General capacitor question

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:07 pm

I've been repairing video game systems for awhile now and was wondering if a capacitor that's on the pcb is totally dead, and I turn the device on and try to use it, is there a possibility of damaging the pcb or other components?

I wasn't sure if a dead cap would just cause a malfunction of the part of the device that it relates to, or if it would actually cause further damage.

Any info is greatly appreciated

jedi knight · Post by **jedi knight** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:15 pm

It might not damage it, but it probably won't work right.

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:45 pm

Yep, I know that with a dead cap something won't work properly but I'm just wondering if possible damage could ensue.

I've been testing a lot of systems with various bad parts and I just want to be sure that by turning them on and testing them that I don't fry something basically.

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 3:53 pm

dead capacitors can short out, which could potentially break something (most likely your power supply).

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 8:22 pm

I see... What if a cap is totally missing?

Post by **bicostp** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:25 pm

Well if it's just missing then the circuit isn't completed, so it won't work. I'm not sure what will happen if it's replaced by a wire or blob of solder, though.

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:23 am

So would it be 100% safe to say a missing capacitor would not damage anything (as long as there aren't solder blobs etc), it would just keep the open circuit from functioning?

Kyo · Post by **Kyo** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:42 am

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 3:38 pm

Interesting. Good info to know. Thanks for all the responses!

timmeh87 · Post by **timmeh87** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:00 pm

a lot of capacitors on modern circuit boards are redundant. there are usually tens or hundreds of capacitors used to decouple the power supply. some of them you can do without.

Silent Shadow · Post by **Silent Shadow** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 5:22 am

Thanks for the tips and the informative link!