Replacing NES Capacitors with Those Which Run Cooler original nintendo caps

[dino999]

Years ago, I ran a search on NES gets really hot after playing (or similar terms) when I noticed the back-right section which takes in power gets really hot. I came across a site, blog, or video about a guy who was going through all of his consoles and replacing the capacitors with a specific type of capacitor that was not the cylindrical type.

 

I believe this guy replaced all of his consoles with capacitors that are box-shaped. He tested the output and reported they were running cooler and I believe drawing less power. I wasn't handy with a soldering iron then so I bookmarked the site and moved on or so I thought. I can't find the bookmark to the blog or video series.

 

If anyone knows what website my failing memory is bubbling up, I would like the link. Does anyone know of capacitors that run cooler than the typical cylindrical ones? I may be conflating two memories, but I think they were similar to those in this Vectrex cap kit: https://console5.com/store/vectrex-integrator-cap-kit.html

I remember the guy removing shielding from the power area of the NES and other consoles, stating it wasn't needed with these types of caps because they ran so cool. The site or videos has to be at least five years old. I think I discovered it between in 2011-2014.

 

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

Only thing I can think of, is that it wasn't the caps that ran cooler, it was likely that the guy you read up on was changing out the voltage regulator with a small DC-DC switching converter as those generate little to no heat but are much more expensive on a per part basis than standard voltage regulators are. I actually did this with most of my retro consoles sometime back and even offer it as an option on systems that I service for those that want to spend for it.

 

[dino999]

On 5/1/2020 at 8:20 PM, -^CrossBow^- said:

Only thing I can think of, is that it wasn't the caps that ran cooler, it was likely that the guy you read up on was changing out the voltage regulator with a small DC-DC switching converter as those generate little to no heat but are much more expensive on a per part basis than standard voltage regulators are. I actually did this with most of my retro consoles sometime back and even offer it as an option on systems that I service for those that want to spend for it.

 

Were you the guy who posted the article or videos? If so, I'd love to have the link. Either way, could you give me some examples of the parts I would need or those you would recommend?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I haven't done any videos on the NES specifically, other than the Hi-Def NES Installation videos I did sometime back. I did make some quick videos talking about the DC-DC converters I've installed into my 5200 and a few other consoles. Very easy to do since the part is literally a drop in replacement for the original voltage regulator. I did find the only video I did talking about this on my channel:

 

 

Also, while using one of these will greatly reduce the added amount of heat that builds up in the system, there are sometime trade offs. As an example, I haven't had any issues using the ones I do in most of my systems. But when I attempted it on my model 1 Genesis, it did cause some increased logic noise to be heard in the audio output and I had some odd glitching that was taking place most noticed with Sonic 3. On my TurboDUO it works well, but when using my everdrive cart, there is increased floor noise that can be heard in some games. But once the game is up and running, it isn't noticed. 

 

Heat build up will still occur from the other components of course but overall the main heat generator in older consoles is usually the voltage regulator. The intellivision model 1s are a bit different in that while I did install both a +5 and +12 version of these converters into it, it still builds up quite a bit of heat just from the transformer and large IC chips within it. But it still helps since the original VRs are no longer in place to be adding to that.

 

As for the parts...this is what I mainly use for most consoles. It is the Traco Power brand 1-2450 DC-DC converter:

 

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TRACO-Power/TSR-1-2450?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsF1ODjcwEocAoK4mUDQwXnrxACikdcjMo%3D

 

They cost much less than they used to several years ago when I first did this on most of my systems. Back then it was more like $12 each vs the just over $6 they cost now. The one posted above takes voltage inputs from 6.3 - 24v and outputs 5v at 1A. 

 

Another benefit of using one of these, is that due to the increased efficiency in how these work, the actual consoles end up drawing less current from their PSUs than normal. In the case of the Atari 7800 it is nearly 100% more efficient from the PSU. This means the PSUs will run cooler as well in my experience when they are in use under load.

 

 

[ApolloBoy]

Have you had any issues with video noise using those switching regulators? I've tried experimenting with them before and wound up reverting back to the 7805 that was originally in those systems because they added some noticeable video interference. Even adding additional filtering caps didn't help much.

[dino999]

13 hours ago, -^CrossBow^- said:

As for the parts...this is what I mainly use for most consoles. It is the Traco Power brand 1-2450 DC-DC converter:

 

https://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/TRACO-Power/TSR-1-2450?qs=sGAEpiMZZMsF1ODjcwEocAoK4mUDQwXnrxACikdcjMo%3D

 

They cost much less than they used to several years ago when I first did this on most of my systems. Back then it was more like $12 each vs the just over $6 they cost now. The one posted above takes voltage inputs from 6.3 - 24v and outputs 5v at 1A. 

