We are recapping a 1CHIP SNES today and here’s the process I follow and, as a general rule, follow whenever I do some recapping. I personally prefer radial electrolytics to SMD electrolytics. It doesn’t look as pretty, but at the time I expected them to last a little longer than their SMD counterparts. Just look at Mega Drives with their million little caps, no leaks… yet!

This particular Super Nintendo is serial UP17548016, the same machine that had been giving me trouble with its reset switch. I’d already restored video and sound on 30th June, so this wasn’t an attempt to fix a completely dead console. I just wanted to finish replacing the ageing electrolytic capacitors while I had the board out.

There were still a couple of capacitors to remove, and naturally I’d managed to leave the transformer for my desoldering gun behind. That meant returning to the good old soldering iron and desoldering braid. A little fresh solder helped loosen the existing joints, after which I could clear the holes and remove the remaining components.

I tend to keep a photograph of the original board and a list of capacitor values before starting these jobs. There’s nothing quite like removing a component and then realising you’ve forgotten which way it was facing. The markings aren’t always especially helpful either, particularly on some of the tiny surface-mount capacitors.

For replacements I generally favour Panasonic, Rubycon and Nichicon parts, preferably with decent temperature and endurance ratings. The important thing is using components suited to the circuit and the space available. I had actually ordered a replacement for one capacitor that turned out to be too tall to fit beneath the heatsink. Whoops!

After removing the old parts, I cleaned the board and refreshed the solder on the pads. Some of the old capacitor legs were still hanging around in the holes, so those needed clearing as well. Eventually the pads were looking nice and shiny, ready for the replacement parts.

This particular motherboard generally has the capacitor negative connections facing towards the rear or left side, although that isn’t a rule I’d use on every Super Nintendo revision. The original photograph was considerably more trustworthy than trying to remember which way everything went.

Once I’d worked through the replacements, it was time to make sure the machine still functioned. Happily, it did! It had been working beforehand, so surviving the recap without introducing another problem was exactly the result I wanted.

Capacitor life depends on the particular part and its operating conditions, so radial does not automatically mean longer-lived than SMD. I was very much in favour of proactive recapping once hardware reached 15-20 years old, but age alone does not mean every electrolytic needs replacing.

The Super Nintendo was back in action, and I even managed to get distracted by Urban Strike and its rather grubby cartridge contacts. Some things never change!

Related Posts

Sources