[Arran]

Not exactly related, but a few years ago there was a LOT of "bad" capacitors on the market. Tons of computer equipment, mainly motherboards and power supplies, were affected.

The capacitors would become leaky quite fast (less than a year of usage) and you guess what that could do to computer motherboard.

I remember seeing some on ebay, people would buy them and recap them. With luck they'd end up good as new.


Modern manufacturing process doesn't believe in quality check. It is cheaper to have to refund the few who cares complaining than having to ensure everything that goes out the doors is valid. Moreso in some asian manufacturing plants.

I think it all started when then invented this motto "no user serviceable parts inside" and started to add "warranty void if seal broken" stickers.

Those caps that you speak of would bulge and sometimes leak but the interesting part is that the capacity would actually go up in value if you tested them. The story I heard is that they were counterfeit caps made with a botched recipe for electrolyte. I have a computer tower here that has a few bulged caps in the motherboard, from what I can tell they didn't leak but I am planning on trying a recap on the board.
Regards
Arran