Fastest Way Recap Game Gear Capacitor Replacement - RetroSix

[@fastmaxr]

Excellent video... However, around 7:45 a Q9 files off... Also R52 and R51 are displaced in 8:03. I agree though it is a whole lot faster. In my last GG recap, I took the time to remove very carefully the caps without breaking the pads. Then I cleaned the old solder with wick to leave all pads pristine and retined and put ALL caps carefully... took me more than two hours... So knowing how to do it fast is really nice.

[@RetroSix]

Ha yeah perhaps 90 on the air not 120. In one way it's good to show what can happen and to pay attention. I was focused more on showing the techniques and not on the parts flying off lol but so long as you pay attention hot air is the way to go

[@fastmaxr]

@@RetroSix Indeed. Definitely the way to go. Two hours+ on a menial work that can be done in minutes is the way to go. I guess each one of us has to experience with the equipment at hand. I'll try with air at 90... Actually I am yet to use the hot air gun in my soldering station, lol.

[@emmettturner9452]

Also C50 at 6:59 but I think it’s just tombstoned.

[@Fighter4Street]

LOL, this dude is blowing away parts of the board, I think I won't do this method.

[@showstopper81]

I am starting to collect old consoles and do repairs as a hobby. I have been watching your videos and would just like to say thank you for the amazing content! I have just bought a broken game gear from ebay and I will be using your videos and guides to see if i can get it going. If I can then a replacement screen will be next. Thanks for the detailed information.

[@RetroSix]

That's great to hear

[@utterlyexiged]

I'm doing exactly the same. I picked up a GT a few months ago purely for nostalgia, but after re-capping it i got the bug and now have a GG, GB and lynx mk1 with screen upgrades and cap kits on the way

[@kodifree5907]

did anyone else see the little black cap blow away or was that just me? 🤔

[@boballenbrandjr]

I'll have to give this a try. 1st time recapping a game gear too me 4 hrs.. You're a wizard!

[@shaunruhland926]

Great stuff! I am excited to have a station with a hot air machine and kitted out with good gear for soldering one day

[@SteveWellsNZ]

I just tried your heatgun trick for removing the screen - SO easy, thanks for the great tip!

[@RetroSix]

Your welcome

[@TheRepeatloader]

i always just use the wiggle method - never have broke a trace since doing it that way, legs come off as i always clean the pads before putting on new cap.

[@kornstew]

I just got my gg back from my mother and it didn't work with power. All points to needing capacitors. Glad I came across some good online tutorials on this!

[@Steve-vu9yg]

Would be great if you could add the list of caps that are not needed for the clean screen to the install guide on the wiki.

[@RetroSix]

Yep will update it

[@FuriousTortoise]

Anybody have a link to that wiki page? I’m ready to remove caps for a clean screen and would love a visual diagram.

[@andrewryan3894]

This was a great video, I’m trying to do a similar project but am new to soldering and hot air guns. What temps and fan speeds should I use when desoldering?

[@Maytechjose]

he mentioned in the video his settings are at 420c and 120ci/s air. if you use a cheap rework station, that would translate to 435c at speed setting OF 6.5 if its the dial type.

[@dadwillfixit1907]

Nice video thank you

[@emmettturner9452]

It would be good to use a pre-heater for this to reduce stress on the board. I know you think this is less stressful but the temperature swings from hot air create a lot of stress as the board expands and contracts in specific areas instead of the entire board. Reducing this stress is the entire point of a board pre-heater for hot air or a soak heat profile in a reflow oven. I see where others pointed out Q9 at 7:45 and R52 at 8:04 but at 6:59 you also lost C50.

[@RetroSix]

Yep pre heater would be good but really not required. Heat goes mostly into the component then solder and has less time to flow to rest of board. If reflowing larger pin components could use pre heat but you won't get issues just using hot air for a task like this. You won't even get it for removing and reinstalling the ASICs. I've done hundreds. The cartridge connector however is perfect example of needing pre heat

[@emmettturner9452]

@@RetroSix As far as components go, it’s the high-density connections of QFP legs and such that get stressed the most without a board heater. Also, internal traces and connections on multilayer boards… so it’s more about SMD rework on 4+ layer boards and high-density connections than stuff with big pins on two layer boards like this. You are absolutely correct that much of it goes into the component first but that kind of localization is precisely what stresses the board. I don’t think it is a huge concern with a two-layer board like this and you see techs like Louis Rossmann doing it on more advanced boards all the time so it’s demonstrably not a big deal. I really only mention it since the stresses on the board are actually increased while you seemed to imply the opposite. I’d also suggest a second pass at the caps with fresh flux. The flux from adding solder to the pads has already been used/activated and you could end up with a cold solder joint. During a recap job with solder already on the pads I like to stage my caps in my sticky gel flux lid where I also pour a bit of liquid flux. I then transfer them to the board with flux already on them. Anyway, I think C50 just tombstoned since it seemingly disappears from its footprint but doesn’t seem to end up anywhere else.

[@RetroSix]

Yep agreed. In terms of less stress I'm meaning because of the acid damage using a soldering iron you will apply far more stress to the board than this. You will have to leave the iron on longer, scratch, scrape and cut components off due to glue keeping it down and acid preventing heat transfer. I did another video on the cleanest way to recap prior to this and we do all the clean up there. Thanks for the feedback though

[@emmettturner9452]

@@RetroSix You’re absolutely right about that. :) There are more stresses to consider here and hot air is probably safer than fighting the corroded pads with direct heat. :)

[@discowea]

Thanks! Are you shure about ceramic cap instead of electrolytic?

