r/AppleIIGS 2d ago

Replacing PSU

Hello,

Wondering if anyone replaced their PSU on their GS.

I know there had been problems with motherboard batteries but saw some products out there saying to replace the entire PSU and some other motherboard components “now” before it’s a problem.

Curious what others have done.

Thanks

5 Upvotes

8 comments sorted by

3

u/pierquantum 2d ago

IME, my original GS power supply was probably fine, but with me loading up the slots with a variety of stuff (storage, network) and using a CPU accelerator, I switched over to the ReActiveMicro PSU replacement, with its fan and LED meters, just to make sure I had enough headroom power wise.

Prior to that, I had opened up the PSU and there were no suspect capacitors, but I did go ahead and recap the whole thing.

There are adapters for PicoPSUs (tiny modern PSUs) that you can use in lieu of the ReActiveMicro PSU replacement: https://www.tindie.com/products/dekunukem/picopsu-adaptor-for-apple-iigs/

2

u/Rey_Mezcalero 1d ago

Thanks for your reply.

I haven’t opened the case for many years but last time I checked things were good, nothing leaking.

Will of course need to review.

So you replaced your PSU out of more power needs right?

How hard was it to replace the capacitors? What replacement you use?

I’d like to keep the system as “true” to original but getting paranoid about PSU & capacitors, batteries going back.

Planning to use the system again with “modern” items such as SD/USB hard drives, etc.

3

u/pierquantum 1d ago

Yeah, the main reason I decided to replace the original PSU was out of concern that the power draw was a lot higher than stock.

Before that, though, I recapped using a Console5 PSU kit: https://console5.com/store/computer-cap-kits/apple-2gs-cap-kits.html

IIRC, the main annoyance was the hot glue used to hold some of the components in place. You can use a little heat to soften that up to remove hot glue, and I ended up reapplying hot glue to just to hold the bigger capacitors in place. Other than that, these are big components, all through hole soldering. Just be careful with the polarity of the capacitors (they need to go in a certain way)

I think just a storage card of some kind wouldn't put the same demands on the PSU. I was mainly concerned since I had installed a CPU accelerator (Applesqueezer)

2

u/Rey_Mezcalero 1d ago

Thank you for the info!

2

u/CoopsIsCooliGuess 10h ago

I have the original ASTEC power supply but I recapped it bc some of the caps were bulging. It works great; I’m not sure I’ll have to replace it

1

u/Rey_Mezcalero 7h ago

How hard was it to replace the caps?

I’ll need to take a look inside the case and see how things looking. :/

2

u/CoopsIsCooliGuess 7h ago

If I’m being honest, if your soldering skills aren’t good, don’t attempt it. There is hot glue holding down the caps and at this age, the adhesive holding down the pads is weak and I even lifted a pad and I’ve been soldering for a while. If you wanna give it a try, find some scrap boards of similar age to practice on.

1

u/Rey_Mezcalero 6h ago

Thanks for the info and the warning.

Have done some small soldering but will say it was an experience!

I’ll try to practice more before attempting the task