Have you opened your SC-55 to check the battery inside?

[keropi]

... well you should!
This is what I faced when I opened the SC-55 I received today:



A leaking CR-2032 battery! Fortunately the plastic holder prevented the acid from reaching the pcb...
Might worth to check your units, it would be a shame if they developed faults because of the battery. The situation is not as serious as the NiCad batteries that have killed countless mobos/amigas/etc , but still! Better safe than sorry

[d1stortion]

Good point, thanks for mentioning. Thought about this as well. These batteries can be 20+ years old now so they can definitely cause problems. Sucks that opening the SC-88 is a bit more complicated due to the multiple boards and PSU inside but I should take a look at opening mine

[Great Hierophant]

For this reason I replaced my battery in my SC-55 last month. If you aren't planning on using the battery functionality, you should just be able to remove it and leave it empty.

[keropi]

For this reason I replaced my battery in my SC-55 last month. If you aren't planning on using the battery functionality, you should just be able to remove it and leave it empty.

aha! I think I'll do just that, all I want to use the sc-55 is for some "serious" gaming sessions

[Shagittarius]

Thanks, I just checked mine 5 minutes ago, it was fine but I removed it for safety. In the mkII the battery holder is horizontal.

[d1stortion]

Well, the battery was doing fine but there was something else wrong... two caps on the power board are leaking quite badly

[5u3]

@ d1stortion: Not sure, but that doesn't look like leaking caps. I guess it is just glue.

[d1stortion]

Hmm, do you think so? I was considering that too but it does resemble electrolyte fluid it was only on those two capacitors.

[5u3]

Do the other caps also have these strange crescent-shaped white markings on the PCB around their bases? To me it looks like they deliberately applied some glue in order to stop vibrations or something like that. I could be wrong though...

[keropi]

this is just glue to hold the cap into place, no idea why (maybe to solder underneath?) but it's a know tactic on older stuff... if it was cap asid then you would see corrosion and white fungus-like damage similar to the battery image I posted above

[d1stortion]

Yeah only those two caps have those exact markings. If you're sure that it's just glue that's quite reassuring to know

[keropi]

touch it! you'll see it's glue
it's the same as this pic of an official PS1 psu I have opened:

[Mau1wurf1977]

Yea the LA modules have the same thing.

Will check my SC units as well. Hope it's all good...

[d1stortion]

Interesting to know for sure. I was only aware of such stuff being put on coils in newer PSUs to prevent coil whine.

[keropi]

Yea the LA modules have the same thing.

[...]

yep, you can see it in the pics posted here: http://queststudios.com/smf/index.php?topic=3394.0 , seems to be power filter-cap related

[h-a-l-9000]

I've seen some glue on old monitor PCBs that started eating through traces...

[RacoonRider]

Do the other caps also have these strange crescent-shaped white markings on the PCB around their bases? To me it looks like they deliberately applied some glue in order to stop vibrations or something like that. I could be wrong though...

They all do. The marks indicate polarity.

[keropi]

I've seen some glue on old monitor PCBs that started eating through traces...

glue eating traces? never seen that... maybe the cap leaked and caused this...

[Old Thrashbarg]

glue eating traces? never seen that... maybe the cap leaked and caused this...

No, there is indeed a glue that'll turn corrosive. I'm not sure exactly what sort of substance it is, but I've seen it a couple times myself in some '80s stereo equipment. And I know it wasn't a leaky cap, because it happened in some places that weren't near a cap.

There's also sort of glue that eventually carbonizes and goes conductive after prolonged exposure to heat. I've seen a fair number of PC PSUs that have failed because of that... and I imagine it made for quite a light show in cases where it shorted stuff on the primary side.

[keropi]

^ really?... never actually seen it but a wrong choice of materials is known to cause disasters