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ST-V Restoration: Repair, Recap, LEDs

SmokeMonster

SmokeMonster

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This is the ST-V that I put together a while ago with the hopes of one day getting Darksoft's STV Multi. That dream is about to be realized, so I thought that I'd post some pics. When I bought it, it booted with "slave CPU" error and didn't load games. I fixed it by reflowing the CPU, and followed that up by recapping it. The problem was caused due to the flex in the board breaking some of the CPU's leads, so I installed a ton of PCB feet on it. Eventually I want to mount it to a panel to keep it rigid.

I was on a blue LED kick at the time and installed two long strips underneath the main board, and on small strip under the top sub-board. I've since positioned that LED so it lights up the "Sega" logo, which is a cool effect. I also installed the MODBIOS and made a stereo audio cable for it. And I replaced the JST stereo terminal with a JST-XH type to prevent plugging my cable in backwards.

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SmokeMonster STV.jpg


A few shots of it running on my old plasma:
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I found a few more random STV pictures.

Another night picture of my STV PCB:
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STV game cart PCBs. I recapped all of the carts that I own:
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My STV Multigame PCB, before I got the selector LCD and cart case:
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The LCD selector, and TwistedSymphony's original 3D printed case (without the top on):
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You recapped the carts!? F*ck I didn't even realize they had caps in them to begin with. You are a recapping machine @SmokeMonster. The Recapinator.

You're inspiring me to go recap all my stuff now. did you buy a whole ton of commonly used caps somewhere, or do you order cap sets for each pcb one at a time? I know console5 has kits for the non-arcade stuff but I haven't found a place that has, for example, the ST-V caps all pre-packaged.
 
Yes, I took the STV carts apart to clean them and saw SMD caps inside so I thought that I might as well replace them. I recap game carts for consoles too (Genesis, NES, SNES, MVS, etc). I am a mad recapper, but I enjoy the process. Maybe flux fumes give me some kind of subconscious high? :D

I placed a huge bulk order of caps from Digikey a couple of years ago for all of my commonly used values (long-life/high-temp, and a mix of voltages/sizes). Digikey and Mouser are great places to get caps, since you get bulk discounts and can be assured that they're new and legit. I learned my lesson trying to order Chinese caps very early on (they're all fake on eBay), and actually had to go back through and re-re-cap several projects because of that. I buy a lot of parts from Console5 and am in constant contact with Luke, but it is much cheaper to get your caps through bulk orders. If you have lots of stuff to recap that is. For just one or two recap projects, it's cheaper to go with a kit from Console5.

I can write-up some common cap values that I keep on hand if you like.
 
Sure, id certainly buy a grab bag of useful long-life caps so i have them on hand! I have enough pcbs that it'd make sense. I still need to practice the SMDs but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it.
 
I recommend practicing SMD work on Game Gears, since there's little risk and you get a nicely improved GG when you're done. Grab cheap "broken" units off eBay with missing or dim video or audio. GGs are really tricky to work on, so once you can fix them you can do any SMD cap work that will ever come your way.

Here are the main cap values I like to keep stocked:
0.1uF
0.47uF
1uF
4.7uF
10uF
22uF
33uF
47uF
100uF
220uF
330uF
470uF
1000uF
2200uF

Voltages are up to you. I like to aim about two to three times the voltage of the cap that I'm replacing, depending mainly on how much space there is to work wtih. Look for 105°C, high-hour rated caps.

I use an older Mega328 ESR Tester (like this, or this) to test every cap that I pull, and am surprised by how many are way off spec. It's such a great OCD-relief to replace those. I hold on to the good pulled caps for random, less important projects.
20151105_094712.jpg
 
Hi people,

I couldn't find any st-v capacitor reference or map on the internet, so I made my own and thought that it could be useful for other st-v owners.

I really wanted to check it with The Recapinator @SmokeMonster before posting it there but he won't have access to his st-v for the next couple of month. So here it is, my contribution!

sega_stv_caps2.png

the figures that I have :
100uF 16V x10
220uF 16V x12
10uF 16V x6
4.7uF 25V x1
470uF 16V x3
0.47uF 50V x2
22uF 16V x9
2.2uF 50V x1
for a total of 44 caps

All the caps are rated 85C on the board but SmokeMonster recommends 105C one.

Time to fix my muted motherboard! :D


Anyway, feel free to pm if you find any errors!
 
that's not very usefull without the diameters of the originals.
 
@stj, Sorry for the half ass job ;)

On my 2 boards, all caps are from Sanyo and here are the diameter per type (taken with a 100yen shop caliper, not checked again any datasheets)
100uF - 6.3mm
220uF - 8mm
10uF - 4mm
4.7uF - 4mm
470uF - 10mm
0.47uF - 4mm
22uF - 4mm
2.2uF - 4mm


Are the caps' height important too? :D
 
if your serious, probably not - but they can be on games with heatsinks or extra boards above them!

what the hell is the small extra board covered in JST connectors in the first post?? my ST-V does not have that.
 
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