I have a Japanese Super Famicom with a model number SNS-CPU-GPM-02, it is functioning very well but I wanted to recap it to give it reliability for the future. Recapping such devices in my opinion is a must at this time due to their age and the degradation of the capacitors.
Complete video tutorial
Watch the entire video first then refer back to this article for further guidance.
Recapping guide
It is always a must that you read the recapping guide (and watch its video) so you get all the necessary information to proceed. You can check it here:
Tools and capacitor kit
Since most capacitors are surface mount (SMD/SMT), I used the hot air station along with soldering iron, as well as, a desoldering gun. Tinning all pads is a first step for every recap job, and using flux is recommended as well.
I used this cap kit: https://console5.com/store/nintendo-snes-smd-type-cap-kit-non-shvc-models.html
It is from Console5 which uses high quality capacitors. You may get your capacitors from Digikey or Mouser and in this case you refer to the wiki to know which values to buy, also it contains capacitors name and value which is handy when you start working.
Disassembly
You will need the so called gamebit screw driver to disassemble this console similar to other Nintendo ones. However, since I do not have such a screw driver bit, I used a plastic pen shell to disconnect all screws.
It is basically just heating the pen then quickly stick it to the screw, wait for couple of seconds for the plastic to cool, then unscrew the screw. Repeating this until all screws are out, then later on replace them with regular screws.
After that you need to take off the parts responsible for cartridge removal, just some screws and then taking the metal rod.
This console have a heatsink with 7805 regulator hooked to it. This must be disconnected completely to be able to perform the job.
Start by unscrewing the 7805 and the heatsink screws, then gently take it off.
Eventually we will end up with this:
Old capacitors marking
It is a nice practice to label the old capacitors by a marker so you keep following up nicely. This is essential step to prevent any mistake or negligence.
Tinning old capacitor pads
The first actual step we take is to put fresh new solder to all capacitor pads. This is for making desoldering them later on easier especially if there is flux.
Capacitors removal
I started with the through hole electrolytic capacitors. I used a desoldering gun for this job as this is the best and easiest tool to do it.
Then I proceeded to desoldering the surface mount capacitors which are the majority of the caps in this board revision.
Using hot air station is the safest option, and can be very easy to use too.
Seeing the video is best way to know the correct technique. It is basically putting some flux (after tinning of course), then direct the hot air at the cap pads in a circular motion or one pad at a time like one second for each pad.
Then grab the cap with a tweezer or plier and gently try to lift it. Do not force it, but rather introduce slight force so that when the capacitor lets go of the pads and board you can lift it up.
Soldering new capacitors
Before soldering any capacitor, I cleaned all the pads with solder wick and IPA. Then, I put fresh new solder on all the pads so that when I install the new capacitor it sits properly without any junk in the pad or under it.
Then I proceeded to solder the new caps by simply placing the capacitor on the pads using tweezers, then solder one pad and after that solder the other pad as seen in the video.
Soldering the through hole capacitors is very easy, just plug it in and solder then cut the excess leads.
It is important to verify the correct orientation of the caps when soldering them, make sure you read the recapping guide for more info.
Adding bulk main regulator
I also added a bulk capacitor to the main 7805 regulator, this helps reduce noise and may solve some visual issues to the revisions that suffers from it.
I soldered it on the bottom side of the board, positive lead to regulator “O” pin which is output, negative lead to regulator “G” pin which is ground. If you have a ceramic capacitor it is a good addition to solder it along with this electrolytic capacitor on those exact same pins. A 10uF or so is a good option, it is also nice to solder ones for the input side as well.
Re-assembly
This step does not need explaining, but I wanted to mention that you should put new thermal paste to the regulator and the heatsink before screwing it in.
This is a very good step to make sure heat is transferred as efficiently as possible. This is the compound I used and you can basically get anything that gets the job done.
Final thoughts
This is one of the easy console recapping job one can perform, and many experts in the field deem it necessary to do at this time due to the age as explained.
