PS3 Les Paul Guitar Syncs But Has Flashing Lights | Guitar Hero Guitar Repair | UK eBay Reseller

I Picked up this Guitar Hero Les Paul guitar for a few pounds, the guitar syncs but the light continue to flicker.
You press the sync button and it syncs normally but the other lights flash while the sync light stays solid. If you hold your finger down on the button it will eventually move the the menus but jittering.
Let repair this one by replacing a couple of capacitors.
Here is a link to a cheap capacitor kit on amazon - amzn.to/3bHXURt
They are cheap and probably not good quality.
If you want quality capacitors but just the ones you need the go to one of the sites below.
RS Components - uk.rs-online.com/
Mouser - www.mouser.co.uk/
CPC Farnell - cpc.farnell.com/
Items I use:
IPA Isopropyl Alcohol - amzn.to/3j1PupR
Preciva 8786D 2-in-1 Hot Air Gun Rework and Soldering Iron Station - amzn.to/2ZI4bFQ
Perciva Soldering Mat - amzn.to/3dEMcIC
Soldering Iron Tip Cleaner - amzn.to/3dGxJvO
Magnifying Glasses - amzn.to/3r3UkGH
120pc Drive Belt Pack - amzn.to/3kWH0ld
Link to our eBay store: www.ebay.co.uk/str/neliinflee...
Contact us through Facebook not through our eBay store
Website: www.neliinfleetwood.co.uk (Still under construction)
Facebook: / neliinfleetwood
Instagram: / neliinfleetwood
Etsy: www.etsy.com/uk/shop/NELIinFl...

[@littlehero8145]

Thank you for this video. I had the same problem. I search so many websites and only your video solved my problems. Thanks again.

[@locokicholoco]

Thank you so much! My 3 guitars had the same problem and now they are back to life!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Thank you and well done for getting them fixed 👍

[@OhioRedCannon]

Great video! I have a guitar on the bench now I need to fix.

[@CAKS90983]

I have the same issue with the syncing issue and same lights flickering thank you for the video

[@Commanderfirstclass]

Thanks! I replaced both capacitors, now it's working like a charm :) Didn't have a 220µF laying around, so I used a 470µF @35V one instead, does the trick too!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Nice. Glad this video helped you to get it working again. 👍

[@lazarogarcia2122]

I just replaced to 220 capacitor. This did the trick for me. Guitar is syncing again. Thanks

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Great, I'm glad you got it fixed and this video helped.

[@MochaTaffy]

thank you ! going to fix all 3 of my faulty les pauls now 😊

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Good luck mate, I hope you get them all working again. 👍

[@Felipe-ui8jz]

Nice tip! Just saved my guitar... Note: I did not find a 220uf capacitor, so I put it in a 470uf and it also worked well...

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Glad you got it fixed. I don't think it's matters too much about the value of that cap as long as it's close.

[@alanbaker9652]

Love your video. Always interesting

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Thank you, that means a lot. 👍

[@eduardorubalcava9367]

I just bought one of these from Ebay after throwing one away for the same issue and the "new" one arrived with the same issue 🤦🏽‍♂️ I'm glad I came across this video now so I can fix this one. I only paid 40 dollars for this newer one so I don't really wanna return it since they go for a lot more if you don't bid for them. Luckily I have experience with soldering and from this video it looks like an easy fix. Let's see how this goes!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

That's a shame you threw the old one away. Hopefully you can get this one fixed, it is a simple process. Good luck 👍

[@hakanlindblad6052]

Worked 4 me too! Thanks!

[@shaun7611]

This is awesome, saved me money and saved a guitar from the landfill. I bought one at a thrift shop, and I just so happened to have an extra dongle. A local repair shop changed them for me for 20 bucks :)

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Nice, I'm glad you managed to get it fixed. Still cheaper than buying a second hand one online.

[@billhancox253]

Another great video thank you. Seems to be the norm these days for cheap capacitors to be fitted to quickly fail, prob so people will go out and buy other devices. Always replace with decent quality capacitors which as you say you can get from other scrap equipment. Old computers are a great source for many components and a cheap ESR meter is very helpful..

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Yes everything is made cheap these days which is why a lot of the older items sell well as they are better quality.

[@elmstreetfan1633]

Thank you very much, i thought the other day id love to play guitar hero on my ps3 again. But had no clue a) all these les pauls will fail and b) how much people are getting again for these controllers and the dongles by God they seem to be more valuable than gold. Funny though cause i remember very recently you could take a whole Beatles set into game stop and you'd get 1 penny in credit.

