Magicbridge 16k RAM pack capacitor change required?

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Lardo Boffin
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Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 2:42 am

Magicbridge 16k RAM pack capacitor change required?

Post by Lardo Boffin »

On Friday I ordered a Magicbridge 16k RAM pack in order to bundle it with a zeddy I have been trying to sell for a while so as to sweeten the deal (although I think £50, boxed, working, good condition, complete and composite modded, 50% going to charity was pretty reasonable).
Typically the zeddy sold Saturday morning leaving me with the RAM pack. Hey ho.

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I can see that it has 3 capacitors and possibly more on the other side, they look to be 22uF 16V but I can't be sure about the middle one until I remove the one above it.

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Does anyone know if these need a capacitor change for the safety and well being of the RAM chips? I have no problem doing it but as can be seen it is properly glued in place! Looks like someone may have added a bit of glue since being bought...

As an aside this strikes me as being a bit of an odd design unless it was bundled with a stand or similar?


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1024MAK
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Re: Magicbridge 16k RAM pack capacitor change required?

Post by 1024MAK »

One thing that affects the useful life of electrolytic capacitors is heat. Because ZX Spectrums run hot inside, this is a large part of the reason why it is recommended to renew the electrolytic capacitors. The other part is that capacitor failure can result in the failure of the DC/DC converter/inverter, which in turn may damage the 4116 DRAM chips.

With the RAM expansions for the ZX81, heat is much less of a problem. And various different DC/DC converter/inverter circuits are used. So routinely renewing the electrolytic capacitors is not so critical.

However, without knowing circuit details, it is not possible to say if the electrolytic capacitors should be renewed or if it is okay to run them to failure...

In case of the unknown, some people decide to renew electrolytic capacitors regardless.

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