How long can I wait to recap?

[Johnnya101]

Hi all,

How long will I have to recap the analog board and PSU with every other day use of an SE/30? The mobo has been recapped. I'd like to get it recapped possibly in the spring or summer. Will the caps be fine until then? I know there's no real way of telling when they will go...

 

[Carboy7]

Wait, can you wash the analog board repeatedly until then?

And do the caps actually stop working after they have spilled out all their electrolyte?

(sorry, have little/no idea how caps work.)

 

[beachycove]

Caps can "go" suddenly, but generally they fade. Use the machine if it works, without worrying.

 

[techknight]

this is a subjective topic that can be debated until the sun goes dwarf. 

My advice is to recap as soon as you can. the capacitors are 25+ years old, and there have been horror stories with pictures to prove it of the caps corroding and destroying the PCB in the power supplies, etc.. 

But again. Thats on you... 

 

[Unknown_K]

If you use it every day you could wait till it starts acting funky.

 

[Johnnya101]

Oh, should've added the machine works great. There's no issue with them now.

Ok, thanks everyone! Just the information I needed!

 

[CC_333]

Yeah, analog boards from the SE and SE/30 are generally quite solid in my experience, and rarely need recapping. The PSU, which is separate from the analog board, is a different matter. It varies which ones fail more frequently, but they all need a recap at this point, as they will fail to provide enough voltage for things to work properly.

Generally, the first thing to fail is the hard drive, as it requires the most power to operate (newer, more modern drives (and especially the SCSI2SD, being solid state) aren't as prone to this because they're more energy efficient and require less power to run). Display artifacts can also occur at this stage. The PSU is terminal when there's no longer enough power for the machine to boot up properly.

But since it works fine for now, just leave it alone. The PSU will probably need recapping sooner or later, but why fix it if it's not broken?

c

 

[Johnnya101]

Too late! Sent them off to get recapped since it is apart for retrobriting anyways!

Thanks for the help though.