[TenTec] Orion II A9 Board Failure...Again!

Geoffrey S. Mendelson gsm at mendelson.com
Wed Jun 25 12:08:49 EDT 2008


On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 09:23:01AM -0600, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:
> Lots of lowest bid Chinese electrolytics are poorer when new than I find
> acceptable, so they age poorly. A few years ago there was a large batch
> of capacitors often applied to computer motherboards that exploded when
> power was applied for the first time. My guess is that the factory
> didn't understand the formation process and hadn't finishing making the
> electrolytics.

This was very well documented in the press. A Tiwanese engineer worked
for a Japanese manufacturer of electrolytics. He stole the formula for
the electrolyte (the liquid inside the capacitors). His employers knew
what he was doing and gave him access to an incomplete formula. 

It worked perfectly in new capacitors but as it aged the capacitors
failed.

His Tiawanese employers underbid everyone on the market and the world 
was flooded with products that eventually failed when their capacitors 
exploded.

Geoff.
-- 
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM


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