Original Xbox Replacement Caps

[momaka]

Looking good.
Should make it another 20 years easily... provided the GPU (nVidia GeForce 3 -based) can make it that long too.

[jayjr1105]

Just noticed a few boards have a Nichicon HM 680uf 16v near the AV connector. Should those be replaced as well? Not sure of that cap's purpose. I did pull one and it read a little high, not double like the 3300uf ones but still high.

[momaka]

I'd replace them. A few 16V, 680 uF caps shouldn't cost too much. Nichicon HM from that era is just failure prone, no matter the size. With that said, it can sometimes take a little longer for the smaller HM/HN/HZ caps to fail than usual, especially the higher voltage versions. But it will probably happen eventually. Not all of them may exhibit double capacitance or higher either. On the other hand, the problem is that when some of these Nichicon HM/HN/HZ caps fail, they can sometimes become a short-circuit for a short while, and that could cause a weaker component to burn out. So depending on what the capacitors in those spots are connected to, that may or may not be big issue. But for a few cents extra... might as well get them done.

[stj]

make sure you use 16v there,
some boxes gave a 10v cap, but the voltage across it is already 9v
it smooths the power around a linear regulator

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by stj

make sure you use 16v there,
some boxes gave a 10v cap, but the voltage across it is already 9v
it smooths the power around a linear regulator

Yep, didn't plan on going low. That area is riddled with tiny SMD 16v caps I think 10uf so that makes sense, and it is right next to a regulator so yeah.

[Armandooooo]

Hi everyone,

I would like to save my baby version 1.4 and although I have read the entire post, I could not find any suitable reference for the replacement. It was very useful for getting the reference of my current one. Does anyone have the corresponding replacement?

I am interested in having well recognize brand.

Thank you,
Armand

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by Armandooooo

Hi everyone,

I would like to save my baby version 1.4 and although I have read the entire post, I could not find any suitable reference for the replacement. It was very useful for getting the reference of my current one. Does anyone have the corresponding replacement?

I am interested in having well recognize brand.

Thank you,
Armand

Which ones are bad? Pics?

It's usually the 3300uf caps that go bad. Nichicon UHV, Rubycon ZLQ are what I normally use.

[Armandooooo]

Originally Posted by jayjr1105

Which ones are bad? Pics?

It's usually the 3300uf caps that go bad. Nichicon UHV, Rubycon ZLQ are what I normally use.

Thank you very much! If you happen to know for the others I need also :
25v 22uf Nichicon VR (5x11mm)
25v 100uf Nichicon VR (6x11mm)
10v 3300uf Nichicon PW (12.5x25mm)
16v 1500uf Nichicon HD (10x20mm)
2.5V 1F Nichicon UC

SMD:
16v 47uf Nichicon WX
16v 10uf Nichicon WX

Thanks again

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by Armandooooo

Thank you very much! If you happen to know for the others I need also :
25v 22uf Nichicon VR (5x11mm)
25v 100uf Nichicon VR (6x11mm)
10v 3300uf Nichicon PW (12.5x25mm)
16v 1500uf Nichicon HD (10x20mm)
2.5V 1F Nichicon UC

SMD:
16v 47uf Nichicon WX
16v 10uf Nichicon WX

Thanks again

Those other usually don't go bad. Why are you replacing all those?

[Armandooooo]

Originally Posted by jayjr1105

Those other usually don't go bad. Why are you replacing all those?

Because now my xbox start to have flickering on 2D images, and I presume it is from the caps. Which one? I don't exactly know so as I want to preserve it I prefer to do it all so I am good for the next 20 years.

Do you believe this comes only from the one near the CPU?

Thank you,
Armand

[jayjr1105]

Originally Posted by Armandooooo

Because now my xbox start to have flickering on 2D images, and I presume it is from the caps. Which one? I don't exactly know so as I want to preserve it I prefer to do it all so I am good for the next 20 years.

Do you believe this comes only from the one near the CPU?

