re-capping and other restorative measures

[gbpxl]

I used the search function to see if someone made a thread about caps and lo and behold I made one in 2018 hehe.

so here we are now in 2020 and upon testing some capacitors I had ordered from console5.com circa 2016 I see that a number of them fall below resistance ratings. Luke from Console5.com told me the MESR-100 and its chart isnt a good reference to tell if the caps are healthy or not. I am led to believe that a meter that reads farads is the best way to determine if a cap is good or not. and I am guessing I have to desolder the cap to test whether or not it is good?

I heard someone say that they recapped an NES and it reads cartridges a lot better now. I have the BLW installed which I love to death but I notice that unless I cleaned my cartridge in the last 24 hours, it doesnt make a solid connection and I still get problems. I am hoping that a recap will solve this or at least help.

I ordered some new cap kits from Console5.com and I would really like to test them to verify that they arent old (drying/half-dead/not as fresh as one would expect) but Im looking for a proper meter and good reference charts. I was told ESR isnt a good reference to look at. the ohms were higher than what they should be on the caps I did check

[jb143]

I am led to believe that a meter that reads farads is the best way to determine if a cap is good or not. and I am guessing I have to desolder the cap to test whether or not it is good?

That would be correct. You only have to desolder 1 pin though. You can't read the value of a cap with just an ohm meter. You could tell if it's shorted or open maybe but your not going to get an accurate reading without a proper meter.

I wouldn't imagine capacitors that are only a few years old to be too far off though, especially if they've just been sitting somewhere not being used. They do have a tolerance value though meaning that the actual value may be off by a certain amount from what's printed on the cap. In most cases though, a precise value isn't important.

[gbpxl]

That would be correct. You only have to desolder 1 pin though. You can't read the value of a cap with just an ohm meter. You could tell if it's shorted or open maybe but your not going to get an accurate reading without a proper meter.

I wouldn't imagine capacitors that are only a few years old to be too far off though, especially if they've just been sitting somewhere not being used. They do have a tolerance value though meaning that the actual value may be off by a certain amount from what's printed on the cap. In most cases though, a precise value isn't important.

do you know of a good meter for this?

well after re-capping my NES doesnt even power up now. I double checked all my solder joints. only thing I could think of is that it seems like I somehow damaged the pads.

I tried uploading a photo but it failed. whatever

I was thinking of replacing 1 cap at a time, testing, etc etc but it wouldve taken a really long time since there is so much solder you have to blob on top of the board for the geounding. just desoldering it all is a very time consuming process