Hi.
I have a broken Xbox360 here and I've been checking it. So far it really seems to be bad solder, really bad solder. Lots and lots of holes in the middle of what should be little solder dots, but I'm here for another thing.
The thing is, I was trying an extreme version of the "towel trick" and some capicitors bulged, some, but almost all of them at the same time.
The towel trick consists in wrapping a x360 in towels and turning it on while she has a RRoD, after some twenty minutes, take the towels and turn it on after it cools. It should turn on and be good for a few days, or if more measures are taken, be good for a long time, if not ever.
Since that wasn't working for me, I tried a few minutes in a oven, aware of the risk that might bring to capacitors. Still, with no hot air gun around, I gave it a go.
First time tried like two minutes, RRoD still.
Tried again, now with a proper heatsink mod, to help put things in place and a few more minutes in the oven. All was good till I heard boiling. Allowed it to cool and took it out.
Well, all of the 6.3v and 16v big caps were bulging, some more than others, most of them were also pouring liquid, hence the boiling.
The interesting bit is that there are 4 other fat caps, 4v 820uF, which are apparently ok. I took them out and two of the other ones and they all measured good for capacitante. I'm looking to buy an esr meter now.
My question is, are they supposed to bulge so easily? The bad solder points, which were a lot, all remain the same, so the temperature didn't seem enough for solder to melt, but I also don't know how much temperature it would be needed. Since most caps are good for what? 5000hours at 100ÂșC? Are they supposed to bulge so easily? Or perhaps were they prone to failure?
They were all in some hot areas, so I'm inclined to also think that. Right, wrong?
The thing is they are Nihicons and Rubycons, so when I looked at them for the first time, I though they couldn't be accountable for anything, but now I'm in doubt. They just bulged too easily, as far as I know.
Any thoughts?
I have a broken Xbox360 here and I've been checking it. So far it really seems to be bad solder, really bad solder. Lots and lots of holes in the middle of what should be little solder dots, but I'm here for another thing.
The thing is, I was trying an extreme version of the "towel trick" and some capicitors bulged, some, but almost all of them at the same time.
The towel trick consists in wrapping a x360 in towels and turning it on while she has a RRoD, after some twenty minutes, take the towels and turn it on after it cools. It should turn on and be good for a few days, or if more measures are taken, be good for a long time, if not ever.
Since that wasn't working for me, I tried a few minutes in a oven, aware of the risk that might bring to capacitors. Still, with no hot air gun around, I gave it a go.
First time tried like two minutes, RRoD still.
Tried again, now with a proper heatsink mod, to help put things in place and a few more minutes in the oven. All was good till I heard boiling. Allowed it to cool and took it out.
Well, all of the 6.3v and 16v big caps were bulging, some more than others, most of them were also pouring liquid, hence the boiling.
The interesting bit is that there are 4 other fat caps, 4v 820uF, which are apparently ok. I took them out and two of the other ones and they all measured good for capacitante. I'm looking to buy an esr meter now.
My question is, are they supposed to bulge so easily? The bad solder points, which were a lot, all remain the same, so the temperature didn't seem enough for solder to melt, but I also don't know how much temperature it would be needed. Since most caps are good for what? 5000hours at 100ÂșC? Are they supposed to bulge so easily? Or perhaps were they prone to failure?
They were all in some hot areas, so I'm inclined to also think that. Right, wrong?
The thing is they are Nihicons and Rubycons, so when I looked at them for the first time, I though they couldn't be accountable for anything, but now I'm in doubt. They just bulged too easily, as far as I know.
Any thoughts?
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