Finding Capacitors for PlayStation 1 Power Supply

I recently decided to replace the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply of my original PlayStation. This is preventative maintenance because over time the fluid from the capacitors can leak out and cause corrosion to solder pads and traces on PCBs. My Life in Gaming’s “Analog Frontiers Part 2” video details of the risk and challenges around keeping older hardware from destroying itself.

Where is a good place to find capacitors? Amazon, eBay, Mouser, Digikey, and Newark are all common places to purchase electronic components. But Console5.com has made a name for itself by selling complete capacitor kits for hundreds of consoles, computers, arcade boards, and more. They have become the first place to stop when looking for capacitors for older consoles.

In my case, I needed a kit for a ETXNY209A1B power supply from an SCPH-7501 model PlayStation. This PSU had the following electrolytic capacitors:

IdentificationCapacitanceVoltage
C003120 μF200V
C102560 μF25V
C103560 μF25V
C104220 μF25V
C105220 μF25V

Console5 did not have a specific kit for my power supply, but the detailed information in their wiki allowed me to find a kit that would work. The ETXNY169A1B PSU kit had the same capacitors plus an extra 1 μF capacitor my PSU did not need. With capacitors in hand, the next step was to heat the soldering iron and remove the old caps. More on that later.

Have Fun.
-Tony

DIY ADC Adapter

It’s been a while since I added a blog entry, but this is worth it. This time I am building a DVI to ADC adapter so I can connect an old Apple Cinema Display to a PC.

The Backstory:
The PR department at the college I work for was going through some old stuff. They came across some Mac equipment they no longer wanted and asked my office, the Help Desk, to dispose of it properly. What came back were some Apple video cables and one 20″ Apple Cinema Display. It wasn’t the aluminum version, but the older white one that looked like an easel. Of course, this display couldn’t be connected to any regular computer because it used an ADC connector. Apple specially engineered the ADC connector so that power, video, and USB were carried along a single cable. While this was great for reducing the amount of cabling you had, it also meant you had to have either a PowerMac with a compatible video card or a DVI to ADC adapter. That originally cost an $130. Oh, don’t forget your computer had to have a DVI.

The Idea:
If you fast forward to today you can buy a DVI to ADC adapter for $75 from Amazon.com. That would be the quick solution for connecting the monitor to a computer, but I have an idea: why not build my own? The ADC standard is basically the same as DVI with extra wires for power and USB ports. The pinout on the connectors between DVI and ADC are a little different, but shouldn’t be too hard to over come.

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