Pedals sitting in the closet for too long

[80k]

Hello,
I occasionally will have pedals sitting in the closet for years without touching them. When I finally start using them again, I notice some intermittency in the signal and unreliable stomp switch for an hour or so. After a little while, it starts behaving again.

I'm wondering if this is due to capacitors needing to "warm up" after being neglected for so long? Or is it purely a mechanical issue (stomp switches and pots need to be moved around a bit to get the juice flowing again)? Or is it a sign of some failing parts?

[WLS]

Of course time is an enemy of most everthing. I think in you case I would be most concerned with the polorized Electo-Capacitors in the units. From what I've read the material used in them seams to deteriorate in a fairly short period of time compared to other componets.

Their have been ways of bringing them back from
the dead by intoducing them to low voltage for long periods of time and slowly increasing the voltage till the suggested maximum voltage is reached. But the money involved in changing them out is hardly worth the restoration effort.


Bill

[JKowalski]

Yes - as WLS said, it's probably the caps. They have short lives.

You can lengthen the shelf length of the caps by powering on the pedals for a little bit every once in a while. If the caps have a voltage across them, they for some reason age alot slower. It "refreshes" them, I guess.

[80k]

hmm, interesting, thanks for the responses. i might have to exchange some caps then. However, after using it for about an hour, all problems seem to go away... so i thought maybe it is a temporary problem, and running power through them for a little while can freshen them up a bit?

I've also noticed that sometimes it is switch related. If I stomp the 3PDT switch several times after a couple years of nonuse, it tends to fix things up.