To Twin Fami Turbo owners

[2A03]

I've never had a console or arcade pcb with caps that died.  I read about the batteries on arcade pcbs eventually leaking and causing damage so I removed and / or relocated batteries off of my arcade pcbs.  But I've never heard about caps going crazy.

It's definitely possible, it's actually a widespread problem with handhelds like the Game Gear and TurboExpress and certain consoles, namely the TurboDuo and LaserActive PACs.

[Drakon]

That's disturbing to know.... 

[133MHz]

Game Gear systems are notorious for bad capacitors causing a myriad of sound & video issues.

[Frank_fjs]

Depends on how much use the console has seen, re the caps dying, but there are many systems that are notorious for it happening.

E.g.

- Game Gear
- PC Engine GT
- PC Engine Duo
- I've encountered quite a few twin famis with broken sound or video as a result of leaking caps

I had a Neo Geo MVS board whose battery started to leak too, luckily I got to it in time before any damage was done.

[ericj]

Many electronics were made with bad caps. Here's an interesting read about them.

[Drakon]

Yeah the leaking battery thing I'm totally aware of.  But I think leaking caps is less common....or atleast I hope it is.

[Frank_fjs]

But I think leaking caps is less common....or atleast I hope it is.

Unfortunately it is quite common. It depends on the type and quality of caps used, but in general if you collect old consoles chances are that some of them will die due to leaking caps - not a matter of if but a matter of when.

Easy to replace them though and best tended to quickly to avoid further damage being done from the corrosive material that leaks out of them which ruins the board. If any of your consoles start fading in audio or suffer from unexplained diminished video output, it's time to get some new caps in that sucker.

Just one of those things. We're dealing with electrical components that are 20+ years old, they won't last forever.

[2A03]

I managed to fix the audio issue, it turned out to be the mic of all things. At least I can rest easy now knowing it wasn't the caps after all.

[Drakon]

I managed to fix the audio issue, it turned out to be the mic of all things. At least I can rest easy now knowing it wasn't the caps after all.

I usually disconnect the p2 controller for that very reason.