Recap guide

Recap the PC Engine and TurboGrafx

Duo, CD and handheld models are repeatedly named as the most cap-prone consoles, and ConsoleMods says almost all Duos have failing caps. Plain HuCard base units are less urgent.

Open the interactive checklist Tick off each capacitor as you replace it. It saves in your browser.

Worth a recap. Reports say it is a common and useful fix on this machine.

Which board do I have?

Boards changed during production. These notes come from the linked sources, and many are only partly documented, so check the board in front of you.

• PC Engine, TurboGrafx-16, Shuttle, CoreGrafx I/II, SuperGrafx (HuCard consoles) (Low confidence). How to tell: Separate cases per model (white PC Engine, black TG-16, Shuttle, dark CoreGrafx, light grey CoreGrafx II). Capacitors: ConsoleMods flags no cap problem for these; a hitmanmcc log still recapped a white PC Engine, a CoreGrafx and a SuperGrafx. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
• PC Engine GT / TurboExpress (1990-1991) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Handheld with a backlit color LCD. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says all systems suffer from bad electrolytic caps, and a hitmanmcc log found every cap on one GT had leaked. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
• PC Engine LT (1991-1992) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Semi-portable console with a 4 inch LCD that needs an AC adapter. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says the LT has the same failing-cap pattern as the GT. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
• PC Engine Duo / TurboDuo (1991-1993) (Medium confidence). How to tell: First integrated console and CD unit with a flip-top door. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says all unserviced Duos suffer leaky caps and need thorough cleaning. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
• Duo-R with PWA-3339-A board (1993-1994) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Duo-R motherboard with a replaceable glass fuse. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says this board has more capacitors than PWA-3365-A. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: yes. Source
• Duo-R with PWA-3365-A (later) and Duo-RX (1994-1995) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Board with no fuse; the Duo-RX uses this same PWA-3365-A. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says this board has fewer capacitors than PWA-3339-A. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: yes. Source
• CDR-30 / IFU-30 and Super CD-ROM2 add-ons (Low confidence). How to tell: Separate CD drive and interface units, or the integrated Super CD-ROM2. Capacitors: ConsoleMods says the CDR-30 leaks near the audio section and the Super CD-ROM2 has leaks less severe than the Duo. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source

Where to start

Clues from write-ups and forum threads, not a diagnosis. Low confidence means one thread or one repair; high means several write-ups agree.

• Duo consoles (Medium confidence). ConsoleMods says nearly all Duos need a full recap and advises hiring a modder if you are inexperienced. It has no cap list. Source
• Community ranking (Low confidence). An AtariAge thread ranks NEC consoles, Game Gear and pre-1995 CD consoles among the worst for needing recaps, and says 8-bit systems hold up better. It is opinion, not a list. Source
• Repair logs (Low confidence). Hitman's Museum has many photo logs of PC Engine LT, GT, Duo, CD-ROM2 and CoreGrafx recaps, but no value lists. Source

Tips, tales and maybes

Found in write-ups and forum threads. These are other people's reports, not tested by us. Check part references and values against your own board.

• Story: Duo with leaks on nearly every SMD cap (Low confidence). A VOGONS poster recapping a Duo found nearly every SMD electrolytic had leaked and one via was eaten away, which they rebuilt using a resistor leg rather than a bodge wire. The CD drive was also serviced and the backup supercap replaced. Source
• Tip: Duo jailbar fix and supercap (Medium confidence). A Hitman's Museum Duo log used the Console5 kit, which includes a jailbar fix of 4.7uF 16V 0805 caps at C923 and C909, and fitted a 0.33F 5.5V supercap at C509. It notes two caps sit under an IC so that chip had to come off, and that the board was fully depopulated to treat corroded pads. Source
• Tip: Do not over-tune the pots; mark them (Medium confidence). Another Duo log found pot tuning made old discs read but still rub audibly, so it fitted a new HOP-M3 pickup and restored the pots to the factory marks, and advised marking pot positions before touching them. A charred lid switch was also replaced. Source
• Story: LT and GT handhelds (Medium confidence). Hitman's Museum's leak index says the PC Engine LT is almost always dead from cap leakage, and its LT log lost the LCD bias transformer (T500) to electrolyte. A GT log reports every single cap had leaked, yet all pads were saved. Source

Before you start

• Boards changed during production. Check your board number against the guides before you order parts.

