WyoTraveler wrote:
Interesting. Been in electronics since about 1954 and never thought much about how long capacitors last. They do fail and get replaced when they fail. Never replaced them before they fail. I guess having a supply on hand is a good idea. Seems to me a capacitor that is guaranteed to last 10,000 hours is a little over 1 year. I just changed out a cap in a piece of equipment I bought new in 1992. That is 23 years. I do agree when it failed there was down time. So guess I don't understand your logic changing out them out before they fail. BTW Mouser electronics does sell parts with mil specs etc.
Caps failing was a pretty popular and easy repair for many TVs I serviced in the 1980s-2,000.. So they can and do fail..
Fast forward to modern day switching power supplies, these guys can and will eat caps for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you use standard caps due to the high frequency and high voltage spikes they endure with switchers.
Low ESR caps are a definite requirement and yes 105C should be fine under most conditions.
If you are concerned about "life" you could move up to the next available voltage rating provided it will physically fit. This will give you some additional headroom to work with.
