Turbo DUO voltage regulator replacement

[jcd4878]

Thought I would also share a voltage regulator mod I did on my Turbo DUO.



I've removed the original heat generating 7805 regulators and heatsinks and replaced them with one 2 Amp switching regulator module as you see here. This gives the huge benefit of removing one of the biggest heat generators in the console that leads to capacitor failures around the original regulators.

The part number you need is a CUI Inc. "V7805-2000R".  Just remove both the regulators and heatsinks, solder this part in, and bridge the "O" marks between the two original regulators.

I played a game for over and hour and the new regulator was not even warm to the touch!

[SignOfZeta]

The Express doesn't fail caps because of heat. NOS Express units have emerged non-functional from their boxes having never actually run. They just fail.

This could save a lot of AAs though, couldn't it?

[jcd4878]

The Express doesn't fail caps because of heat. NOS Express units have emerged non-functional from their boxes having never actually run. They just fail.

This could save a lot of AAs though, couldn't it?

This is a replacement for the Turbo DUO console, not the handheld Turbo Express. I have some ideas on the Turbo Express to convert it over to a modern Li-Poly flat pack battery though, it does indeed burn through batteries fast.

As far as heat on caps, yes heat can accelerate their demise, but they also can fail as you suggest never being used.  I had 5 caps around the voltage regulators alone on my duo that had popped and leaked all over the board. Took a bit of work to clean it up too. I took no chances, I over-engineered my capacitor replacement. I used 7000 hour 105 C rated Nichion surface mount caps, and 10000 hour 105 C rated Nichion radial leaded caps to replace all the caps on my Duo. This Duo will not fail again with a cap problem, especially since I also got rid of the huge heat source around the ones that had failed before.

[SignOfZeta]

For some reason I imagined "Express", whoops. Weird.

The nature of problem is the same though, except no chance of saving AAs. You can kill a fly with a sledgehammer if you want, it's a very popular hobby, but not exactly necessary. I've seen zero evidence that heat contributes to the failure of these consoles in any way. My experience is tainted since I live in Michigan and have air conditioning. Maybe people in the Malayasia and India have something to worry about.   

Lack of use kills them more than anything. When I sold my US Duo after many many years it had a ton of hours on it because I never got bored of it. I always play my stuff. I only sold it when I had other PCE consoles and someone wanted my Duo.

In about five years, if your theories are correct, then we should be seeing the first wave of recaps starting to fail from the suposed heat problem. If mine are correct it will be a couple of decades. Hopefully I'll still be around then to school noobs about how running Emulators built into their cyber tats isn't the same as a CRT and how Victory Run isn't really worth $50,000 no matter how good it is.

[thesteve]

Well said zeta
These never ran hot enough to be an issue and used 2 regulators for noise isolation, not load reasons

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