[TheForge] Capacitors -- and theft by the Chinese...

[Bruce Freeman]

I heard something a little more substantial than a rumor recently,
concerning capacitors made in China.  I don't know whether this
applies only to tiny capacitors used in electronics or also to
motor-starting capacitors.

It seems some electronics firm had the complete process for making its
state-of-the-art capacitors on its in-house computer.  It was stolen
by the Chinese, so the story goes.  What the thief didn't know was
that the process was wrong in a critical step.  One could produce
capacitors using it, but the capacitors died early.

The story continues that many Chinese electronic devices still contain
the defective capacitors produced by this process.  For example, if
your flat-screen display  or TV dies, changing out one capacitor might
fix it.

Moral:  Baffle them with bullshit.  Store convincing but erroneous
information about your trade secrets along with (or instead of) the
right information, and let that be stolen by the Chinese...

On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 11:07 AM, Bob Ehrenberger <eforge at centurytel.net> wrote:
<snip>
>
> My son got a bench top drill press which fried it capasitor in about 6
> months, they were no help in getting a replacement. He sold it after I got
> an industrial drill press at an auction.  The guy that bought it said that
> it is still running several years later after a local motor shop replaced
> the cap.
>
<snip>


-- 
Bruce
NJ