What consoles should be recapped?

[Ikaruga11]

I am wondering which of these consoles I need to recap and which ones I should recap. Also, is Console5.com the best place to get capacitors for all of these systems?

AV Famicom
SNES Jr.
Nintendo 64 (CPU-03)
GameCube (DOL-001)
Wii (CPU-40, 2010)
Wii U (32GB Deluxe, 2013)

Sega Genesis (Model 1 VA3 no TMSS, High Definition Graphics logo)
Sega Saturn (Model 1 Japanese)
Dreamcast (VA1)

TurboGraphx-16/PC Engine/SuperGrafx
Neo Geo AES (3-6)

PS1
PS2 Fat
PS3 Slim

OG XBox (v1.2)
XBox 360 Slim

Thanks

[maxtherabbit]

The pce, av fami and og xbox are probably the only ones that really need it

[Sumez]

av fami

What about the US top loader? I always imagined those to be really similar.

[TooBeaucoup]

I'd say any of the original NES consoles are a good idea to do just because. They're 35 years old now, so you may as well. They'll need it sooner rather than later at this point.

I just did my SNES Jr because there's not many caps and it's super easy. It probably took me 10 minutes to do all of those caps. None of them were leaking and the console wasn't having any problems. I just did it because.

I did my original Genesis Model 1 as well. None of the caps were leaking and the console was fine, but I figured it was time. That one was fairly time consuming. There's a decent amount of caps.

I've never dealt with the Neo Geo AES, TurboGrafx or it's variants.

As for the slightly more modern systems like the N64, Saturn, PS1, PS2, OG XBox, Dreamcast and Gamecube. I would worry about recapping the power supplies on those over the actual console. I've never seen leaky caps on those actual motherboards, but many times on the power supplies. With that said, most of those consoles are old enough that doing the motherboards isn't a bad idea. But, I wouldn't really worry about bad or leaking caps at this exact moment. If you want to wait another few years, I don't think it would be a problem.

A note on the OG XBox, every motherboard revision except for 1.6 has an, essentially, defective clock capacitor on it that will always fail and leak all over your board. This capacitor absolutely needs to be removed ASAP to prevent damage to your console. Do not wait to do this one.

https://www.reddit.com/r/originalxbox/c ... emove_the/


I wouldn't worry too much about the newer consoles at this point, Wii, Wii-U, 360, PS3, etc... They probably won't be due for another 10 years. Unless, of course, you absolutely hammered the consoles. I'm talkin, if you knew for certain that you put like, 10,000 hours on one of them. Obviously, that'd probably be enough wear and tear to warrant a recap.

[ASDR]

Thumbs up for OGXB, those power filter caps leaked on all of mine. Interestingly the clock capacitor was absolutely fine

But PCE, all of them? I know about the Duos / Turbos but a regular PCE/CoreGrafx is also considered a high risk console?

[maxtherabbit]

av fami

What about the US top loader? I always imagined those to be really similar.

I believe they have the same main board but not 100% sure

[Taiyaki]

I've only ever recapped systems that gave me trouble. Recently I did the Dreamcast, and it was single home, not overly played on, and kept in proper temperatures all these years, and still developed problems on startup.

I think up next I will recap my N64 as it has given me a few issues, and perhaps my Genesis. Basically my advice would be to recap whatever system you begin to see issues on.

[nmalinoski]

A note on the OG XBox, every motherboard revision except for 1.6 has an, essentially, defective clock capacitor on it that will always fail and leak all over your board. This capacitor absolutely needs to be removed ASAP to prevent damage to your console. Do not wait to do this one.

Not that it's necessary with both a softmod and a network connection, but would a socketed CR2032 (positive wired to the cap negative, negative on battery to ground) supply enough power to keep the clock going?

[ASDR]

A note on the OG XBox, every motherboard revision except for 1.6 has an, essentially, defective clock capacitor on it that will always fail and leak all over your board. This capacitor absolutely needs to be removed ASAP to prevent damage to your console. Do not wait to do this one.

