Amiga Capacitor change

[JACK98]

I own a few models,and i being reading alot about the capacitors of death,so i would advise anyone getting into scene stick to emulation so you wont have to worry about leaky caps :lol,have some questions-

1-If money was no object,what would be best type capacitor for job,i mean if i wanted to go on a overkill so i wouldn't have to tackle this job again?.

2-15w soldering iron would be the best option?

3-Any other advice

[ElPolloDiabl]

It's not the type that matters, its where they're manufactured. Source as many high quality capacitors as you can. Other than that you should match the same specs as the ones you are taking out.

[AmigaEd]

3-Any other advice

Other than changing out the "Barrel" battery... my rule is if it isn't broke don't fix it.

Also, as ElPollo points out, source good caps. There are a lot of bad caps floating around out there and it's causing havoc throughout the world. I know of several companies that had to make masive recalls of equipment just to replace the caps. Story has it that some bloke in China stole a formula for dielectric from some other company, got it wrong and now there are lots of caps circulating around which have bad dielectric and short life spans. Especially shjort life span when used in high temp environments.

[JACK98]

Thank you for replys,already removed the batteries with snips,heard panasonic caps would be good brand to purchase,most my amiga's kept in storage,not a smart idea i know.

[alloyv]

Check this blog:
http://cosmosamiga.blogspot.com/
It's a french blog but you have an automatic english translation option.
The guy seems to be very familiar with caps and chips replacement.
I don't know him personally but might be interesting to get in touch with him in case you want to fix a board.

[JACK98]

Im familiar with that chap,hes selling the replacement caps on amibay .

[JACK98]

Anyone know what be good iron wattage for cap changes?.

[tone007]

I think the one I've used on SMT stuff is a 12W and seems to work well.

Actually, it's this one exactly. http://www.mcmelectronics.com/product/WELLER-SP12-/96-080

[AmigaEd]

Anyone know what be good iron wattage for cap changes?.

This kind of depends more on what the cap is attached to, rather than the cap itself. A low power iron of 15 Watts will work fine for most repairs but if you get a component that is connected to a large ground plane or power buss it can often take a bit more power. A little extra power is also sometimes helpful if you are trying to desolder with solder wick.

My advice would be to get an Iron that has a variable temperature control and a maximum wattage of 40 to 60 watts. I know 40 to 60 watts sounds like a lot but with the variable control you can turn it way down when needed. I think you'll find that a variable temperature Iron won't cost all that much more than fixed temperature iron.

Regards,
AmigaEd

[tone007]

Or if you really want variable temperature for cheap, attach a cheap soldering iron to a plain old light dimmer knob.

The only thing my 12W (or my 25W one for that matter) wasn't powerful enough to handle that I've come across so far was some bunches of wires soldered together inside a power supply.  I got my wife to hold the 25W one on it while I added the 12W one, that worked.

[JACK98]

Thank you all for your replys,im slowly getting around to doing this job *bills had to be paid agggggggh*so onto caps order,do i need to make note of resistance etc on ordering capicators,i found guide here on eab with the caps and voltage required

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=44138

which i take note and order with elfa but met with other options for my selection,should i just pick the voltages as pointed out in the thread and not bother with other key selections such as Equivalent series resistance Max. ripple current    ø D?

https://www.elfa.se/elfa3~eu_en/elfa/init.do?query=+47uf++#query=47uf;in=prod;node=19044;id=1;