MOTM

>BTW I had a Canon HI-8 video cam in the 90's. It was a beautiful thing but
>apparently, the SM caps all went bad in 2 years. At least that was the
>story that one repair shop gave me; wanting $200 to replace ALL the
>caps.....grrrrr.

Some of the surface mount electrolytics have a sinister reputation. Sony's
camcorders are famous for this as well (although mine are still working).
It's also happened to motherboards. Welcome to the future...

At 5:54 PM -0700 10/24/07, J.D. McEachin wrote:
>We have to cap (replace the capacitors in) our monitors every 3 or 4 years.
> The games operate around 5000 hours per year, so figure 15k-20k hours of
>life for that application.  I'd guess some of our capacitors could have
>over 100,000 hours on them, but those are in less demanding circuits.
>Vector games (Tempest, Star Wars, Asteroids, etc.) tend to go through caps
>faster, but they have more heat & higher AC currents.  Those are your two
>biggest enemies with electrolytics.  I take that back - being manufactured
>in China or Taiwan w/ inferior electrolytic formulations is THE biggest
>enemy.  ;)

I have a Tempest sitting here with a monitor that dies if you put the back
door on. Wonder what it could be...?

-- 

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"