Original Xbox Repair - Leaky Cap

Inspired by a youtube Video on xbox games i decided to pull out my old xbox which has been stored in a box in the attic for a long time, my little brother had it before that (after me)

was a bit dirty / dusty so i've stripped it down to clean it up and de-dust it, but noticed (along with a few dead spiders) one of the caps has leaked. i tested the xbox before i stripped it and it seemed to work fine so this may not even be important.

but.

i would like to replace the cap anyway. i cant see a value on it other than the voltage

the cap is (if looking from front of the console where controller ports are) at the front-left side of the board, here's a quick pic:



Does anyone know what value this cap is? theres writing on it but none of it states a value

 

ok after some annoying googling eventually found out it is apparently the memory "battery" for the clock, being a 1F 2.5v supercap thingy. im guessing it would be ok to replace it with one of a higher voltage.

 

Not sure on higher voltage, but I have read people putting a "bigger" cap in there, which will get longer memory life. I have bought some recently 10F Supercaps, which I have to fit into my XBOX.

I asked the same question not to long ago.

http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?42093-XBOX-clock-capacitor

 

Would it be better/possible to put a CR0232 battery holder in that area?

 

did not see that thread lol thanks, cr2032 seems an interesting idea might try that i suppose it helps if you know what you're looking for

i've just removed it for now, need to stock up on solder, will probably pull a supercap from a VCR i have in pieces here and try that battery circuit in the other post.

 

Early Xbox Protos actually had a battery rather than a Cap in that place.

By the way, if you dont mind the date settings, you could just solder it out and leave it that way.

 

That's interesting, why the cap instead of a battery? With saying that, would it work with a battery in place instead on a retail?

 

Whatever you do, remove the cap and clean the spilled electrolyte. This stuff can damaga traces over time.
I dont know about the battery mod but if you just replace the cap, a higher voltage should not matter at all.

 

I never tried it, but I dont see why it wouldnt work.

As for why they later replaced the battery with a cap, as usual, either cost efficiency or they might have had issues with the batteries discharging too fast ?!

 

The caps loose the time within 30 minutes don't they?

 

It might sound funny, but THAT CAPACITOR was the cause of the XBOX fires that made MS send people cables with circuit breakers.

That stuff which leaked from the capacitor is both corrosive and inflammable. :grief:

STUPID AEROGEL SUPERCAP.

 

lol yes I have seen this as a repair a long time ago. The customer had noticed smoke emitting from his XBOX and promptly pulled out the power cable. The customer asked if it could be repaired. The underside of the drive was burnt and the board of course was cactus. (so the answer was no)

 

LOL, anything to avoid a recall...

 

haha, well luckily mine didnt catch fire, although would have given me the excuse to buy a crystal one.