Hello fellow users:

I was curious about the longevity of a 2413S PLM after it has been recapped. Noting that the suggested replacement caps sometimes have slightly different specs, presumably to improve reliability, it would be great if people who have done the recapping can share their experiences on how long the PLMs last afterwards.

This is helpful for users who plan on keeping their setups going for a while; one can do some forward planning and plan on performing preemptive swaps of PLM's before the failure dates and perform service on the ones that were swapped.

Mine is still going strong after 4+ years

I recapped 4 units about 5 years ago (preventative, hadn't failed yet) and have not had a single issue

 

Interesting, are the caps better quality or bigger that is improving longevity?

Correct type of cap for the application and higher voltage rating

 

6 years and 3 months for me. The originals lasted about 5 minutes past the warranty.


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4 hours ago, mmb said:

Interesting, are the caps better quality or bigger that is improving longevity?

The replacement caps. Especially C7 and C13. Where designed to be used in a switching type power supply. They also had a higher voltage rating, maximum temperature rating and life expectancy rating.

Smartlabs tried to fix it with a higher capacity and voltage rating.  V2.3 had C7 and C13 changed to a series designed for switching power supplies. The RS232 chip was also changed to one with a better ESD rating on the serial signals. V2.4 added some signal protection on the serial signals.