capacitor plague

Noun

 * 1)  Premature failure of an electrolytic capacitor, especially when several are beginning to fail at the same time in a piece of equipment (due, for example, to high demands imposed by the circuit design, such as in a switchmode power supply), necessitating "re-capping" (i.e. replacing many capacitors after disconnecting the power and waiting for lethal charge to dissipate).