attempt repair or not, that is the question

[stylee]

Ok so I picked up a second Lynx 1 no power unit for the princely sum of £8, thought it was worth taking a punt if for nothing more than a few spare parts, before opening it I thought it may just be a dodgy MOS but upon opening it I relised that this unit has been through the wars. The question as the title suggests is do I attempt a repair or let it go to that gameshop in the sky

 

Upon opening I found the neg cable from the battery back to the Board was broken off at both ends, it looks like someone may have tried to solder it back on judging by the flux on the joints. there was also a little red residue on the board between the screen / below tp18 and tp13.

 

Also this is a popped cap and some dry joints/poor soldering around batt to board and adapter socket.

 

so what you guys think

[Keatah]

I think you should replace the capacitor and solder the wire. Cheap and easy.

[stylee]

Yeah think I will, going to have a closer look tomorrow to check the other caps.

 

Is it work trying to tidy up the joints on the adapter socket do you think? I know they are fiddly and can cause more issues if messed with, there is no real side movement on it so if the cap and cable replacement works I might just hot glue it as it is?

 

Will let you know how it goes.

 

Thanks

Stylee

[Keatah]

That'd be up to you and your skill level. Can't hurt to try. To an expert hobbyist this work is standard stuff in keeping the classics running and not any more difficult than changing a battery.

[cowdog360]

On the ones I repair, do the following:

 

Replace all the caps - Although you could just do the visibly bad ones. Caps on the Lynxes aren't too prone to failure, but at 25 years of age on these 1st gen ones, its not a terrible idea. Of course if you are just working with solder wick and a solder sucker, it's time consuming compared to a vaccuum desoldering tool.

 

Power jack - I'd probably wick up the dry old solder on that and resolder with some flux/quality solder. Put a dab of hot glue on each side of that jack to keep it planted so it won't break in the future. Before you hot glue though, you might want to replace the cap to the right of the jack because it will get glued in most likely with the jack

 

Power pads- wick up the older solder, put down some new fresh solder and solder the wires back in for a solid connection.