Thank you,
Armand

Yes, screen flickering and visual issues are most likely the bad caps around the CPU.

[Ryeno]

Originally Posted by jayjr1105

2700uf 4v poly's are almost $2 a piece. Pass. I'll stick with my Rubycon ZLQ/ZLH and Nichicon UHV for the CPU replacement caps.

Use 5x 1500uF 2.5v polys (RR50E152MDN1‎) or 5x 1000uF 6.3v polys (RR70J102MDN1). Price is almost the same as the ZLQ or UHV but half or third the ESR.

[Xan03]

Greetings,

I have a 1.4 Xbox that had those bad 3x3300µF+1x680µF Nichicon HM caps, symptoms were screen flickering etc. as mentioned above, already swapped those with Panasonic FR and the system is working great again.

Now regarding the PSU, not sure if I'd trust those caps there long term so I'm thinking of doing a preventive recap before putting in a new HDD. I neglected to make a pic of it but it's a Delta unit with Ltec 2200µF (LZG series according to an earlier post here). Did anyone who recapped theirs put an ESR meter to those caps? Mainly asking because all the glue in there does add some difficulty to it.

Also, I can choose between Panasonic FC and FR for the recap, I'm sure both would work but ideally would I just go FR for the entire thing or look up each cap and try to match ESR? For example LZG would be 0.030 or 0.035 ohms (not sure which size was used) while FR is lower at 0.018.

If I do go through with the recap I'll be sure to post some readings as I do have an Atlas ESR60.

[jayjr1105]

Those power supply caps hold up surprisingly well considering they are tier 2 caps. I recapped a Foxlink for fun and all the old caps tested fine with ESR. If you want to do it for preventative measures then more power to you. I used Rubycon for the most part as Panasonic's were always bigger.

Back in this thread a few pages you can find my foxlink recap pic... https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showpo...&postcount=124

[Xan03]

Well looking at it again I think I'm going to leave it alone for the time being, unless someone comes up with a report of those Ltec caps failing. There's a ton of hard glue between the coils and those caps, going at that with a knife has a risk of cutting up the board. I know isopropyl could probably be used to soften it but that would be messy as well.

[momaka]

Originally Posted by Xan03

Well looking at it again I think I'm going to leave it alone for the time being, unless someone comes up with a report of those Ltec caps failing.

They do, but not as often in these older power supplies. Not sure if because older Ltec were of better quality or because PSUs just didn't stress them as much back then. But if you see Ltec in equipment made after ~2007, definitely replace them, because they are guaranteed to be bad or go bad. At least from what I have seen, 2006-2008 is when they seem to have started (or went) downhill. Nevertheless, keep an eye on those Ltec caps once in a while if you do intend to leave them in there - especially after the Xbox has been stored for a long time with no use (over 6-12 months.) For some crap caps, keeping them in storage without use can be just as bad for their reliability as using them.

[Xan03]

Thanks for the info, and yeah, that was the story with those Nichicon HM as well. The unit worked when I got it some years back before even knowing about them, then didn't use it for 2-3 years and that's when they crapped out.

I actually went ahead and did some pictures of the PSU, there's some discoloration on the PCB between a diode, resistor and ceramic cap (?), did anyone see that before?

By the way, what's the story on those sub-1µF electrolytics? I don't see any Panasonic etc. for sale with such low capacity so I guess you replace them just with whatever is available? And for things like those Taicon VX is it safer to use some 105°C GP stuff instead of Panasonic FC and the like? I can't even find any ESR ratings in the VX specsheet.

Edit: nevermind the discoloration thing, skimmed through the thread again and it looks exactly the same on this pic so I guess it's normal for those PSUs.

[stj]

what sub 1uf??

nothing like that on the mobo - you mean the psu?

[Xan03]

Yes, I assume those are the three orange ones near the Ltec caps.

[stj]

so what value are they?
i would use polyester film to replace anything under 1uf