I have a good amount of old electrolytic capacitors but they have never been used. Can I use them in my projects now without fear?
Electrolytic capacitors such as certain components that have volatile chemicals inside them may have problems of depletion over time, even without being used. What happens is that the electrolyte of these components can both evaporate and leak and over time the capacitor loses the capacitance, that is, it depletes, even without being used. This is very common with electrolytic capacitors. The best procedure before using an electrolytic capacitor that has been out of use for a long time is to test it both by checking if it has leaks as its capacitance, if it is in the correct value.
