Re:Capacitor plague
by vibrolax on Saturday May 18, 2013 @10:08AM
(#5728932)
Perhaps the electronics industry would be in worse shape if our devices did not have these built-in self-destruction mechanisms.
The Viewsonic LCD 1600x1200 panel (2005) that I am reading this article on right now was a victim of the capacitor plague. Acquired it from a colleague who was going to put it on the curb. $5 and an hour of my time replacing 3 caps in the switching power supply (and an SMT fuse on the inverter board) restored it. I did it to add to my skills.
Paper dielectric capacitors were a scourge of older electronic devices, with service lifetimes even shorter than electrolytics. It is amazing how easily many ancient electronic devices may be restored to better-than-new operation just by replacing electrolytic and paper capacitors.
Re:Capacitor plague
by dia80 on Saturday May 18, 2013 @10:42AM
(#5729068)
I had a pair of viewsonic VX922 that both failed with in 6 months of each other. Quick youtube how to and a visit to maplin (uk electronics store) got them back on their feet.
The Viewsonic LCD 1600x1200 panel (2005) that I am reading this article on right now was a victim of the capacitor plague. Acquired it from a colleague who was going to put it on the curb. $5 and an hour of my time replacing 3 caps in the switching power supply (and an SMT fuse on the inverter board) restored it. I did it to add to my skills.
Paper dielectric capacitors were a scourge of older electronic devices, with service lifetimes even shorter than electrolytics. It is amazing how easily many ancient electronic devices may be restored to better-than-new operation just by replacing electrolytic and paper capacitors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_capacitor