On Thu, 30 Apr 2020 08:51:04 +0100, Paul wrote:

Commander Kinsey wrote:
On Fri, 14 Feb 2020 15:54:04 -0000, Rene Lamontagne
wrote:

On 2020-02-14 4:20 a.m., John Doe wrote:
"Commander Kinsey" wrote:

Motherboards used them over a decade ago, so why do I still find
leaking electrolytics in TVs?
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...unches-solidca
pacitor-motherboard-line?

Nothing wrong with real electrolytic capacitors. Anything can be made
cheaply.


Yep, Good caps were made by Cornell Dubilier, Used them for many years.

I remember Sprague Compulytic, not sure how good they were, never had
one fail though. Still got some (twice the size of a fist) in a drawer.

If the seals are good, why wouldn't they work ?

They do, I've used a few of them. The worst that could happen is some leakage.

They might need to be re-formed.

I'll duck down behind this desk, while you give
that a try.

You would have ducked even further when I reformed a NiCad battery in a laptop by over-volting it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolytic_capacitor

"Applying a positive voltage to a "wet" capacitor causes a
reforming (self-healing) process which repairs all weakened
dielectric layers, and the leakage current remain at a low level.[73]
"

Another web page I found, has a method.

https://www.6v6.co.uk/vcomp/tech_tips/reform_caps.htm

"Electrolytic capacitors can be dangerous. They can be charged
to a high voltage and will retain that energy for quite a while.
If the terminals of associated circuitry are touched, a severe
shock and burn may result."

I think Captain Obvious wrote that paragraph.

There are plenty of things to know about this
topic, to remain safe. With his wealth of bad
capacitor experiences, I'm sure the Commander
knows what I'm talking about. Personally, I find
the bad experiences are the best teachers.

Didn't we all use capacitors as kids to shock people or to cause explosions by overloading them?