[@RetroSix]

Yep. Sold thousands for years and also did all the checks on scopes to see the effects on the voltages and ripples etc... They work even better than electrolytic

[@ardentdrops]

@@RetroSix I would love to see you do a video showing us everything under the scope so we can put this debate to bed.

[@RetroSix]

Didn't know there was any debate? Lol

[@jefferyhill4857]

Maybe someone mentioned this below that when using the hot air he blew off one of the transistors at the same time he was removing a cap. He didn't show it working at the end so maybe he found that later. I am on my 3rd attempt now to do a new screen. The parts are so tiny it is very hard.

[@marie-loudelvoye315]

Hi, love the vid! What heat gun do you use?

[@RetroSix]

Quick 861DW

[@mufeedco]

Thank you, The video helps a lot.

[@RetroSix]

Your welcome

[@alexc4260]

This may be a silly question but why remove the screen and the bulb if you are only recapping the device?

[@alexbennett429]

Which hot air system are you using? What would you recommend for a beginner?

[@RetroSix]

I use the Quick 861DW it is a very good station. I had Weller and Hakko stations costing more and this one easily performs the same if not better. We will also stock them on our store soon

[@terrylaveyplays]

What microscope do you use? I’ve ordered a few off Amazon and was very disappointed. Thank you.

[@RetroSix]

At work Amscope. For recording it's a Tagarno Trend

[@terrylaveyplays]

@@RetroSix thank you!

[@kilastyles2856]

Thanks for another great video Luke. Did I hear right in one of your previous videos you can do repairs for free for content for your channel? I have a GBA which had a screen mod, clean amp pro, dehum kit and clicky triggers but the power switch recently broke so I attempted to solder a new one but in the process messed up some pads, then messed up some more pads trying to fix it, ended up running some wires from vcc and SW1, I then ended up needing a 150ohm resistor for r13, then my fuse has now gone! I bridged where the fuse should go just to check to see if I'd gained power again but the GBA just started smoking so I had to quickly remove the batteries and have no idea where the smoke was coming from! I'd very much appreciate if you could take a look to see if this console is fixable! I'm scared to touch it again now, otherwise I think I'd have to remove all my mods and buy a new GBA, all because of a stupid power switch fail!

[@RetroSix]

Yep just email me [e-mail] and I'll tell you where to send

[@Doomchild2XL]

1:30 Me yelling Blu Tac at the screen repeatedly. :D

[@Fighter4Street]

Should have shown doing the audio caps are they are by far the most difficult.

[@1alvarouribe]

Ola ,amigo tengo un problema ,la pantalla demi consola tiene la tercera parte casi totalmente oscura arriba, le he cambiado los condensadores pensando que con eso se arreglaba y no ,mejoro el sonido y el brillo pero sigue igual la pantalla ,tu que sabes ...que sucede ai hombre y gracias🧐

[@cyphid]

I suppose that would be a lot faster! One day I just might buy the heat gun for more efficient work!

[@qqryqq123]

Would using hot air be safe without removing the lcd tube...? Ie. could the heat transferred from the board damage the tube...?

[@RetroSix]

It's ok so long as you don't point it and leave it directly on the tube itself yes

[@RedLine_Renesis]

In terms of energy efficiency costs, does this beat a de-soldering gun if you're quick enough?

[@RetroSix]

Yep

[@stigaresalemonsen8570]

So no need to remove the r29/r56 and r30/r57 + cutting the 34v wire? This board is ready for the cleanscreen as is?

[@RetroSix]

For CleanScreen just remove L2 is all that is needed. Cut 34V or just use CleanJuice and disable 34V using switch

[@stigaresalemonsen8570]

@@RetroSix ok thanks! Just bought everything but screen as they’re sold out and I’m getting all boards ready for the screen when it’s restocked. I got the clean juice and battery packs also. Awesome products🫶🏻

[@khalfanalmansoori1468]

Cool thanks

[@xmodsgaming]

Yeah, I definitely believe hot air for taking off the caps the best thing to do to save time.

[@danielmorrison7579]

It appears that you are replacing an electrolytic with a ceramic cap.

[@RetroSix]

Correct. Nothing wrong with that. The caps are decoupling caps, dc blocks and for timing. In all instances the ceramics have been tested and scoped to perform the same or better

[@emmettturner9452]

@@RetroSix Then why did Sega use electrolytic sun the first place? The characteristics that require them instead of ceramics have nothing to do with footprint, temperature, and capacitance… or else everything would be ceramic.

[@RetroSix]

What characterists require them exactly? They use aluminium due to cost

[@emmettturner9452]

@@RetroSix It has to do with things like frequency and polarization. Look up the old AfroTech video on it. Ceramics were always cheap.

[@RetroSix]

All the caps have no requirement to be polarised nor frequency dependence on being electrolytic either. Most are just bulk caps, some are for DC bias and DC blocking. The rest are audio smoothing which work better as ceramic

[@discowea]

7:45 bye bye diode))

[@RetroSix]

Haha weeee. I'll put it back on

[@emmettturner9452]

Also C50 at 6:59 and R52 at 8:04

[@1alvarouribe]

Thank u

[@Smanux]

Any risk of blowing the capacitors with the hot air?

[@RetroSix]

If your on them too long sure. If in doubt warm up around them first