[@plonk420]

it's mainly the PS3 ones that fail, from what i've gathered from someone from a RB/GH community

[@brandenarnett7162]

Interesting, I havent seen anyone mention the smaller capacitor, only the 220uf 10v one. I havent ran into this particular problem just yet though, so Ill bookmark it for when the time comes. I appreciate ya.

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

The smaller capacitor was ok but you might as well change both as it cost pennies.

[@user-ww2tj7gh8h]

Just did this method work 100%, thank for your help i will give you a like :D

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Thanks, I'm glad this worked for you and you got it fixed. 👍

[@plonk420]

does that green component die much? i replaced the caps on two GH III guitars but the one with (a lot of) brown crud under the green component on the green pcb e.g. @ 1:30 isn't working properly like i got the second one working (also, thanks for this guide! wouldn't have fixed it without the video! 💚)

[@juniorrs1589]

Hi , I’m having a problem with my guitar , but my problem is that when I try to sync it it blinks and the dongle as well but doesn’t sync , do you think it’s the dongle ? Or this capacitor? I bought it brand new but I’m sure with this being 15 years old it might of went bad the capacitor or dongle

[@AGuyNamedSam]

Saved my life

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Good job

[@bunnylove273]

Hi bud lbought a dab radio it was a spare or repair the problem was it could not find the stations it took 10 mins to repair it was the dab module it was not sitting on the supports correctly soon as l did that it worked (great)

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Yeah some things are a nice simple fix. You saved another machine where people would normal just throw them out to go into landfill. Well done bud. 👍

[@kevinvega3071]

Great video! Just curious what temperature your soldering gun was at? I read on a website about this capacitor fix that going over 370°C can damage the components but any temp lower than that seems to take forever to melt the solder

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

For this small board I'd usually use about 360°C. Try adding some flux to it or add some leaded solder to it before unsoldering. This will help the old solder melt and flow easier.

[@marktrebushevskiy9024]

Do you know why button “left” at “arrows/ cross” doesn’t work? At motherboard it is K5/ DL

[@Hopefu11y]

Great video! I'm a new subscriber, and glad to find your channel. I bought a couple of early 90s Samsung RCD-980s recently (portable CD/Radios) - not for reselling but for nostalgia. One is totally dead, the other works well other than there's a rank fish smell coming from the back left corner of the unit (and this area gets really hot to the touch too). I'm not sure if it's possible to guess with these things, but do you reckon the bad caps would be easy enough to replace (as an added bonus I've zero soldering experience :/ ) cheers

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Bad leaky caps do have a bad smell to them, I wouldn't say fishy though. But yes have a go, there's no harm in it. Just do not touch the hi voltage area, usually marked as HOT, when it's on or just been on. Some of those caps can be very high voltage and can kill. Prove caps are drained with a multimeter and get a cheap esr meter. Caps can read as good uF but the esr can be way off which means it's no good. Caps are usually the problem of dead units.

[@Hopefu11y]

@@RetroElectronicRepair Thanks for that, I really appreciate it! One of these days I'll be brave enough to try it, it's something that I've always wanted to learn - very useful advice and many thanks again👍🏻👍🏻

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

You are welcome. I only learnt by watching KZbin videos about electronic components and fix videos. I do like watching 12voltvids, I've learnt a lot from that channel.

[@Hopefu11y]

@@RetroElectronicRepair I'll check out 12voltvids, sounds great, thanks for the recommendation. I'll probably need to use one radio as a donor so will remove the eBay listing when I get a chance and tuck both radios away for a rainy day and future tinkering. Sometimes I wish nostalgia wasn't such a powerful force 😁

[@FreeKill8893]

thx 😀

[@rebellionrob]

Hi mate, thanks for this really helpful video. I am just about to attempt the same procedure on one of my guitars. I have no soldering experience but am having a go. Can you tell me what you were doing at the 9.40 mark in the video please. I'm not sure what you were doing there exactly. I've literally never attempted anything like this before so any help would be appreciated. Cheers mate.

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Hi mate glad you liked the video. At 9:40 I was just using solder wick or solder braid to remove some of the solder from the holes to help the new capacitor go in. It's just a copper mesh which attracts the solder to it and will remove it from the board. You can just heat the solder, if the holes are blocked, and put the new cap in 1 leg at a time if you don't even have a solder sucker.

[@rebellionrob]

@@RetroElectronicRepair Thank you for the reply!

[@leovillarreal4727]

I was wondering the same thing. Thank you for the response!

