Bought one of those generic capacitor replacement kits from a random eBay seller last month for my model 1 Genesis. Figured it was a good deal with like 60 caps for $80. Popped them in and the board started smoking after 10 seconds of power. Turns out cheap low ESR caps can wreck old electronics when you don't match the specs right. Anybody else get burned by these kits or know a reliable source for the right stuff?
Was just keeping track for fun on a sticky note taped to the side, didn't think I'd actually hit a round number. That thing's been my daily driver for retro gaming since I grabbed it off a curb in Austin back in 2017. Even with all these newer monitors out there, nothing beats the way light guns work on it. Anyone else got a weird milestone like this with their old gear?
Pulled a trinitron out of someone's trash near the canal last saturday, and the picture had this awful green tint with the geometry all wobbly. I cracked it open, cleaned the dust out, and tweaked the yoke and some pots on the flyback until the grid test pattern was dead straight. Anybody else find that older sets respond surprisingly well to just a little maintenance, or did I just get lucky?
I had to pull the back off and reseat the flyback transformer with a plastic screwdriver, which fixed the noise but now the colors are all washed out, anyone know a good way to recalibrate these old Sony Trinitrons without buying a $200 colorimeter?
I figured my old Panasonic VCR would just play tapes fine, but the tracking was way off and added this weird rolling bar I never saw on the CRT. Ended up learning I need a TBC (time base corrector) to clean it up, which I didn't even know existed. Has anyone else run into this with older decks?
He actually seemed serious, but it got me wondering if I'm just hoarding old tech for nostalgia when maybe I should be more picky about what I keep, has anyone else had a random comment make them second guess their whole setup?
I was at Goodwill last Saturday grabbing a busted Sony VCR for $8, and this dude behind me goes "who still uses those things?" I just turned around and said "people who actually watch their movies without buffering." Has anyone else had a random stranger make a snarky comment about your old tech hobby?
I've been working on a 1960s Philco tube radio from a thrift store in Omaha. I keep going back and forth on whether to replace all the old electrolytic capacitors or just swap the ones that test bad. Some folks swear you gotta recap everything before powering up, says it prevents damage to the transformers and tubes. But then my buddy Jim says he's never replaced a single cap on his 1950s Zenith and it still plays fine after 70 years. He argues that original parts keep the sound more authentic and that recapping changes the character. I pulled out my multimeter last night and half the caps tested within tolerance, so now I'm second-guessing myself. Has anyone else wrestled with this decision on a specific model or brand?
I figured replacing a scratched lens would take 20 minutes tops, but I spent half the afternoon fishing out tiny screws that vanished into my carpet. The tri-wing screwdriver slipped and I nearly stripped one of the posts on the shell. Anyone else lose small parts and spend forever hunting them down?
I grabbed my Dell P991 from 2003 to hook up a retro PC and the blacks look way deeper than I remembered. I think the capacitor drift over time actually settled the picture somehow. Has anyone else noticed old CRTs aging in a good way like this?
I was showing off my old Sony Trinitron for retro gaming at a friend's house party last winter. A guy I barely knew leaned over and said "man, that screen has more dust layers than my grandma's curio cabinet." I was ready to shrug it off but then he pointed to the little heat vents on top and said "you know that's basically a fish tank for static cling in there, right?" I looked closer and yeah, there was a whole fuzzy coat of stuff inside the bezel. So I took a can of compressed air (careful not to spray too close to the tube neck) and blew it out. Now I pop the back off every 3 months and give it a gentle brush with a soft paintbrush. The picture actually looks sharper with less dust haze. Has anyone else found a weird trick for keeping old monitors clean without messing up the coating?
I spent $12 on a generic capacitor kit off eBay to fix the horizontal deflection on my 2002 Dell Trinitron, and it worked for exactly 4 days before popping again. Turns out the cheap ones can't handle the heat inside a CRT chassis long term. Has anyone else had better luck with specific brands for monitor grade caps?
Found one at a flea market in Portland for $40 but the screen had dead pixels I couldn't fix no matter how hard I tried. Took me 2 hours to realize it was just a bad ribbon cable inside, and now I only trust my old GBA SP for daily carry. Anyone else run into a dead screen you couldn't save?
Honestly, my trusty Sony Trinitron from 2003 finally gave out last month. The picture started getting this weird green tint no matter what I tweaked. I sat there for a day deciding between spending maybe $40 on replacement capacitors and solder or grabbing a $50 CRT off Facebook Marketplace. I went with the repair route because I've got a soft spot for this specific model. Took me about 3 hours with a soldering iron and a YouTube guide, but the colors came back perfect. Has anyone else fixed an old CRT from the early 2000s and found it was just a capacitor issue?
I had a choice between buying a proper recap kit for $45 online or just swapping out the two blown capacitors with ones I pulled from an old dead VCR I had in my garage. I went with the VCR caps because I'm cheap and impatient, and honestly I figured if it fried the monitor at least I'd learn something. After about an hour of desoldering and careful bending, I got them in and the thing actually powers on now with no jailbars or wavy lines. The picture is slightly dimmer on one corner but for a free monitor from a flea market I can't complain too much. Has anyone else ever used random salvage caps and gotten away with it long term?
I got two old Xbox consoles from a garage sale in Phoenix for $40 total. First one I just cleaned the fan and vents, second one I actually replaced the thermal paste on the CPU and GPU. The cleaned one still overheated after 45 minutes of Halo 2. The one with new paste ran cool for 3 hour sessions no problem. Has anyone else found paste replacement makes way more difference than just dusting things out?