Have you recapped your 6128Plus?

[emuola]

As the 6128Plus is the last of my retro computers, which is not recapped yet. How potential is my beloved 6128Plus caps to start leaking some shit?

[Bryce]

Somewhere between "not a chance" and "never" Through-pin caps rarely leak unless they have been running in very hot conditions or have been working at their limits. In the case of a CPC this is extremely unlikely, in fact the new one's you'd use as replacements are more likely to fail than the old ones.

However, the main input cap (on the plus and classic CPC) will age quicker (and are more likely to fail) if you are using a modern switched-mode PSU.


Bryce.

[Gryzor]

...QUALITY

[tjohnson]

People seem obsessed by recapping stuff, even when computers are working fine there seems to be a recapping craze.

[Gryzor]

Well I recently got a recapped Sega GameGear as a present; I had never seen such a great-looking screen on a GG before!

[Bryce]

On certain computers it's necessary. The Amiga A600 and A1200 used the first generation SMD caps and these were terrible. The temperature and stress levels weren't even high, yet they leak electrolyte all over the place which eats through the traces and can make the computer unrepairable. However, people don't seem to understand that this was/is an isolated occurance and that the caps in most other vintage computers should still be fine. If the main cap in the CPC started giving problems, it would be because of the ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) going out of range or the capacitance value dropping, but it's still unlikely that they would leak. It would become noticeable by the fact that the computer might take a while to start, only start if the room is warm or the computer would crash or hang during high loads (disk drive activity etc).

I have several pieces of test equipment from the 70's and early eigthies that all still have their original caps, even in their power supplies.


Bryce.

Edit: The Gamegear was also a victim of first gen. SMD caps. Luckily they give enough signs (loss of sound and washed out colours) to let you know that they are about to die.

[Bryce]

Well I recently got a recapped Sega GameGear as a present; I had never seen such a great-looking screen on a GG before!

Has it been modded to LED backlighting? That almost doubles the battery life.

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Damn I didn't know about that mod, or I would have looked into it. Pity, but the recipient loved it anyhow (duh).

[Shaun M. Neary]

I have several Amstrads, amongst other retro machines.
Not one of them have been recapped.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Gryzor]

Well yes, but I should REALLY get my A1200 looked at.

[tjohnson]

Yeah I've never recapped any of my old computers and they all still run fine.  I did recap a power supply for my old denon tape deck and found a few caps that had got hot that were out of spec for ESR but it still worked fine.  The majority of caps were fine.

[emuola]

Thank you all for the replies    I can now sleep during the night knowing that my 6128Plus won't suffer like my A600 had before the recap. Like Bryce said, those were just hideous, those SDM caps back then. Almost as bad as the legendary "Varta - the destroyer of worlds" batteries used in some of the Amigas.

[Shaun M. Neary]

Thank you all for the replies    I can now sleep during the night knowing that my 6128Plus won't suffer like my A600 had before the recap. Like Bryce said, those were just hideous, those SDM caps back then. Almost as bad as the legendary "Varta - the destroyer of words" batteries used in some of the Amigas.

Only joined the Amiga crowd in the last couple of years, but yeah... the word Varta will make any Miggy fanboy wince in pain. 

[GUNHED]

People seem obsessed by recapping stuff, even when computers are working fine there seems to be a recapping craze.

Yes, they fix stuff to death.

[emuola]

Yes, they fix stuff to death.

Yeah, I guess this is a symptom of being exposed to the SDM plague among the Amigas of the nineties

[Bryce]

Well yes, but I should REALLY get my A1200 looked at.

A non-recapped A1200 in 2021 may already be in a bad way. Open it up and check it at least!

Bryce.

[Gryzor]

Aw crap. I don't even have the time to locate her, let alone deal with it

A couple of years ago, at least, it was fine - was fitting a CF so I took a pretty good look at it.

[banana]

The Beeb is notorious for needing recapping to work. I've had 2 and both had the magic smoke come out of the PSU and I had to recap them.

[chinnyhill10]

The Beeb is notorious for needing recapping to work. I've had 2 and both had the magic smoke come out of the PSU and I had to recap them.

That's because the PSU contains RIFA capacitors. The CPC doesn't have any. If you see RIFA caps inside an old micro, whip them out.

[banana]

That's because the PSU contains RIFA capacitors. The CPC doesn't have any. If you see RIFA caps inside an old micro, whip them out.

I've always wondered If I just remove the caps and dont recap it, would it still work?

[Bryce]

It might for a few minutes, but the capacitors are there to remove spikes and ripples in the power rails. If these spikes and ripples were allowed to get through you would at best have an extremely unstable circuit that would keep crashing and at worst IC's would start to fail completely.

Bryce.

[chinnyhill10]

It might for a few minutes, but the capacitors are there to remove spikes and ripples in the power rails. If these spikes and ripples were allowed to get through you would at best have an extremely unstable circuit that would keep crashing and at worst IC's would start to fail completely.

Bryce.

It's a Beeb. The entire PSU is so over engineered that when I enquired on Stardot about the cap in question the answer was "it'll be fine". Got a kit in and replaced it a week later but it was quite happy.