 

Another benefit of using one of these, is that due to the increased efficiency in how these work, the actual consoles end up drawing less current from their PSUs than normal. In the case of the Atari 7800 it is nearly 100% more efficient from the PSU. This means the PSUs will run cooler as well in my experience when they are in use under load.

 

 

Traco! That's it. I recognize the name. The modder wrote or talked about installing them into all his consoles. It's horrible about the noise issue. I'll have to research if that can be eliminated. So these DC-DC switching regulator don't need a heatsink. Neat.

 

What other consoles did you replace the voltage regulator with the DC-DC switching regulator? Did you have any issues with model 2 Sega Genesis (if you tried those)? Was it only the model 1 Sega Genesis and TurboDuo that had noise issues? When you state "logic noise," do you mean that there is fluctuating voltage along the circuit and that is causing the issues? This may seem obvious, but could that damage some of the chips or other components?

 

[+-^CrossBow^-]

I installed these into all of my retro consoles that uses standard VRs minus the Genesis model 1. I've not tried them in the model 2 though I do own a few of them I just don't actively use them in my console line up.

 

The turboDuo only had the noise when using my Everdrive cart. I believe that cart is picking up the noise due to all the extra stuff that cart has on it to operate. But the Logic noise I'm talking about it when you hear slight clicks or beeps that seem to change in a random but ordered fashion. And I only heard them during loading screens or scenes with no audio actively playing in them.

 

I actually haven't had any video issues at all using these in my systems. These specifically are supposed to contain filtering in them already so you don't need any additional caps. 

 

With the Genesis, I've not gone back to it, but since the model 1 has 2 VRs in it, I'm pretty confident that I could just replace the VCC1 VR and be fine. That is because it is VCC2 that seems to power most of the audio subsystem in the model 1 genesis/megadrive systems. But as the Va7 version and all model 2 units revert to a single VR in them, I don't know how that would perform as again, I've not tried it.

 

But my 5200, 7800, SMS, TurboDUO, SNESjr, NES, and my Sears Intellivision all have these installed in them. The NES doesn't have a TRACO unit in it, and instead has the new switching regulation to power it provided by the Hi-DEF NES kit I installed in like 2 years ago now or so? But still the same basic idea. I was really worried about noise or video issues with the TurboDUO and SNES but aside from the floor noise I mentioned when using the TurboED in my TurboDUO I've not had any other issues. The SNESjr works just awesome with it. Then again, I've done the RGB and s-video mods to it along with a de-jitter board to get stable RGB working through my OSSC on it.

 

 

 

[dino999]

What could the DC-DC be doing differently that causes this noise?

[+-^CrossBow^-]

DC-DC are switching regulators. Their high frequency switching on/off to regulate the output voltages can be picked up by other components in the system sometimes. Again I've not seen any video issues with using them in my classic systems and it was only on the Genesis/TurboDUO that I noticed any audio issues. The TurboDUO could have been slightly noisy anyway and I just never really noticed it before as I don't play my TurboDUO that often (Crime...I know) but I play the Genesis more than any of my other retro consoles in my collection.

 

I might visit this on the Genesis again in the future as again, I'm pretty sure I could reduce the interior heat by a good margin if I can remove one of the VRs from the two that reside in the model 1 Genesis/MD. I just hadn't bothered with it as my genesis is pretty heavily modded already and getting more and more fragile these days LOL!

[dino999]

On 5/6/2020 at 11:09 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

DC-DC are switching regulators. Their high frequency switching on/off to regulate the output voltages can be picked up by other components in the system sometimes.

Is this RF interference? If so, could you build some sort of shielding around the DC-DC to prevent the noise?

 

On 5/6/2020 at 11:09 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

I might visit this on the Genesis again in the future as again, I'm pretty sure I could reduce the interior heat by a good margin if I can remove one of the VRs from the two that reside in the model 1 Genesis/MD. I just hadn't bothered with it as my genesis is pretty heavily modded already and getting more and more fragile these days LOL!

Yeah, the more I've soldered and de-soldered a point on a board (any device or component, not specifically Sega Genesis), I've noticed there was a tendency for pads to flake off. There might be a way to fix stuff like that, but I'm not that experienced.