I've noticed that the ones that do fail are large capacitors, usually of >1000 uF capacity. Naturally, they are used for energy storage purposes on motherboards, power supplies, etc. It seems to me that failed caps are often located near the heat sinks where power transistors and ICs reside. I suspect that their early failure is related to heat from these heatsinks. Also, high ESR heats up a capacitor from within, due to large electrical currents that flow in these caps.
I don't have an ESR meter and have been wondering if small sized electrolytics (like, <100 uF) also fail. These smaller caps do not conduct large currects and are often located far away from hot parts on the board. I've had a few boards fail to resurrect after bad caps replacement and suspect smaller caps to be the problem.
I don't have an ESR meter and have been wondering if small sized electrolytics (like, <100 uF) also fail. These smaller caps do not conduct large currects and are often located far away from hot parts on the board. I've had a few boards fail to resurrect after bad caps replacement and suspect smaller caps to be the problem.
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