Batboard

Got out the camera and took some pics of a spectra I was recapping, figured I'd share some. Here's a series from the PA cap. Starting at the top you see:

1) The original cap with some board damage.
2) The cap being removed by being grasped with cutters, then wiggled back and forth and pulled off, leaving...
3) just the base of the cap.
4) The base is removed and...
5) the pads and damage are cleaned up.
6) A new radial leaded cap is soldered on.

Verry good Jack. That is the way to do it.

That one was lucky, no leakage dammage.

Thats exactly how i do them, nice writeup!

Strong work.

Thanks jack, i was planning on cutting my teeth on that style of work this weekend, mucho appreciado.

Thanks guys.
The important thing to remember is to clean up any leakage, I scrape off any discolored solder mask and tin the copper underneath.
Also you need to get small caps, look for the 7mm type, taller ones will stick up too far. I also replace the 16V ones with 25V.

I don't think I could recommend trying to yank the cap off the board. The solder lands can only take so much abuse before they delaminate from the boards, and it's FAR better to heat the connections with a soldering iron first and remove the cap that way than to try to pop the cap off its base and then remove the base.

The first time you tear a land off, it'll be the LAST time you ever want to do that. At least if it's on a product you want to continue to use.


I think I will be recapping my A9 high power VHF Spectra in the very near future, just because it's old enough and those SMT caps do have short lifespans.

Does anyone have a list of the required caps to recap this particular type radio, or am I going to just have to take a lot of notes?


Elroy

Getting a soldering iron in there can be tough on a couple of them, someone else recommended prying them up with a screwdriver, I found this method a bit better, if you wiggle them first and aren't too rough it works well, but if you have doubts go for the soldering iron.

I use a heat gun to remove the caps, works great!

dirtrat wrote:I use a heat gun to remove the caps, works great!

That IS great, it accelerates the capacitor leakage damage... best to follow Jack's recomendations..

Clean the residue off immediately and there will be no problem.

Removing the caps thermally is definitely preferrable to ripping the copper
traces off the PC board. If you do that once, you will hope never to do it again. It makes life very tough for a little while.

Elroy

I've replaced lots of caps in Spectras using this method with no problems. A GOOD cleanup on both sides of the board and feedthrough repairs may be needed. To each his own!

Will wrote:

dirtrat wrote:I use a heat gun to remove the caps, works great!

That IS great, it accelerates the capacitor leakage damage... best to follow Jack's recomendations..

what are symptoms of leaky caps in the spectra?

First the radio will start to act "funky". Can be small quirks
pop up all the way to total failure. Also look closely for darker
green "stains" under the solder mask. It all should be an even green
color. Probably the best all around way to remove them is to crush
them from around the leads going up into the actual cap. Then
VERY CAREFULLY work the crushed pieces away from the remainder
of the solder pads. Then you can remove them one at a time
with the solder iron. The key is to not apply any pulling pressure
to the actual pads and risk uprooting the solder traces. Then
scrape off ALL of the solder mask where the discoloration is and
keep on scraping the tarnished copper till it is bright, then tin it.
replace the cap, and I usually coat the tinned area with a light coat
of acrylic clear nail polish, and thats about it. Just go slow. Phrawg

Common symptoms:

FAIL 001 error

"Thumping" sound in audio when receive unmutes.

Display problems (missing segments/digits)

Low receive audio but keypress beeps still normal volume. (I think this is mainly the A4 heads, a resistor in series with the volume pot gets damaged)

Biggest tell-tale sign: Radio says "Spectra" on the front ;)

Now, about removing the caps, if you do like I said and rock them back and forth slightly first, the body of the cap pulls off the leads rather easily. Once in a while a lead may come off with the cap, but that's when the solder joint is corroded to the point that the lead practically falls off anyway.

jackhackett wrote:Common symptoms:

FAIL 001 error

"Thumping" sound in audio when receive unmutes.

Display problems (missing segments/digits)

Low receive audio but keypress beeps still normal volume. (I think this is mainly the A4 heads, a resistor in series with the volume pot gets damaged)

Biggest tell-tale sign: Radio says "Spectra" on the front

If you're feeling funky, you can also pop the lids off and take a big ol' sniff around any of the caps. Leaky ones have a very distinct (and pungent) dead fish smell that gets about 1,000 times worse when you put heat to them.

I was taught to use a wick, flux, and a fine-tip iron to desolder the old caps, but I think I like Jack's method better. As he pointed out, several of them can be a "female dog" to get an iron to.

I didn't know you could find them that way over in "stinkadena".
Doesnt the natural surrounding atmosphere mask what you are trying
to troubleshoot ? Phrawg in Houston, West suburb of Pasadena !

On a similar note, how do you remove the damaged traces?