Manuals and technical documents

Service manuals, schematics and datasheets for this machine, kept in our own library. Check your own board and part numbers against them.

• PAC-N10 - ARP2763 (Service manual)
• TurboGrafx-16 Unit Service Manual - SMTG16 (Service manual)
• PC Engine Duo Schematics r1.3.1 (Schematic)
• PC Engine Schematics r1.2 (Schematic)

All 4 documents for PC Engine and TurboGrafx in the library

Guides we used

This page and the interactive bench are built from these. They have the photos and the full detail, so please read them and support their authors.

• TG16: General Troubleshooting (Write-up) by ConsoleMods Wiki, CC BY. States nearly all Duos need a full recap and advises hiring a modder if you are inexperienced. No cap list
• Which consoles are the most prone to need recap? (Forum) by AtariAge forum members. Community opinion: NEC, Game Gear, pre-1995 CD consoles (Sega CD Model 1, LaserActive, 3DO) and Xbox clock cap rank worst; 8-bit systems hold up better. Opinion, not a list
• Leaking capacitors (Hitman's Museum symptom index) (Write-up) by hitmanmcc (Hitman's Museum). Index of photo repair logs for consoles with leaked caps (Wondermega, PC Engine variants, Neo Geo CD, Nomad, 3DO, Game Gear). Logs show work, not value lists
• Recap technique index (Hitman's Museum) (Write-up) by hitmanmcc. Many PC Engine LT/GT/Duo/CD-ROM2/CoreGrafx recap logs, photos only

PC Engine main board PWD-623A (original, white case)

Console5 lists fifteen capacitors on the main board. The HuCard board PWB-623B has one more, listed on its own card below.

PC Engine HuCard board PWB-623B

One capacitor.

CoreGrafx / CoreGrafx II main board PWD-814A (with HuCard board PWD-814B)

Console5 says the CoreGrafx II looks the same as the CoreGrafx on the inside. C201 is on the HuCard board.

PC Engine Shuttle

Console5 says the Shuttle has the same parts as the CoreGrafx, without the HuCard board capacitor.

TurboGrafx-16 NTSC main board PWD-728A

Console5 lists the power connector board (C1) and the RF modulator (C2) as well.

TurboGrafx-16 PAL console main board PWD-913A

Twenty-three capacitors. Console5 also refers to a jailbar (picture banding) fix with its own parts, which I have not listed here.

NEC SuperGrafx main board PWD-820A

Twenty capacitors, mostly 1 to 47 uF. Console5 shows a cap map for it.

PC Engine GT / TurboExpress main board

Seventeen surface-mount capacitors, and Console5 is blunt about them: all of them fail, so replace them all and not just the audio and display ones. A through-hole kit goes in lying flat, and CC702 goes in at a 90 degree angle. CC800 is a leaded part on the controller board, and it fails too.

Turbo Vision tuner board BG900920

Eleven capacitors and none have part numbers on the board, so the list is by value. Console5 shows a cap map where the positions are marked. Its list and its map disagree on two parts: the list says 33 uF 10 V and a second 3.3 uF 50 V, where the map's labels read 3.3 uF 10 V and 3.3 uF 35 V. We follow the list and put those two at the map's spots, so check the printing on yours.

PC Engine Duo / TurboDuo console board

Fifty-five capacitors on the console board plus three audio fix caps, nearly all surface mount, and they leak. Poor audio is the first sign. The three audio fix caps (C878, C879, C883) improve the low end, and Console5 includes them in all its kits. The power supply has one big filter cap as well. Console5's cap map also marks C509 as the memory capacitor. It is not on their parts list, so it is not on ours.

