Re: Do electrolytic capacitors blow up when old?

On Nov 30, 11:38 am, JW <n...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 09:07:28 -0800 (PST) "hr(bob) hofm...@xxxxxxx"
<hrhofm...@xxxxxxx> wrote in Message id:
<a0d04488-c351-48b7-814b-8907ad7cd...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

It is fairly important to use them regularly, like once or twice every
couple of months, to keep the internal chemistry formed.

By any chance, do you have any cites for that? Thanks.

I have 44 years of experience at Bell Laboratories, dealing with
reliability and other electronic-related quality issues like
electromagnetic compatibility. I also have done electronics repairs
for 50 years, putting myself thru college doing tv repairs, which I
still do.

I agree 100% with the other posters. If the capacitors were to get
leaky enough to start to heat up internally, they would most likely
load down the power supply and reach a steady-state condition short of
exploding.

Exploding usually results from rapid heating when whatever internal
mechanism exists for releasing the hot gasses does not get a chance to
react due to sudden, rapid heating. If the capacitors are being
charged from a lower voltage - almost always the case - there simply
is not enough energy capability to heat them fast enough to cause an
explosion before the venting can take effect. As I and several other
posters said, those capacitors were not the dime a dozen type
manufactured today.

H. R.(Bob) Hofmann
.

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