I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

It's a pressure relief thing. If the electrolyte overheats and boils,
the slits crack and a more explosive event is avoided.

John

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:42:25 -0800, John Larkin
wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

It's a pressure relief thing. If the electrolyte overheats and boils,
the slits crack and a more explosive event is avoided.

John


I would add that all those he saw that were split are likely no longer
at their manufactured value.

Archimedes' Lever wrote:

John Larkin wrote:
On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

It's a pressure relief thing. If the electrolyte overheats and boils,
the slits crack and a more explosive event is avoided.

I would add that all those he saw that were split are likely no longer
at their manufactured value.

Especially with all the electrolyte evaporated ! Even without splits, I've
seen examples where the capacitance had dropped to ~ 10% of original value.

This can cause regulators to 'hunt' and blow the CPU by over-volting it.

Certain mobo makers - Gigabyte ? - now use only 'organic' type electros for
reliability.

Graham

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

To let the magic smoke out away from other components ?:-)

...Jim Thompson
--
| James E.Thompson, P.E. | mens |
| Analog Innovations, Inc. | et |
| Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems | manus |
| Phoenix, Arizona 85048 Skype: Contacts Only | |
| Voice480)460-2350 Fax: Available upon request | Brass Rat |
| E-mail Icon at http://www.analog-innovations.com | 1962 |

I love to cook with wine Sometimes I even put it in the food

"Meee"

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.


** You had better replace those FAULTY caps as soon as possible.

Do not use the PC until you have, as other parts may become damaged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague



...... Phil

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:27:59 +1100, "Phil Allison"
wrote:


"Meee"

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.


** You had better replace those FAULTY caps as soon as possible.

Do not use the PC until you have, as other parts may become damaged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague



..... Phil


My PC shutdown the otherday from overttemp. Opened up for a look,
reason for OT was dust. Sucked it all up and she is up an running
again. Did notice the electro's were stuffed, thought about replacing
them but could not be stuffed. Need a shop that does it for you, need
on in Brissie.

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:27:59 +1100, "Phil Allison"
wrote:


"Meee"

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.


** You had better replace those FAULTY caps as soon as possible.

Do not use the PC until you have, as other parts may become damaged.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague



..... Phil


It's an MSI board - just like the one in the above article !

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).


The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Graham

cross-posted to sci.electronics repair for info

Eeyore wrote:

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Graham

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:49:46 -0000, Eeyore wrote:



Eeyore wrote:

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Maybe he is ioncompetant. I have zero problems with Vista.


--
http://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com

A bus stops and two Italian men get on. They seat themselves and engage in animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores their conversation at first, but she listens in horror as one of the men says the following: "Emma come first. Den I come. Two asses, dey come together. I come again. Two asses, dey come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come once-a more."
"You foul-mouthed swine," retorted the lady indignantly, "in this country we don't talk about our sex lives in public!"
"Hey, coola down lady," said the man, "Imma just tellun my friend howa tospella Mississippi."

Peter Hucker wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
Eeyore wrote:
Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Maybe he is ioncompetant. I have zero problems with Vista.

Aside from the fact it runs slower than XP on the same hardware and decides for you if you can copy AV files ?

Graham

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Peter Hucker wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
Eeyore wrote:
Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages
a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and
courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Maybe he is ioncompetant. I have zero problems with Vista.

Aside from the fact it runs slower than XP on the same hardware and
decides for you if you can copy AV files ?

Graham


Phucker the troll has escaped from News:alt.binaries.chatter

On Fri, 05 Dec 2008 21:53:15 -0000, Eeyore wrote:



Peter Hucker wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
Eeyore wrote:
Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Maybe he is ioncompetant. I have zero problems with Vista.

Aside from the fact it runs slower than XP on the same hardware

You're not supposed to put newer software on old equipment. Memory is cheap, just add some.

and decides for you if you can copy AV files ?

Considering I can duplicate copy protected DVDs with it, I don't think so.

--
http://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com

I was on a Southwest flight once that was delayed at the gate after everyone boarded. The flight attendant said over the intercom, "We're sorry for the delay. The machine that normally rips the handles off your luggage is broken, so we're having to do it by hand. We should be finished and on our way shortly."

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:49:46 -0000, Eeyore wrote:



Eeyore wrote:

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Maybe he is ioncompetant. I have zero problems with Vista.


--
http://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com

A bus stops and two Italian men get on. They seat themselves and engage in animated conversation. The lady sitting behind them ignores their conversation at first, but she listens in horror as one of the men says the following: "Emma come first. Den I come. Two asses, dey come together. I come again. Two asses, dey come together again. I come again and pee twice. Then I come once-a more."
"You foul-mouthed swine," retorted the lady indignantly, "in this country we don't talk about our sex lives in public!"
"Hey, coola down lady," said the man, "Imma just tellun my friend howa tospella Mississippi."

