I use for sound on my computer (an Allied that I
bought *used* in 1975).

I have other old elecronic stuff that also works fine.

None of these have had any electrolytics fail, so far as I know. So what
gives? Am I just lucky? Did the manufacturers use higher-quality caps
than what's commonly used today? (The motherboard ain't anything
special--it's an Asus, I think, but I do have extra fans in the enclosure..)

--
Found--the gene that causes belief in genetic determinism