Does a capacitor wear out?

Answer by  Dan3686 (969)

Eventually anything like this will wear out. But if they are monitored, cleaned and adequately maintained then they should last for and extremely long time. It really does depend on the make and type though.

Answer by  thorsdecree (409)

Over time, everything wears out. It's called entropy. But for your purposes, probably not. A capacitor will generally only be destroyed by overheating, overvoltage / shorting, or physical damage from impact or puncture. If properly used, it will not wear out as batteries will.

Answer by  swamisarge (283)

No, but depending on construction, they may age. Electrolytic (tin can) types may fail in 5-10 years, but temperature affects this greatly. Most small solid types don't age.

Answer by  Bob86 (165)

Yes a capacitor will eventually wear out with time, reducing it's ability to store charge before losing the electrical properties of a capacitor, often starting to behave like a resistor.

Answer by  kevincai96 (669)

Like all electronic components, capacitors wear out. They are made of two terminals suspended in electrolyte separated by a dielectric material. As this "dielectric" material wears out, so does the capacitor's capacitance, voltage capability, and overall usage. After about 10 years, capacitors will leak and become useless (assuming normal usage, not crazy circumstances).

Answer by  ijlalnoor (2656)

No, they don't really wear out but these capacitors might fail after a certain period of time. This depends on the type of the the capacitor.

Answer by  Mian (21)

Yes over time capacitors wear out. If you want the capacitors to last long then you should keep them clean and well maintained. All electronic hardware wears out over time.