Replacing capacitors on MegaTouch Force Motherboard

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Replacing capacitors on MegaTouch Force Motherboard

When I turn my Force upright the power supply kicks on for about 5 seconds, turns off and I get an auto test screen. According to Merits tech site since the power supply kicks on (even for 5 seconds) it indicates a bad motherboard. I know there is a kit of cap you can buy in an attempt to repair the board but I read elsewhere that the soldering is a tough job and requires top end soldering equipment. I have a decent station but I am concerned about removing the caps and damaging the board. Has anyone repaired a Force board this way?
 
I literally just finished doing this. I have a customer who has a Force. I've been out to their house four times in the past couple years. They tell me it's not working. I get there turn it on...it works. I mess around with it...turn it off and on a bunch...no issues. This happens every time. After the third (I'm starting to think they're crazy)...I just pick it up and take it back to the shop. I keep it for a month. It gets played a bunch, turned on and off a bunch, moved around a bit, left running a bunch...no issues. I take it back to them. A couple months ago I was back at their place working on their Twilight Zone pinball. They say, "Oh yeah, the Mega-Touch isn't working again". I turn it on....and it actually doesn't boot. I open it up....it seems like it's cycling on and off. It's going anywhere from five seconds to about thirty seconds, or so. I tell them it's going back to the shop. Back at the shop.....you guessed it...it boots up fine. For the next two months, it boots up fine. At this point, I've already checked the hard drive....all connectors have been checked...Screw it, I'm going to shotgun all the caps on the motherboard. I finish the cap out, it boots up fine....but I still have my doubts. I decide to tear the pain-in-the-ass apart to get the power supply out. I get the power supply out, open it up.....bingo...problem found. I had eight caps obviously bulging and leaking. These things were so bad...I don't see how it was ever working. I recapped the power supply. It's been two weeks...time will tell.

My experience with capping this thing. The motherboard is a little tricky. Some of the traces are very tiny. The through-holes are very fragile. I don't know what kind of plating is used, but I had a hard time getting my 60/40 solder to bite. I had to use pretty high heat, and I switched to silver bearing solder....it held better, but I still used some very high heat. I also had the same issues with the power supply.

Also, there's pretty much ZERO room in these things. You have to use the smallest caps you can find. Most were 6.3 volt caps....and nothing larger is going to fit. Same with the power supply....actually, the power supply was even more cramped.

Edward
 
When I turn my Force upright the power supply kicks on for about 5 seconds, turns off and I get an auto test screen. According to Merits tech site since the power supply kicks on (even for 5 seconds) it indicates a bad motherboard. I know there is a kit of cap you can buy in an attempt to repair the board but I read elsewhere that the soldering is a tough job and requires top end soldering equipment. I have a decent station but I am concerned about removing the caps and damaging the board. Has anyone repaired a Force board this way?


I worked for a Merit Distributor in san Francisco for 7 years. We did LOTS of cap changing on these boards with pretty standard irons. All I ever used was a temp controlled Weller with a small tip and a solder sucker.

Did another one a few days ago as a matter of fact.

Matt
 
Were these the Force Ions? I've seen where Merit changed the power supply specs from the original 200 watt to a 300 watt. I've had no troubles with the 300 watt supply, but the original 200 watter was nothing but trouble.
 
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