Slightly off-topic but still somewhat interesting:

Ever heard of such a thing ?

This is one of my hypotheses why there is brown stuff on top of a backup motherboard that was inside a box in a closest for many years, at least 10 years, possibly more.

However it was bought second-hand, so could also be that previous owner ran it very hot, though it seems more likely that any brown stuff would be wiped off before it would be put into the bag ?

So this leads me to this bacteria hypothesis that it formed gasses inside the capacitator and made this brown stuff bubble up.

Bye for now,
Skybuck.

Bacteria are indeed resilient creatures, and so they are likely
to be found even in very inhospitable environments.

However, your hypothesis, as it concerns the _cause_ of the
condition of the electrolytic capacitors in very old electronic
equipment, is _not_ likely to be correct.

An electrolytic capacitor is not too far different from... a
dry cell. And, of course, as is well known, if they're left to
lie around for a long time, they will start to leak. That's because
the electrolytes within them are very corrosive substances,
which eventually destroy the battery containing them. The
same thing is a common fate for electrolytic capacitors.

John Savard

On 2021-10-22, Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
> Bacteria are indeed resilient creatures, and so they are likely
> to be found even in very inhospitable environments.
>
> However, your hypothesis, as it concerns the _cause_ of the
> condition of the electrolytic capacitors in very old electronic
> equipment, is _not_ likely to be correct.
>
> An electrolytic capacitor is not too far different from... a
> dry cell. And, of course, as is well known, if they're left to
> lie around for a long time, they will start to leak. That's because
> the electrolytes within them are very corrosive substances,
> which eventually destroy the battery containing them. The
> same thing is a common fate for electrolytic capacitors.
>
> John Savard
Thanks for the info!

--

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