Do filtering capacitors give-off gas?
- Thread starter Goat
- Start date
I think I found-out why...
The capacitor plague was a problem related to a higher-than-expected failure rate of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, between 1999 and 2007, especially those from some Taiwanese manufacturers,[1][2] due to faulty electrolyte composition that caused corrosion accompanied by gas generation, often rupturing the case of the capacitor from the build-up of pressure.
High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and were particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers.
Also... I've heard low ESR caps are junk, but never researched it.
The non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors with improperly formulated electrolyte mostly belonged to the so-called "low equivalent series resistance (ESR)", "low impedance", or "high ripple current" e-cap series. The advantage of e-caps using an electrolyte composed of 70% water or more is, in particular, a low ESR, which allows a higher ripple current, and decreased production costs, water being the least costly material in a capacitor.[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
The capacitor plague was a problem related to a higher-than-expected failure rate of non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors, between 1999 and 2007, especially those from some Taiwanese manufacturers,[1][2] due to faulty electrolyte composition that caused corrosion accompanied by gas generation, often rupturing the case of the capacitor from the build-up of pressure.
High failure rates occurred in many well-known brands of electronics, and were particularly evident in motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers.
Also... I've heard low ESR caps are junk, but never researched it.
The non-solid aluminum electrolytic capacitors with improperly formulated electrolyte mostly belonged to the so-called "low equivalent series resistance (ESR)", "low impedance", or "high ripple current" e-cap series. The advantage of e-caps using an electrolyte composed of 70% water or more is, in particular, a low ESR, which allows a higher ripple current, and decreased production costs, water being the least costly material in a capacitor.[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague
CornNutz
Well-known member
Yup, if the electrolyte is not stable it will react with the aluminum and a gas will form. You typically see them bulging, but the seals on yours maybe so bad that the gas is getting past them.
They are shit toss them.
I had a massive problem with the capacitor plague in the mid 2000's. It was because some Chinese company stole an incomplete electrolyte recipe (missing the stabilizers), they sold the electrolyte to basically all the cap manufactures globally. I had to replace thousands of them in a product my company developed during that time.
They are shit toss them.
I had a massive problem with the capacitor plague in the mid 2000's. It was because some Chinese company stole an incomplete electrolyte recipe (missing the stabilizers), they sold the electrolyte to basically all the cap manufactures globally. I had to replace thousands of them in a product my company developed during that time.
Yeah, I threw them out. They were German made Mundorf, but maybe they weren't? I paid a lot for them too. I tried them in a boutique amp, but only used them for an hour or two.CNutz":1tczj7tb said:
In the future, I'm going to place my e-caps into a air-tight bag overnight, to check for vapor leakage.
There may be a lot of people who used these capacitors.