Easy Electrolytic Capacitor Replacement & Testing Methods

I helped an old friend of the family remove a stuck disc from a dvd player. I did it through brute force though as he was chucking the player due to water damage. The disc was backdoor babes 5. Awkward moment never to be mentioned outside the anonymity of the internet.

Thank you for supporting “right to repair” and less waste in the world.

describing the electrolyte leak as "shit staining" just earned a subscribe.

I always like to remind and / or teach people before touching a circuit board to confirm that the capacitors are drained first, and if not, to drain them first. Also, I love that disordering tool!! Thank you for this video!!!

One thing that I'd like to mention for more of the new persons learning electronics. Is, if you see a cap that even a little bit bulged, don't even bother testing it. JUST REPLACE IT! There's really no such thing as a "good" cap that is bulged. Sure, sometimes a bulged might test close to ok, but it's not. Sometimes, its ESR is way off and/or once in circuit and voltage applied, its capacitance changes, way out of value. Same applies to those little tin hat caps. If you see any brown stuff around/under them, don't waste time testing. Just replace.

I love that desoldering tool! For the record, I have been finding that most overseas manufacturers are using capacitors with voltage ratings right on the line. In nearly every instance, products that have failed me were easily repaired by replacing the caps and doing so with the next higher voltage rating available. The two most expensive items I have repaired were so very cheap to fix. First was the first flat screen TV I ever had that was a plasma TV. Absolutely wonderful image and it started to not want to turn on. Finally, I hear POP one day and smell the unmistakable odor of a capacitor gone bad. The TV was dead. Now, as an aside, I used to hear ALL THE TIME about plasma TV failures and how they would go into dumpsters. I opened mine up (about two thousand screws later) and looked at the power board and saw a few bulged caps and one clearly burst. Now, here's the STUPID part. Though they had caps rated exactly for the voltage of the board, the board was drawn to accept LARGER ones. "This is TOO easy!" I said to myself. Yes, it was that easy. I didn't just replace the bad ones; I replaced ALL of them for about $12. That was over two decades ago, and that Plasma set still works like new!!! Like I said, how many plasmas were trashed for a $12 fix!?!? The second item was the control board for our $1 Jacuzzi (yes, $1 from a friend that moved and couldn't take it (6 people too!). That board was a little less obvious. I found the testing procedures on-line and did everything as stated. I then found a very nice repair service in AZ that worked on them and sent the fellow an e-mail and outlines all my tests. He actually CALLED me on the phone saying that he was impressed seeing somebody else who knew about everything to make the repair. He said, "you won't believe what the problem is." I answered, "The capacitors, right?" Yup, same thing and here again, I fit the next higher voltage rating caps on the board and called it good. That board never failed again, and it only cost me $8 for those (the repair guy normally got $200 if he did it, but he didn't ask for a dime just to confirm what I already knew). So, are the manufacturers purposely cutting it too close with the caps knowing they will fail so you buy a new item? Somehow, I think so.

Thanks, you've shownthe best way to diagnose and replace bad caps. Very inspiring for those who never tried this before.

Thanks for the explanations and demonstrations. I really appreciate people like you sharing knowledge & skills, esp'y. when you're concise & efficient with the task at hand. So many ppl spend too much video time pointing out the obviously UNrelated components &/or features. "We're going to check the power supply because the red standby light doesn't come on....or is it blue? Let's seeeee........" Um no thanks, I'm troubleshooting my DVR's power, not LED colors. Move it! :face-purple-smiling-fangs:

Use an ESR meter to check all the electrolytics in circuit. Worth the money for a decent one.

Better quality caps, last longer, in my experience, nichicon kg, rubycon, Audio note, there's lots, great video👍

Great video John, I have a player just like yours and this helped a lot if I should have this problem. Thank you.

I have found SO many failed electrolytic caps in all the repairs that I have done over many years that I replace them with a higher voltage cap, and I have never had one come back for any related problem. Thanks for sharing the video.

Hi ! Certainly one of the best video I saw about electrolytic capacitors, defect, repair and analysis of why and still understandable by the common man! Congratulations and thanks!

My uk central heating boiler started making a faint buzzing sound, then eventually stopped working at all, as the internal fan and gas and water circulating solonoids would not operate ..After a struggle Managed to eventually remove the main control PCB from its plastic mounting pegs... No transformer to isolate the mains supply! it just used a series capacitor and resistor to drop the voltage feeding a rectifier connected to a swollen 100uf,100vw electrolytic. I replaced it with a larger 220uf 220vw connected to the back of the PCB as there wasn't enough room on the component side.. I also took the opportunity to extend the wireing loom feeding the various solonoids and fan thermostat etc. So as to make it easier to work on when in place... That was five years ago! saved £250 on a new PCB board as the repair guys only replace the PCB

Good job 👍

I bought a job lot of used Dell computers from a school a few years back, and in this bundle was a brand new one that worked for a minute and failed. Needless to say i was intrigued, so the first port of call was to open up the faulty one. Lo and behold half of the electrolytics were installed the wrong way round, a quick replacement af roughly half a dozen caps and all is well again. So even the big boys make mistakes.

Your desoldering tool is amazing sir

Good clear vid. Thanks.

My 2009 LENOVO M58p desktop computer was now giving me the boot loop run around. The cause turned out to be due to there being 1 defective capacitor in the PSU. However, 5 other caps also had the bulge as well. Overall, I replaced 7 capacitors. Now all is well again. Total cost was $9.55. That is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new PSU. Same goes for my 2010 SAMSUNG TV. Just 1 capacitor had to be replaced, which I removed from some old junk that I had floating around, and so it cost me nothing at all. And so both are still working to this day.

10 points!! Ding ding ding! He can pronounce solder! Amazing!