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Old 12-21-2007, 11:06 AM
Larry Acklin Larry Acklin is online now
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Regarding the capacitors, yes! It's a real problem. The caps made overseas have a 2-5 yr lifetime. Lots of old computer motherboards and consumer electronics have some or all bad electrolytics, and that causes no end of problems. Can be in the power supply, or in the case of computers, on the motherboard. If unplugging does not "fix" a unit, then the caps are the next likely suspect. We buy them by the hundreds, and we are a relatively small operation.

Look for bulging cases, or spit/leaking cases. It is simple to replace them for a bench tech, but not so easy for the layman. Plus checking the caps requires a tester.

Sometimes they "shotgun" replace all the electrolytics because they are cheap, and it's faster than removing/testing each one.

Larry
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