> changing out the filter capacitors in the power supply and CRT. What else? Would every capacitor be suspect?
Given the timeframe the article quoted for the most recent cabinet (1980-1981), they all predate the capacitor plague [1] by nearly two decades. It is possible that the capacitors in the PSU's of these games might still be close enough to spec. to not need any replacement. But given the folks who picked them up, they are likely to test everything extensively and then decide what to replace based on that testing.
I knew this happened, but I never knew why it happened so often- or that it was actually coded into a word(Capacitor Plague) with a timeframe.(99-07) I just thought we quit buying dirt cheap caps in consumer electronics. I have not seen a motherboard pop caps in a long time.
Nice to know a true root cause and better understand all those boards I trashed long ago.
Pretty exhaustive wiki on the topic, thanks for that.
Pretty much. Our house came with a mid-80's arcade game because the previous owners didn't want to be bothered taking it with them. It works fine. I replaced the coin acceptor with a switch so you can play until boredom sets in. Everyone's already lost interest.
The best part of getting the game is that it came with full (hand drawn!) schematics!
That's more true for early 1980's and earlier electronics with through-hole caps (though a shorted cap could easily ruin your day), but I've seen a lot of mid-80's and newer vintage computers and game systems destroyed due to leaky SMD electrolytics.
I recently fired up an old Mac Plus that has stayed in the family and everything seemed to work fine until it started smoking, the display started to go wonky, and then it quit... Almost certainly an old-capacitor issue
That sounds like the RIFA brand AC line filter capacitor blowing. Cheap and easy fix provided you have a soldering iron and the long Torx driver to get at the screws in the handle. :)
Do you have a guide or something on how I can DIY this? I know soldering from my past military experience. The Mac has been in a shop for 8 months now "waiting on a part", I'm considering reclaiming it and repairing it myself, but I know nothing about the details.
There is a lot of nostalgia invested in that thing, it was my family's first computer and my own personal first experiences gaming and programming.
Given the timeframe the article quoted for the most recent cabinet (1980-1981), they all predate the capacitor plague [1] by nearly two decades. It is possible that the capacitors in the PSU's of these games might still be close enough to spec. to not need any replacement. But given the folks who picked them up, they are likely to test everything extensively and then decide what to replace based on that testing.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague