The world of electronics was rocked by a scandal that lasted for almost a decade, affecting millions of devices and costing billions of dollars in damages. The culprit? A faulty ingredient in a tiny component called a capacitor.
Capacitors are devices that store electric charge and energy. They consist of two conductive plates separated by an insulator called a dielectric. They are essential for many electronic circuits, such as power supplies, motherboards, and video cards.
But between 1999 and 2007, many capacitors suffered from premature failure, causing devices to malfunction, overheat, or even explode. This phenomenon was known as the capacitor plague, and it was a widespread issue with faulty electrolytic capacitors which resulted in premature failure of various electronic devices.
The root cause of the capacitor plague was traced to a bad electrolyte formula that was used in non-solid aluminium electrolytic capacitors. These electrolytes were made with a stolen and incomplete formula from a Japanese company, and they caused corrosion and gas generation inside the capacitors, leading to bulging, leaking, or bursting.
The bad electrolyte formula had been stolen from Rubycon Corporation by an ex-employee who then sold it to several Taiwanese electrolyte manufacturers. The Taiwanese companies then supplied the faulty capacitors to many well-known brands of electronics, especially motherboards, video cards, and power supplies of personal computers.
The capacitor plague affected equipment from Dell, Apple, HP, IBM, and many others. The problem was first reported by specialist magazines in 2002, and then gained public attention through blogs and online communities. The capacitor plague has affected equipment manufactured up to at least 2007.
The most common sign of a bad capacitor is a bulging or leaking top or bottom. This indicates that the capacitor has failed due to excessive internal pressure. The best way to fix a bad capacitor is to replace it with a new one, preferably from a reputable brand.
The capacitor plague was not limited to any single manufacturer or brand; it affected equipment from all over the world. It was a lesson for the electronics industry to be more careful about quality control and intellectual property protection. It also showed the importance of capacitors in modern technology and how a small mistake can have huge consequences.
Relevant articles:
– Capacitor plague – Wikipedia, Wikipedia, unknown date
– The Causes of Electrolytic Capacitor Degradation, Cadence, 2022
– How to Identify and Replace Bad Capacitors, MakeUseOf, April 9, 2023
– The Rise and Fall of the Capacitor Plague, Hackaday, April 11, 2023
– What is a Capacitor and How Does it Work?, Electronics Notes, April 13, 2023