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).


The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

Arfa



You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Graham

cross-posted to sci.electronics repair for info

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.


You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..

f825_677 wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..

If you know the IC's buggered (or even of low commercial value), cut every pin
and remove them individually. Then clean the holes up. It always wins on time and
cost.

Graham

"Eeyore" wrote in message

f825_677 wrote:

You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast
mixer boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if
you're not and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment
- the holes are barely larger than the pin its self every engineer
working on these things in every broadcast engineering department
complaints about these devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any
day..

If you know the IC's buggered (or even of low commercial value), cut
every pin and remove them individually. Then clean the holes up. It
always wins on time and cost.

Isn't that a PGA? Hard to cut the pins.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add one more
zero, and remove the last word.

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


f825_677 wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle
to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a
board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..

If you know the IC's buggered (or even of low commercial value), cut every
pin
and remove them individually. Then clean the holes up. It always wins on
time and
cost.

Graham


If you make sure none of the pins are bent on the solder side sometimes its
possible to just lift the pins out one by one on the tip of the iron, if the
pin is sheared off close to the IC body it leaves a slight hook on top,
simply hook the tip of the iron under it and add fresh solder - this runs
down the pin providing heat transfer to the solder joint and the surface
tension holds the pin on the tip as you lift it out of the hole.

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:18:33 +0000, Eeyore
wrote:



f825_677 wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..

If you know the IC's buggered (or even of low commercial value), cut every pin
and remove them individually. Then clean the holes up. It always wins on time and
cost.

Graham



Absolutely. If the part being removed is not part of the salvage
operation, cut all pins, remove the part, and then desolder each pin
individually. You could also fill the open holes with solder, and
dog-ear the new chip's pins outward and make it a surface mount install.

Eeyore wrote:

f825_677 wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.
You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..

If you know the IC's buggered (or even of low commercial value), cut every pin
and remove them individually. Then clean the holes up. It always wins on time and
cost.

Graham


sadly that is not an option, the device is a constructed ceramic case of other devices
within with the pins on the underside of the case - rather like a BGA device but pins and
not blobs if you understand what I mean. The board has an exchange value with Sony of
£1050 and they will only accept a board for exchange if not physically damaged, so being
careful and taking time is the only option..

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:28:13 +0000, f825_677
wrote:

Arfa Daily wrote:

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.


You should try a Sony 1602 or 1601 IC from one of their broadcast mixer
boards - it can take an hour if you're lucky and all day if you're not
and we have professionaly desoldering vacumme equipment - the holes are
barely larger than the pin its self every engineer working on these
things in every broadcast engineering department complaints about these
devices.. Give me a 100 pin BGA device any day..


Desoldering a through hole part on a multi-layer PCB can be difficult,
especially if the part in question or the PCB is sinking all of your
solder tip heat away.

I have two good solutions. First one is to pre-heat the entire PCB
assembly to about 160F. That will keep the heat from sinking away so
much.

You can also heat the local area with a heat gun. This works even
better with the pre-heated PCB. The soldering operations generally take
place without a hitch in these cases.

Arfa Daily wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote
Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a board,
that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

True. They don't exactly go overboard on the drill diameter !

Graham

"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).


The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a
board, that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

Arfa


They certainly can be difficult, an absolute must is an iron with sufficient
power to heat the joint through quickly (DO NOT use one of those soldering
guns that passes low voltage/high current through a solid copper element -
they induce destructive currents in the PCB traces!).

Usually the 2 wires can be eased out by tilting the capacitor as one of the
solder joints is melted and then the other until its out.

Clearing the holes also isn't easy, solder wick won't do it you need a
solder sucker and a lot of practice getting enough of the iron tip on the
tinned pad and still leave enough gap to suck the solder through - you will
probably have to go at it from both sides too!

Once or twice out of sheer desperation I've heated the through hole and
swatted the board on the edge of the bench to knock the solder out, but this
has a real risk of breaking any crystals on the board!

ian field wrote:
"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
"Eeyore" wrote in message
...

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.
To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).


The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.
Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.
As Graham says, but be aware that unless you are a *very* experienced
solderer, and posess the right desoldering equipment, you will struggle to
do the job. These are some of the very worst bitches to get out of a
board, that you will *ever* come across. And then some.

