Question about a recapped Epox Bx6, a PSU, and Abit KT7A

[omuletz]

Hello,

I have an older motherboard that had 3 leaking capacitors. The board is ~5 years old.
Leaking caps were:
-2x1000nF - 6,3V
-1x2200nF - 6,3V
All were GSC's.
The only capacitors that I found as replacement were: Jamicon TK series 1000nF and 2200nF of 10V.
I found specifications on their website, you may take a closer look here:


Since the recapping the PC works great, no more sudden lockups, but I'm not sure how long will it last. I don't really understand the meaning of low ESR. At Jamicon's website, the TK series represents the standard series. Are they good for my MB or how long will they last?

How long may a MB last, even if it has been recapped with high quality caps?
Would it be usefull to recap a 4 year old Abit KT7A MB with quality caps? It comes arround 35$ with shipping.

On another PC at the PSU there is one 1000nF 16v cap leaking, I found as replacement Jamicon TK series with the needed values. What should I do? The leaking cap is marked with LOW ESR.

Thanks, omuletz

[gonzo0815]

Re: Question about a recapped Epox Bx6, a PSU, and Abit KT7A

1. In generall, Jamicon TK are not well suited for boards, but depending from the desing of the board, may be they last a while (a few monts till may be a year).
I would not expect that.

2. ESR ist the resistance, the capacitor has. So any current flowing into the cap and out of it causes some voltage drop, and a heating up of the cap.
Unfortunately in switchmode supplies the caps are fed with some intermittent dc current / voltage.
Thus the cap will permanetly charged and discharged.
If the ESR is too high, the cap would be getting hot and may be the circuit can`t regulate the voltage accurately.

3. If a well desinged board is recapped with good low or ultra low caps from any of the reputable brands, it probably last far beyond the useful life of it.
It all depends from the ambient temperature, considering the usuall case temp of abouth 40 to 50°c (the temps mentioned in the ATX spec) i would say at least abouth 5 years or more likely 10years with some high endurance caps like Panasonic Fm odr even with the Panasonic FC.

It is important to understand, that the problem with the badcaps is not caused by normal degredation, it is probably due to the caps are made from materials with poor quality.

4.If you have use for a stable board of that age, there is not mutch wich is against recapping. But fore shure, if you want to know, if it is economically wise to do it, than i probably have to dissapoint you. In most cases, it is cheaper to buy a new board, but probably you would not be here if that is you liking.
And shure, the other question is, how expensive labour cost is in your region.

Here in Germany, recapping is probably not something, you can earn a lot of money, as boards are usually pretty cheap compared with labour cost.
Any way, i like to mess around with caps and sutch things, thus i do it in my spare time.

If your outside the US, you can obtain Samxon caps from Bigpope (a member here) or you can get them from RSonline, Farnell digikey etc. if any of those shops are present in your country.