[nneonneo]

We had a 500W subwoofer amp just die on us one day. Since the replacement was going to be several hundred dollars, I figured I’d try disassembling it to see if I could find a problem.

Lo and behold, I saw three 1000uF caps that had leaked, one of which had a clear bulge on the top. So I ordered a bunch of replacements off Mouser, bought myself a soldering iron, and replaced all three. Worked like a charm!

I’ll never understand why even high-end equipment manufacturers wind up using crappy knockoff capacitors in their stuff. It seems like it’s just a failure waiting to happen. I guess they get to make good money on the support and service?

[naikrovek]

no matter the brand, being hot while charged wears capacitors out.

drop the operating temperature of a capacitor by 10°C and you extend the life by 10x. The inverse is also true.

Crappy caps will die more quickly than top of the line capacitors, but they'll all die eventually.