Arfa


They certainly can be difficult, an absolute must is an iron with sufficient
power to heat the joint through quickly (DO NOT use one of those soldering
guns that passes low voltage/high current through a solid copper element -
they induce destructive currents in the PCB traces!).

Usually the 2 wires can be eased out by tilting the capacitor as one of the
solder joints is melted and then the other until its out.

Clearing the holes also isn't easy, solder wick won't do it you need a
solder sucker and a lot of practice getting enough of the iron tip on the
tinned pad and still leave enough gap to suck the solder through - you will
probably have to go at it from both sides too!

Once or twice out of sheer desperation I've heated the through hole and
swatted the board on the edge of the bench to knock the solder out, but this
has a real risk of breaking any crystals on the board!


Good soldering is a skill - and to be practiced as often as possible if you don't want
your work to look like a flock of seagulls have flown over

In article ,
ian field wrote:

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

I think the capacitors have sharted ...

Clearing the holes also isn't easy, solder wick won't do it you need a
solder sucker and a lot of practice getting enough of the iron tip on the
tinned pad and still leave enough gap to suck the solder through - you will
probably have to go at it from both sides too!

I found that it really helps to fit some butyl-rubber sleeving to the end
of the solder sucker. This improves the fit between the sucker and the board
and increases chances of clearing it. Otherwise, the business end of the
sucker sits at a slight angle, and it sucks sideways, not through.

It's important to use the right kind of sleeving/tube, that will NOT melt
on the iron!

I recently had to re-cap an old motherboard, 11 capacitors, every one
had to be rocked out as mentioned elsewhere in thread as there was NO way
to clear the holes with the leg of the capacitor still in there.

Also remember to look for any leakage from the capacitors, which can damage
the board. No point re-fitting new capacitors if the tracks start to go
green and vanish. Clean it!
--
--------------------------------------+------------------------------------
Mike Brown: mjb[at]pootle.demon.co.uk | http://www.pootle.demon.co.uk/

I think the capacitors have sharted ...

Is that a portmanteau word? Perhaps a mixture of "shorted" and "farted"...

Eeyore wrote:

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).

The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

That is REPLACE ALL OF THEM, NOT JUST ONES THAT HAVE BLOWN TODAY


You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Nice quip from the above

" From so many users, ranging from large corporate networks all the way
to the home user, the number one reason people give for wanting to
repair their hardware is they want to avoid a new system and the
disaster known as Windows Vista!

On a humorous note regarding Vista, I spoke to an IT guy who manages a
small business network for an insurance company (maintains a 100
terminal network), and had a bunch of failing Dell SX280's, which I
repaired. One branch had the brilliant idea to "upgrade" to Vista
systems, and his job was to make them all play nice with each other.
This gentleman was probably the most professional, polite, and courteous
clients I've ever spoken with on the phone, until we got onto the
subject of Vista....then the four-letter words started flowing
freely... In the end, he wiped all the Vista machines, and upgraded
them back to XP Pro."

Graham

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Love posters who answer their own question!

"flipper" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:29:23 -0500, PeterD wrote:

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:38:50 +0000, Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Love posters who answer their own question!

It seems obvious to those who know but I'd be wiling to bet he
wondered why they made it 'weak' with the indentations so that it
'broke' when it otherwise wouldn't have.

Not too sure about the "otherwise wouldn't have" - without those
indentations it would likely have burst with a fairly impressive bang.

Prevents dangerous explosions when the Cap breaks down, the indents weakens
the housing to allow for pressure to be released thus preventing a build up
and explosion. Very good idea. You need to replace and figure out why
yours failed.

DRLee

"Meee" wrote in message
...
I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them. The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

"Dleer"

Prevents dangerous explosions when the Cap breaks down, the indents
weakens the housing to allow for pressure to be released thus preventing a
build up and explosion. Very good idea.


** But only needed on vertical mounting electros - since the rubber bung
in the top is held firmly in place by the PCB.


You need to replace and figure out why yours failed.


** He does NOT need to to the latter

- the reason is already well known to be a manufacturing issue with the
caps.



.... Phil

Meee wrote:

I was wondering why vertical mounting electrolytics have like an
indented cross on them.

To release the pressure and gunk under fault conditions (or bad
manufacture).


The reason I ask is because there's 4 largeish
one around my CPU on the motherboard and they have all split open,
along the indentations.

Oh dear.

A: How old is it ? (from date of manufacture)

B: Can you read what brands they are ?

C: Has your PC sharted behaving strangely yet ?

D: What brand mobo is it ?

E: Replace ASAP with well-known brand, low ESR (switching) types.

You will find a lot of info here.
http://badcaps.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Graham

cross-posted to sci.electronics repair for info