This NEC TurboGrafX-16 / PC Engine thing is barely audible, and the screen is a little dim. Let's see if we can bring it back to full health! Hope you enjoy! Steve 2
I have one I got for $50 from someone's attic. Better condition than this. Same volume issue though. Not sure if they're all nice, but this is the second pristine one I've seen.
@@Tater-Chuck Try buying one nowadays, for one in the condition like this one it will cost you $300+ heck a perfect one will cost you over $1k. Good score on the one you got. I'll never find one around where I live now, no where near a city and I live on a lake so not maybe people around.
I loved the Turbo Express I got used from a pawn shop about a year after it had released here in the USA. I was able to find lots of TG16 games for cheap as well. The Turbo Express eventually died after a few years, but it was great while it lasted.
I have this stuck in a drawer since my late husband pasted away and I always thought it was a handheld tv since he collected every gadget you can think of .
That thing looks very heavy, reminds me of the old portable handheld TV's you could get. Can't imagine the eye strain trying to play games on that tiny tiny screen.
I've got the turbo grafix 16 and 14 games from my childhood. I love me some Bonks Adventure. It would be awesome to be able to play on the go. Thanks for another great video!!
I always wanted one of these beauties. I just loved this video, relaxing and satisfying, like watch those people who clean rugs! You've got a new subscriber.
Haha! Cause you’re so zoomed in when you’re taking those caps off; at first I couldn’t tell that one was a needle nose and the other was your iron - I was legit like ‘is he actually just trying to rip those caps off the board cold!!?! Surely not! ‘ 😂
I was immediately put in mind of that episode of IT CROWD where Moss 'pimped' Roy's phone! ...I imagined the volume of this would end up tuned to 11... 'That's the LOWEST setting!' 🤣
Great looking console and a nice quick repair. 👍 Those electrolytic caps were definitely leaking, so a great save before they did any real damage. The problem with replacing electrolytic capacitors with ceramic is that the ceramic capacitors have much lower ESR, that can cause excessive current draw in some cases, also most ceramic capacitors have a voltage dependent capacitance, as in e.g. a 100uF 25V cap might only be 20uF with 20V bias plus ceramic capacitors tend to be more microphonic and less stable with temperature, but that's not relevant in this use case.
Tantalum's is what I swapped out the leaky "early 2000's" capacitors on my Yamaha RS 7000 with. Similar size so no need to do massive solderbridges and also 100% leak proof. Just be aware if anyone does replace electrolytic caps with tantalums, the marking on the tantalums is on the positive side whereas the electrolytical ones are marked on the negative side!
GameGear and PC Engine GT/Turbo Express have both been quite notoriously known for failing caps. Especially GG. Rare to find one these days with original caps and still functional screen or sound. Brick Gameboys are starting to show cap problems too. Understandable for 30+ yrs old hardware, but GGs and GTs were failing already in the early 00's. Even if watching it through a video, the screen looks surprisingly good for a LCD of that age, especially after the cap replacement. Nice work.
I've got one of those rare GGs, its a factory original that had some issue that was corrected with me bridging a couple spots where it would set off some original lame copy protection routine (GG's ver of the 16bit tmss.) Other than that, everything is 100%, no leaks, no dryness, nothing on the caps. I was going to pop it open and put a new screen and stuff, but felt bad with a 100% working stock and left it as is. Always wanted a GT but the price is a toxic mess, gave up on it.
thats the american version,you get decent ips screen upgrades for these.obviously i would leave it standard but if the screen is too far gone its a great option.also makes the unit alot lighter.
Oh man! YOU LUCKY MAN! I've been collecting vintage computers (and fixing them) and this one is still on my "to hunt list". Now the hunt is part of the fun of course.
@@djfernando16 They are going for a round 900 on eBay. They are simply not worth that. In Germany there were a few that went for 500 euros -- just missed them. So yeah perhaps I am too cheap :D But it's all about finding that bargain and fixing it up if it needs be.
@@CallousCoder I sold mine a couple of years back for £600 recapped and ips modded after many months of listing. After a few months, the guy who bought it resold it for £500. So...
@@djfernando16 I've not been lucky enough to catch one in that range -- especially modded. Then again eBay is always so much more expensive and they are very rare in mainland Europe.
When you're removing those old surface mount caps, if you flood fill with fresh solder, they'll come off a lot easier. You were struggling because of the old solder.
Trying out a new thing, got hold of a leatherworkers tool set and a bag of hide offcuts, just waiting on some patterns to arrive from China and going to make my own NATO and Zulu watch straps out of funky coloured hide pieces... also got some standard strap patterns as well, I spend an enormous amount on straps every month and a bag of offcuts cost me a few quid, its either gonna go great or... its going to look pants...
