Hi guys, I am in the process of changing the caps on my model 1 mega cd. Managed to lift off the negative pad of C42. As far as I can tell from the schematic, this pad leads to pin 14 of IC13, which is coupled to ground, along with C39. https://console5.com/wiki/File:PC_BD_MEGA-CD_MAIN_BD_171-8105C-Schematic-3_of_4.png Am I correct in assuming that connecting the negative leg to ANY ground point will do the trick, or am I way off?
It's a bypass capacitor, you can connect at any ground point, as you just said... But you may not want the leads to be too long so you will need to scratch some solder mask off and solder it there.
Solder mask is a sort of varnish which is applied on top of copper metal traces to prevent solder from sticking to it. It's not applied at the places where parts are meant to connect into and that is how solder pads are formed. If you peel off a solder pad you need to scratch off the solder mask so you can expose another bit of the trace and proceed to solder there.
Right, I should have known that, but basic electronics lessons was a life time ago... I'll look at the schematic and poke around with a multi-meter, should be able to find a ground point near the ruined pad.
