Recapped - what exactly?

[Marcopolomint1]

When you see ads on ebay for the ST and it says "recapped". Which caps is this generally referring to as there are lots in the machine....?
Does it just/ONLY mean the PSU caps?

Exxos I see you have the cap kits in your store...and under info (the last upgrade Part 32) it's these ones I suspect but in the description it doesn't say what it's fixing or what they are for....so i'm assuming some sort of votage stabilities that affect many elements of performance of the PCB?

And if my new STE I just got looks like it works OK, should I still do it?

Thanks for the patience with all my questions.

[exxos]

I sell basic cap kits for the PSU, reset circuit, STFM/STE video fixes and the main motherboard cap. I don't sell full board kits because the amount of work involved would be phenomenal.

A lot of people recap whole boards, but nobody has actually done the research to show it helps. Plenty of modern caps are so poor they can end up worse than the ones you took out. To know either way you would need to test the circuit before and after, then run it long term to see if it is reliable. Most people just blindly recap and assume it must be better. On top of that, most people can't solder properly and end up destroying machines like Falcons.

The basic assumption is that new caps replacing old caps equals better, and on the face of it that makes sense. But you need to look at the specs of the original capacitor against what you are putting in, rather than assuming new is automatically an improvement. Even lower ESR caps, which I generally advocate, can't be applied to every circuit, because some circuits will malfunction with a lower ESR. Nobody has done the work to find out where it helps and where it makes things worse. Generally I suggest people leave motherboards alone, because the majority end up wrecking the board anyway.

So aside from the work in identifying every cap, offering replacements and keeping on top of it all, I can't stand behind saying recapping XYZ is better when I haven't proven it either way myself. I did a lot of work on power supplies and that was proven long term, so I can stand behind what I say there. Everything else I can't call either way, and realistically nobody else can either, because nobody has done the legwork.

[Marcopolomint1]

Much appreciated Exxos.

I'll have a careful read through this also, just stumbled on he PSU CAP info...

viewtopic.php?t=25

[exxos]

You may want to look at my main site as much more info on there about stuff.

https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/atari/last/