[@Kris-xq8px]

Long shot but do you by any chance offer a service for repairs? I need exactly this

[@leovillarreal4727]

How hot does the soldering tool have to be? I’ve never soldered before, and I do have plenty of confidence that I could do this on my own. I’ve already got the batteries ready to purchase, just need the actual soldering tool to make all of this happen!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

The soldering iron will melt solder at around 300 - 330 degrees C. I usually have mine set to 360C for a thin board like this.

[@FortniteEruption]

Woo hoooo 😀👍

[@johno9921XC]

This is great! Have you repaired any dongles for this?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Thank you, sorry but no I've never had a dongle that hasn't worked. so I've not taken one apart. It's probably just broken wires though if it's not working at all.

[@kerrytanner2407]

Buddy said his frets weren't working hoping it would be this easy. The thing that connects the neck to the board(ribbon wire). Has come unattached from the board. Upon further inspection. The hole for "SQU" has a bit of wire stuck in it. And the pad for "TRI came off on the side with the little green box. Is there any way I can fix that? And does it matter which way the wires go? Thanks for any feedback!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Sorry for the delay in replying. I can't quite visualise your problem. If the wires are going to a button it shouldn't matter which way they go on as it's just acting as a switch. Do the other buttons give you any idea of which way the wires should be? If the carbon (black pad) has come off of the bottom of the button you could glue on a piece of tin foil. Hope this helps.

[@jnnis9621]

Hey, i dont have a soldering gun so is there any other way i can melt the led?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Sorry but no there isn't. You can get a cheap soldering iron for under £10

[@benjaminmaturanavargas8992]

Hi i have the same guitar for xbox that didnt wanted to sync with the console and then it simply didnt turned on. Looking on the internet i've seen people having the same problem but with the ps3 one saying that its the capacitor. Do you think that could be the problem? (In the xbox guitar the capacitor is located behind the battery compartment and its solded to the little board.)

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Hi, it could be the capacitors but it's hard to say without having it in front of you to look at.

[@KlassifyiedsHiBs]

Same here, I have 3 Xbox 360 les paul guitars with the same connection issue. They stay connected for a few seconds then disconnect. I've changed the capacitor (at the back of the battery compartment) but they still won't stay connected.

[@NICKNACK112]

ok what information am i looking for on the cap that will work in the guitar?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

The uf (microfarad) and the v (volts). The uf needs to be the same and the v needs to be the same or higher.

[@beerpong7582]

I made the same mistake you did at 13:45 I believe. Any suggestions / tips?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

You can follow where the trace goes to and solder a bit of thin wire from the cap to the component where the trace goes to. Or you can scrape back some of the green conformal coating back to the copper and add a wire to connect to that and the cap.

[@calvinmachnich2504]

Does this fix a guitar that simply doesn't sync with the dongle? Both of them continue to rapidly flash all four lights. I have wo guitars and two dongles, all the combinations does the same

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

I'm not sure if this will fix that error. The capacitors cause more of a power issue and the lights would be intermittent. You could just try it and see if that fixes it though

[@calvinmachnich2504]

@@RetroElectronicRepair it workes just by the 220/10 capacitor! 😁 Now i have to fix a key that is constantly pressed down but it connects!

[@DQFG]

What caps did you use for both thanks!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

I got my caps out of scrap boards I have laying around. Just make sure you use a cap with the same uF value and that the colts is the same or higher. When I have to buy caps I get them from uk.rs-online.com/web/

[@dantehensley6799]

What capacitors exactly do these need? I know one is 220 10v

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

You need a 16v 47uF and 10v 220uF you can use a higher rated voltage capacitor but the uF (microfarad) must be the same. Do not go lower on capacitor voltage or it could explode/burst.

[@theplanteater]

The blinking lights issue only started happening to a PS3 Les Paul after attempting to hardwire the ribbon. I only did the connections by hand and wrapped in electrical tape. If I solder the wire connection points could that fix this issue or do I 100% have a capacitor issue now?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

I've never tried hardwiring a ribbon to this but if the lights are randomly blinking then it could be an issue with the caps.

[@theplanteater]

@@RetroElectronicRepair Thanks for the quick response! I’ll try to solder them first to see if that helps. If not, will have to try replacing the cap. Appreciate the video!

[@_BLUBOX_]

Quick question I noticed the red cable from the battery bay was removed from where it should be connected (near the batteries) I think I may have caused this opening and closing the guitar shell numerous times. Will it be okay to solder those battery bay wires back onto its place? Please let me know at your earliest convenience

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Yes, if you know for sure where the wires were soldered to originally you can just solder them back on.