I replaced a sound capacitor in a Turbo Express years ago. I just attached it with two long wires. It was a mess but worked. So if anyone has one of these in the UK and sees this inside, blame me.
Ceramic capacitors, when they fail, have a high tendency to short as opposed to electrolytic ones that just “open”. That’s okay for filter caps but can cause a short to ground in case of a bypass cap. I would never replace electrolytic caps with ceramic ones on a circuit that was not designed for it properly (IE one that could handle a short to ground gracefully).
Yet again, another amazing video. What do you use to hold the pcb under the microscope? bluetack, pcb clamp? as with my microscope, i dont have that much room to have a pcb clamp/helping hands as the lens gets in the way.
hello, when soldering the components add some tin you have with lead. it will make your job easier. It will also minimize the possibility of damaging the path. Lead-free tin melting point: 227 °Cm, Melting point: 183 °Cm. adding this tin reduces the working temperature after al "translation deepl
It was discontinued in 1994, lead free solder became an issue in 2006. So chances are it has good old leaded solder from the factory. It's made before lead was bad for your health and caused cancer in the state of California. I am glad I don't live in the state of California 😂
Hehe, 1943 Kai is my favourite game on the system, good thing you knew better than to call it a "Stupid game" :P Little point of advice/criticism if I may: Ideally, wick all of the old solder off the pads, then either rinse with vinegar to neutralise the electrolyte, then clean with IPA, or (the best option) give it an ultrasonic bath. Not doing so will cause problems down the line since the old corrosive fluid is still on the board. IPA just moves it around. I also prefer using electrolytics (and did on mine) tbh, unless you know exactly what those caps do.
Hi Mate, really enjoy your videos, you inspired me to buy a pallet of returns. Managed to fix most of the faulty items, but I have a reasonably new delonghi toaster that I've spend far too much time on.. wondered if you fancied a go?
*TIPS* Your Soldering Iron isn't hot enough. You Need to use Flux when desoldering and Soldering, especially when the PCB has had leakage and or has evidence of Corrosion onboard.. APU 👁👍
Hi Steve, that is probably not the leaking of the capacitors, but too much and to long heat from the iron. next time try cutting these capacitors.Just snip them of. Then only two pieces remain on the board. You can easily remove them with an iron.
I didn’t see any signs of leaking. Both times you said that once you struggled to tin the negative pad, but the problem is your tip shape (bent conical is terrible at heat transfer) and the fact that your tip is dirty as heck (dirty tips don’t transfer heat well).
The capacitance of MLCC caps changes considerably depending on what voltage is across them. So if a 100uF 6.3V electrolytic cap was used on a 5V rail and is replaced with a ceramic cap, it may not necessarily be the intended 100uF once the 5V is applied.
@@JasonWW2000 in fact the ceramic keep a much higher capacitance at higher frequencies which if anything is better at reducing noise and supplying enough power to switching components.
Dont desolder these electrolytics, twist them off the board then remove the leads with the iron, the traces on these things are terrible and easily destroyed, keep soldering temp to max 280c otherwise the new capacitors will get damaged
@StezStixMix can you give details about the capacitors you replace them with? I need to do MY Turbo express also but didn't know what the capacitor type or values were.
one question. if you removed electrolitic caps with dedicated plus and minus sides, how is possible that newly installed smd caps are polarity insensitive?? how they can so simply replace electrolytics? thx!
Electrolytic have a polarity because of the electrolyte whereas ceramic do not. The ceramic should do a nice job of replacing them as they have a better dynamic range of frequencies whereas the electrolytic ones were the cheapest for low frequencies.
@@vanja.lovreticThe polarity of electrolytic caps is a limitation you have to consider when designing. It’s never a benefit, only a limitation. So you can always use a non-polarized capacitor to replace a polarized one.
the soldering works a bit better if u clean the tip. the sink scrubber they give in most kits is ok, i like a slightly damp sponge, each their own. if your job is to replace all capacitors, great! but it would be nice to see some diag with the video ."multi meter" Regardless enjoyed the video. keep at it please. **edit** i really appreciate your clean up after replacing components, awesome !
No, the cap doesn’t boost the sound. Its job is to block DC, so the cap is someplace letting through the AC audio signal. But that signal needs to be present, at the desired amplitude, already. A cap that’s got too low a value (by design or by old age) becomes unable to pass enough signal, so it gets weakened.
3:48 - love you Steve but did you melt plastic and did not reset your counter? Those plastic housing are not part of the capacitors so technically, that’s a plastic piece.❤❤
I sadly got my original speaker destroyed. Can anyone suggest a replacement with same power / bass of the original? Or, even better, sell an original one? :D