Does "magic pack" Amiga 1200 need recap?

[ferrellsl]

I picked up one of those new old stock "magic pack" Amiga's from Amiga Technologies. It seems to work fine, but I was wondering if these also need to be recapped? Or is it just the older "Commodore" Amiga 1200's?

Thanks.

Follow the old adage of, "It's it isn't broken, don't fix it!"

Until it starts acting  up, don't do anything as you risk creating other problems by having someone fiddling around with the innards.

[ferrellsl]

At which point the capacitors will have leaked to the point of causing significantly more damage to the board than if you'd just replaced them outright.

With all due respect sir, this is terrible advice.  

Besides... it's an A1200.  It's a circuit board in a plastic case.  Hardly "rocket science" type of innards.  

If the system is running fine and the caps haven't leaked or the tops popped up, then it's absurd to have someone open the system and have the board re-worked, unless you have more time and money than common sense. And board replacement is probably cheaper than having the caps replaced anyway, not to mention the down time waiting for someone with the solder skills to do the job.  A replacement board from AmigaKit is only $64USD.  If you can find someone who will recap an entire board for less, then be my guest, but you better also ask them to guarantee their work hope they don't fudge up anything else on your existing board.

[ferrellsl]

Well, inspection is the key, of course, with electrolytic caps... If you see bulges or leaks... Capacitor Man says:
"Replace as necessary!"

Absolutely spot on!  Still probably cheaper to just replace the entire board via AmigaKit unless you're a real skinflint who also has some decent soldering skills!

[ferrellsl]

AmigaKit sells replacement A1200 boards? I don't recall seeing those for sale on the site. I know they used to have "made-to-order" A1200's but that hasn't been for a long time. Seems they may be out.

Yes.  See this:  http://amigakit.leamancomputing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=82
Might be out of stock at AmigaKit at the moment but they always seem to quickly re-stock most items if there's a demand.

[ferrellsl]

That item hasn't been "in stock" on their website in years. Either way, they're still NOS 20-year-old parts that WILL develop the exact same problem. Also, A1200/A4000/CD32 caps are not the type where "the top pops", typically. Instead they leak from underneath, and directly onto the board. Do a google search on it, or whatever. Believe what you want, don't do preventative maintenance, and just spend your money on a new board that will most likely develop the exact same problem.

There's dozens of people all over the forums that do these repairs.  Prices start as low as $40. Again, not rocket science. Are you just trolling? Seriously this is the dumbest argument I've seen on here in... well... weeks?

Nope, not trolling at all.  Just trying to insert some common sense into this thread as did Paul1981, who also seems to have a bit more common sense than the average knuckle head on this site when it comes to solid state electronics.  Once again, if it it isn't broken, then it doesn't need fixing.  Period.  You must run a re-capping business in order to be trying so hard to get people to re-cap perfectly working boards.  I know an auto repair shop that would love to have a person like you on their staff.  Replacing caps on a perfectly working board is a waste of time and money and also risks damaging the board.