[@_BLUBOX_]

@@RetroElectronicRepair Awesome, well whatever the manufacturer used (which seems to me is some sorta cheap glue) had wore off so the cable had disconnected itself. So ill attempt to solder it to make the connection more durable. Thank you, I appreciate your quick response!

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

It's usually soldered and then they add hot glue for a bit of extra strength to stop the wire moving around and working loose.

[@_BLUBOX_]

@@RetroElectronicRepair Update: Guitar is back up and running like new

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

That's great news. Well done mate. 👍

[@danielg3012]

Mine was doing the same exact thing then I took out the capacitors and it’s working perfectly as soon as I took I them out didn’t even put new ones so idk if it’s the capacitors

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Capacitor store energy and releases it smoothly so they remove any ripples in the current. Some things can work without caps but any current ripples can affect the operation. It's definitely the caps as taking them out has fixed the problem. When they blow the current can't get through them quickly {they go in to high resistance} so stop the current flowing.

[@SomnambulistCraze]

did you solder it to take them out? can i just take them out? i have two guitars that do this ebay has not been kind to me.

[@Altapulimum]

i burn the conections :(

[@robertoq2194]

I have a ps2 World Tour Guitar and my dongle fell of the shelf and now i can't sync my guitar, what i can do, the dongle is on and the guitar is on, but i can't sync it

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

It could of knocked a component loose in the dongle or broken something from the fall. These things, I think, are glued together so make it hard to separate. It's hard to say what it could be as I haven't come across a problem like that and could be anything really. Sorry I can't be much help.

[@kylehogan6577]

Any links to the compositors please

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

I buy mine from rs components but you need to buy them in packs of 10. If you just want a couple of caps then I would probably look at buying them on eBay.

[@jfifie5512]

my one just fully stopped syncing when i replaced both capacitors.

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

That's the 1st time I've heard that happen to someone. Just double check your work and make sure no traces have ripped and nothing has shorted together where you soldered.

[@jfifie5512]

@@RetroElectronicRepair i replaced the capacitors and made sure the traces were working now the guitar wont turn on.

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Are the new capacitors ok? You can sometimes get faulty brand new caps. Just changing the caps would not cause the guitar not to turn on, there must be something else.

[@gymonx11]

Hey man my lights do the same but once in game however it stops and just stays on 1 light is this causing the bad delay when playing?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

It very well could be. It's syncing on and off when the lights are flashing so it will work intermittently but not correctly. I'd probably change them as it's cheap to do. You only really need to change the bigger cap but I did both as it's cheap and easy.

[@gymonx11]

@@RetroElectronicRepair alright thank you my man i also think it needs replacing cause the lights did the same as on your video and the delay is inconsistent when playing (same rythm hits some notes and misses some) now i just need to find someone who can solder😅

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

It's quite easy to solder. Practice on any old broken electronic items you have or something you don't use anymore. You'll probably find the cap in old electronics too if you have any laying around.

[@gymonx11]

@@RetroElectronicRepair i don't really trust myself to do that truth be told, these guitars are hard to get and expensive it was the only one i could find from where i live and payed 100 euro's just to get a kinda defective but probably fixable guitar. I don't have a soldering set, but i live close to a electronics shop and i'm going to ask if they'd be so kind to do it for me with help from your video... if not well then i can immediately purchase a soldering set there and try it myself. Anyway thanks for helping this old guitar hero veteran out appreciate it very much and i will subscribe.

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

Hope you get it working again. I usually can pick these guitars up at cat boot sales for £1-2

[@rot-dog3299]

Can I send you mine to fix please

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

What is wrong with yours? Is it the same problem as the one in the video? You would need to weigh up the postage costs and the repair fee compared with buying another 2nd hand one as the postage both ways and the repair fee could cost about £45.

[@mcman8321]

Man, Someone really sold me a broken guitar on the internet then😟, I Dont want to try this procedure because I literally have no clue what you are doing , I need help man

[@ProWrestlingFan1995]

Same

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

It's a very simple fix. I learnt how to fix stuff from watching KZbin videos and only started learning 3 years ago.

[@ProWrestlingFan1995]

@@RetroElectronicRepair I'm sorry but I don't have the technical know how for this, I'm just gonna get another one.

[@guillaumechampagne5702]

Soo its a guitar problèm ?

[@RetroElectronicRepair]

If you have those symptoms then yes. The dead capacitors are interrupting the power to the sync part of the board.