Mac SE PSU (Sony CR44M) recap success story

[68kPlus]

Hi everyone,

I've never done soldering work on an SE before, so this was a new experience for me.

My SE (which I got in early 2021) had been showing some signs of power supply failure:

-Inconsistent fan speed
-Wobbly screen
-Disk drive trouble (it had trouble reading disks and writing to them)

I decided it was time to finally recap the old CR44M PSU. If you're wondering why I didn't just replace it, the reason is because Flex-ATX PSUs are really expensive here in Australia, with the best new prices coming just over $100. Compare this to the ~$15 I spent on capacitors, you can see why I chose the latter.

I got start with this project about 2 weeks ago, when I took the SE apart. That was a scary process as the last time I took a Mac with a neck board (instead of a small cylindrical connector like on the Mac Plus) apart, I broke the CRT.

The capacitors literally arrived today, so I decided to have a crack at recapping.
It wasn't a learning curve as I've worked on RIFA capacitors before, and I've practiced with electrolytic caps on old donor boards before, so it was pretty straightforward.

After checking the polarity twice and making sure I had soldered in the correct capacitors I clipped the legs and started putting everything back together.

And the result: (SE pictured on the left with his cousins, the 512K and the Plus)


As you can see, all three are working, and the SE's problems are gone.

Thanks for reading everyone, I just wanted to share this with you guys!

-68kPlus

 

[tecneeq]

Well done. My SE/30 is wobbly as well, i should finally order the parts and get it done.

Well, soon.

 

[68kPlus]

Well done. My SE/30 is wobbly as well, i should finally order the parts and get it done.

Well, soon.

Well it seems the screen is still wobbly, so I'm gong to recap the analog board too.

 

[tecneeq]

Well it seems the screen is still wobbly, so I'm gong to recap the analog board too.

That's what i thought you did . Did you just recap the PSU? What about the logic board then, did you recap that?

I think it's wise to recap everything, i even found a small electrlytic cap in a mouse that could ruin my day.

 

[68kPlus]

That's what i thought you did . Did you just recap the PSU? What about the logic board then, did you recap that?

I think it's wise to recap everything, i even found a small electrlytic cap in a mouse that could ruin my day.

No, I just recapped the PSU. I actually was just writing down what caps are in the ADB Mouse (original) and it's a 0.47uF 50V axial, incase you want to know.
I'll be doing the analog board too, although I'll wait to do the logic board, apparently they don't need recapping usually, but I'll do it at some point along with my Plus and 512K.