Electrolytic capacitor aging... is this real life?

[neilsabo]

I've been trying to calculate how big a PSU I need for my build, and was using the PSU calculator here:

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

At the very end, there's a setting for "Capacitor Aging" that you can set anywhere from 0 to 50%, which says

Electrolytic capacitor aging. When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years.

lol wut... so assuming I use my desktop 24/7, my PSU will get weaker by 10-30% after just one year?

 

[C1]

Wouldnt surprise me if it would lose that much just sitting on a shelf never having been used.

 

[gevorg]

If your PSU capacitors "age" at a rate 20-30% per year, let alone 50%, you must have one of those:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=204

 

[Cerb]

lol wut... so assuming I use my desktop 24/7, my PSU will get weaker by 10-30% after just one year?

If the caps are poor quality, or the PSU design allows them to run too hot, yes. With a decent PSU, no. However, once its age gets into the 5-10 year range, all bets are off.

 

[bryanl]

Capacitors are typically rated for 2000 hours at their maximum temperature rating of 105°C, which works out to 32,000 hours at a more typical 65°C operation, or 42 months of continuous use. In practice low quality capacitors often fail in much less than half that time, while high quality capacitors can easily survive 5 years of continuous operation. Capacitance may actually not decrease much, but ESR often worsens greatly, causing the same effect on ripple.

 

[Rifter]

I have seen top quality caps run for 10+ years of continuous use. I have seen cheap caps fail within 6 months. Caps are a component where you really do get what you pay for. Temp plays a huge role hear as well.

Bottom line is they are cheap and easy to replace anyways so who really cares

 

[Minerva]

If your PSU capacitors "age" at a rate 20-30% per year, let alone 50%, you must have one of those:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=204

Wow what a piece of shit!

I have audio amps from the 80s with huge electrolytics and they still play great to this day. No cheap chinese junk in those.

 

[greenhawk]

lol wut... so assuming I use my desktop 24/7, my PSU will get weaker by 10-30% after just one year?

why to you think motherboard manufactures (espically high end models) boast about using long life caps? It might have started as a fad (gigabyte's Ultra durable range was the first I started seeing it) but any board maker worth talking about does something towards long life of their products (if you avoid the budget range).

Power supplies are no different. It is just another reason of you get what you pay for and people do pay upto $300 for good units and not the $30 specials that come included in the $50 case.

Fading capacitors is one reason why a PC that was stable for 2/several years starts to become flaky and crashes.

That is assuming the capacitors do not "leak" (or dry out) first as that also effects their ability to work.

 

[greenhawk]

Wow what a piece of shit!

I have audio amps from the 80s with huge electrolytics and they still play great to this day. No cheap chinese junk in those.

nope, but then I meet a music fan that claims black and blur his hand me down amp from his grandpa is better than anything made today. Besides being old (before "made to last the warrenty and not a day more"), it still uses the old vaccum valves.