PC Engine Duo / TurboDuo power supply HES-ACA-05 or PAD-124

One big filter capacitor, 10,000 uF at 16 V. Discharge it first.

Super CD-ROM2 main PWB PWA-3284 (72932841-A)

Console5's list has forty-nine entries. One is printed there as C63? with a digit missing, so we show it as a part with no reference. The map shades two zones: where the NEC-14T board sits at the top right, and an anti-snag cover over the CD servo wires at the left. Keep new caps low in both.

Super CD-ROM2 sub board NEC-14T (72932841-B)

Nine capacitors. The height is critical, so install replacements on their side or the board will not seat on the main PCB.

PC Engine Duo-R console board

The Duo-R went back to through-hole capacitors. Console5 lists forty-seven full-size caps and twenty-four small ones. C952 is by the power switch. The map shades a section at the top right and notes that miniature caps are installed there.

PC Engine Duo-RX console board PWA-3365-A

A cost-reduced Duo-R with fewer parts and no fuse. Forty full-size and twenty-four small capacitors on Console5's list. The map shades a section at the top right and notes that miniature caps are installed there.

TurboGrafx-CD drive board (P/N 03377077)

Thirty capacitors. C205 and C206 are bipolar. C202 is 22 uF at 6.3 V on the PWA-3184-1 board version. The map points C303 at two spots, depending on the board revision. We show it at the left one, so check which yours has.

Shopping list

426 capacitors in all, grouped by value. Buy a few spares.

• 75 x 1 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 52 x 10 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 29 x 22 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 23 x 22 µF, 6 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 23 x 100 µF, 6 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 20 x 22 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 20 x 47 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 19 x 100 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 17 x 100 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 12 x 47 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 11 x 47 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 11 x 470 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 10 x 47 µF, 6 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 10 x 100 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 9 x 3.3 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 8 x 4.7 µF, 35 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 8 x 10 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 7 x 4.7 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 6 x 330 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 6 x 330 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 5 x 4.7 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 5 x 1000 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 4 x 0.47 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 4 x 220 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 3.3 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 4.7 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 10 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 22 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 33 µF, 6 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 33 µF, 35 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 33 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 100 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 220 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 220 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 2 x 470 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 0.22 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 2.2 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 22 µF, 35 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 22 µF, 50 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 33 µF, 10 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 33 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 470 µF, 6.3 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 470 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 1000 µF, 25 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay
• 1 x 10000 µF, 16 V (check your board): Amazon · eBay

Console5 capacitor kits for this machine

Console5 sells ready-made capacitor kits. Kits come in different versions, so match the board number in the kit name to yours and check the listing before you buy.

• Nec Turbografx 16 Cap Kit
• PAL Version Nec Turbografx 16 TG16 Cap Kit Turbo Grafx With Jailbar Fix
• Nec Pc Engine Coregrafx Coregrafx II Cap Kit

Skip the sourcing

• Ready-made kit: Amazon · eBay
• Already recapped: Amazon · eBay

While you are in there

• Need the machine itself?: Amazon · eBay
• A box of spare capacitors: Amazon · eBay

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. These links only search by name. Disclosure