Not that it's necessary with both a softmod and a network connection, but would a socketed CR2032 (positive wired to the cap negative, negative on battery to ground) supply enough power to keep the clock going?

Guess you would need a diode to prevent it from being charged and a resistor to lower the voltage. At that point, why not just put another cap?

btw, I just had a look at the three clock capacitors I removed, all still looking & measuring fine. So much for 'will always fail'.

[Ruprit]

I'll always purchase from Console5. They make great, high quality kits that are usually much cheaper than buying from Mouser or Digikey.

I tend to recap all the consoles I get my hands on just because it seems like the best preventative maintenance for these old consoles.

Having said that, it is only my 3 Dreamcast consoles that had visible leakage. One of those was my childhood console, one was brand new and kept in box until this year, and the other was from ebay. So I would definitely put the Dreamcast at the top of the list.

SNES Jr. - Recapped four. Noticed an improvement with one after recapping. None had signs of leakage or damage.

Sega Genesis - Recapped over 12 across all models and revisions. Not once did I see signs of leakage or damage

Sega Saturn (Model 1 Japanese) - Recapped 2 of the through-hole revisions. The earlier surface mount might be a bit different. No signs of leakage or damage.

Dreamcast (VA1) - See above.

TurboGraphx-16/PC Engine/SuperGrafx - Recapped 2 Duo Rs. No signs of leakage or damage.

Neo Geo AES (3-6) - Recapped a 3-5 and 3-6. No signs of leakage or damage.

Hope this helps some.

[TooBeaucoup]

A note on the OG XBox, every motherboard revision except for 1.6 has an, essentially, defective clock capacitor on it that will always fail and leak all over your board. This capacitor absolutely needs to be removed ASAP to prevent damage to your console. Do not wait to do this one.

Not that it's necessary with both a softmod and a network connection, but would a socketed CR2032 (positive wired to the cap negative, negative on battery to ground) supply enough power to keep the clock going?

Guess you would need a diode to prevent it from being charged and a resistor to lower the voltage. At that point, why not just put another cap?

btw, I just had a look at the three clock capacitors I removed, all still looking & measuring fine. So much for 'will always fail'.

Agreed. I have two launch XBoxs. One of them had a leaky cap that had started eating the board, the other one was fine.

[nmalinoski]

Guess you would need a diode to prevent it from being charged and a resistor to lower the voltage.

Since the console seems to work fine with the clock cap circuit disconnected, I was thinking connecting the battery negative to ground rather than looping it into the cap circuit would be sufficient to avoid charging, but I am not an electrical engineer.

At that point, why not just put another cap?

The point would be preventative and easier maintenance. I think there's far less of a chance of a socketed coin cell eating away at the PCB when neglected than there is with a capacitor, and you wouldn't need a soldering iron to fix the clock circuit when the battery dies.

[ASDR]

Guess you would need a diode to prevent it from being charged and a resistor to lower the voltage.

Since the console seems to work fine with the clock cap circuit disconnected, I was thinking connecting the battery negative to ground rather than looping it into the cap circuit would be sufficient to avoid charging, but I am not an electrical engineer.

I would've expected that all grounds would be connected. Voultar's dreamcast battery mod where he replaces the rechargeable battery with a standard cell adds a diode, so I assumed that's a good solution. Not an EE either :/

At that point, why not just put another cap?

The point would be preventative and easier maintenance. I think there's far less of a chance of a socketed coin cell eating away at the PCB when neglected than there is with a capacitor, and you wouldn't need a soldering iron to fix the clock circuit when the battery dies.

Batteries also leak. If I had to place a bet between a capacitor and a battery leaking in 20 years or whatever I'd bet on the battery. You never had a remote or a gameboy etc. with corroded terminals from a leaking battery? In any case, the thermal paste will need to be replaced and the HDD will likely have the click of death before either happens, so maybe a bit of a thought exercise