[clug] Who in Canberra replaces blown capacitors on motherboards?

[Mike Carden]

On Mon, Mar 1, 2010 at 5:38 PM, Michael James <michael at james.st> wrote:
> And it still works!

So if it ain't broke - don't fix it.

> How bad can electros be, and hold charge?

Internally an electrolytic cap is typically a 'rolled-up' arrangement
of flat conductors separated by an electrolyte. They sproing out
nicely when they go boom. If you crease the outer can hard enough to
short across the rolled up electrodes, you'll have no cap at all. If
you just squash the guts without shorting, you'll likely reduce the
capacitance. Since electros have something like a +80% / -20%
tolerance for value anyway, it's easy not to notice big changes.

> I'd replace them but apart from capacitance (Farads) and Volts
>  I'm not sure of the ratings of electros (to deliver current etc.)

I'll guess the capacitance is in microfarads in this case and the only
other thing you need worry about is the voltage rating which you
shouldn't dip under but the on board batteries probably determine what
that needs to be. Current ratings on capacitors really only matter
when you're talking massive multi-farad things powering your
electromagnetic cannon or the like.

-- 
MC