Step by step

1. Photograph both sides of the board before you touch anything. Zoom in on every capacitor. The photo is your map when you are three hours in.
2. Unplug it, take out the batteries and let it sit. Old power supplies and CRT parts can hold a charge. If your machine has a tube, leave the tube and its board to a professional.
3. Open it up and keep the screws sorted. A muffin tin or an egg carton works. Different screws go in different holes, and the holes never forgive you.
4. Look for leaks. Clean any sticky residue off with isopropyl alcohol and a soft brush. A leaked capacitor leaves brown crust and can eat copper traces. Look at the traces under it, not only the part itself.
5. Mark the polarity of every capacitor on the photo before it comes off. On an electrolytic, the stripe marks the negative leg. The board usually shows a half-shaded circle or a bar for the same spot.
6. Remove the old capacitors one at a time. Surface mount: add fresh solder to both ends and rock the part off, or use flux and a low-melt alloy. Through-hole: heat one leg at a time and clear the hole with wick or a pump.
7. Clean the pads and check for lifted pads or damaged traces. Clean flux off with isopropyl. A bad pad needs a jumper wire, not hope.
8. Fit and solder the new capacitor, matching polarity. Same capacity, same or higher voltage, and it has to physically fit. Work from the smallest parts up.
9. Clean the flux off and look at every joint. A good joint is shiny and shaped like a tiny volcano. A dull blob or a ball is a cold joint: reflow it.
10. With a multimeter, check for shorts across the power rails before you power it on. Use the continuity or resistance setting. A reading near zero means stop and look for a solder bridge.
11. Power it up and test everything: video, sound, controls, the lot. If something is wrong, check polarity first. It is the most common mistake and the easiest fix.

Tools

• Temperature-controlled soldering station. Steady heat so you do not cook pads. Most recaps are done between 320 and 350 C. Top: Hakko FX-951 · Mid: Hakko FX-888D · Budget: Pinecil
• Good solder. Rosin-core 63/37 flows and looks right. It is cheap and it matters. Kester 44 63/37
• Flux. Flux is what makes old joints let go and new joints flow. MG Chemicals flux pen · Chip Quik flux syringe
• Low-melt alloy (for surface mount). Melts old solder on both ends of a surface mount part at once, so it lifts off cleanly. Chip Quik SMD1
• Desoldering tool. Clears the old solder out of through-hole pads. Top: Hakko FR-301 · Mid: Engineer SS-02 pump · Budget: Solder wick
• Fine tweezers. For holding small surface mount parts exactly where you want them. ESD-safe tweezers
• Board holder. A third hand for the board, so both of yours are free. PanaVise circuit board holder
• Magnification. You cannot fix what you cannot see. Surface mount parts are tiny. Top: Stereo microscope · Mid: Head visor · Budget: Lighted magnifier
• Multimeter. Continuity, shorts and rail voltages. The one test that saves boards. Top: Fluke 117 · Mid: Fluke 101 · Budget: AstroAI
• ESR and capacitor tester. Checks old capacitors and your new ones before they go in. Top: Peak Atlas ESR70 · Budget: LCR-T7
• Isopropyl alcohol (99%) and a brush. For cleaning leaked goo and flux. Use the high-percentage kind. MG Chemicals 99.9% isopropyl
• Brass tip cleaner. A clean tip transfers heat. A dirty one does not. Hakko 599B
• Fume extractor. Pulls the smoke away from your face. Hakko FA-400 · Budget: Small bench fan
• Precision screwdrivers. Most old gear uses a mix of Phillips, Torx and security bits. iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit
• Kapton tape. Heat-proof tape to protect parts that sit close to the one you are changing. Kapton tape

Safety

• Good airflow, or a fume fan. Solder smoke is not for breathing.
• Safety glasses on. Solder spits and clipped legs fly.
• Iron in its stand when you are not holding it. Know where the cord is.
• Touch bare metal first, or use a wrist strap. Static kills old chips.
• No tube, no mains power supply. Leave those to a professional.
• Wash your hands after, especially if you used leaded solder.

Values are shown as published in the guides above, and boards changed during production. Check the board in front of you. A recap involves hot tools and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.

More

• All recap guides
• The interactive Recap Bench
• Fix a dead vintage computer
• NEC PC Engine (Japan) on the timeline
• TurboGrafx-CD on the timeline
• NEC PC Engine Duo on the timeline
• TurboDuo on the timeline
• PC Engine GT (Japan) on the timeline
• TurboExpress on the timeline