Hey quick question i left my Nes with powerpak inserted powered on
by accident , was wondering if it damages anything or shortens life of Nes or powerpak? everything works fine but was worried that is damaged something...
Nope, it should be fine, it just used up some electricity and generated a little heat. None of the parts in there are prone to failure, maybe the electrolytic capacitors, but just leaving it on isn't a problem for even that.
I have an FRAM chip, an older 5V one with limited read/write endurance. But I was using it with my Squeedo prototype cartridge, and accidentally left it on (with the code executing a loop out of the FRAM). When I found it, it was still running along just fine though. That's probably the only time an NES has ever shortened the life of some component, heheh.
Memblers wrote:
Nope, it should be fine, it just used up some electricity and generated a little heat. None of the parts in there are prone to failure, maybe the electrolytic capacitors, but just leaving it on isn't a problem for even that.
I have an FRAM chip, an older 5V one with limited read/write endurance. But I was using it with my Squeedo prototype cartridge, and accidentally left it on (with the code executing a loop out of the FRAM). When I found it, it was still running along just fine though. That's probably the only time an NES has ever shortened the life of some component, heheh.
Memblers , Hey thanks for the quick response....! awsome dude just paranoid i love my Nes LOL.... I remember as a kid leaving it on for days to keep playing without restarting a level and remember being ok!! thanks again man
If anything it'll break in the components, mellowing the pixels and brightening the sound. Ask any audiophile. But seriously, it's the electrolytic capacitors that are the biggest worry. Those things are basically rechargeable batteries, with all the problems: limited life, full of strong chemicals that eventually leak, don't like heat, etc. They can be replaced, as long as they don't leak all over the board and corrode things. So don't make a habit of leaving it on for an extended period, unless it's got good ventilation (like sitting on a table in a room with a ceiling fan).
alienform wrote:
Hey quick question i left my Nes with powerpak inserted powered on
by accident , was wondering if it damages anything or shortens life of Nes or powerpak? everything works fine but was worried that is damaged something...
No one can say for sure. The powerpak has never been tested in a production enviroment outside of at the designers home and other users such as yourself.
So far everything works great! no problems
You could always replace the electrolytic caps with tantalums. Tantalum caps are much more resistant to heat.
Tantalum failure mode is worse than the problem though, they
can explode. I'll take a leaky cap over hot metal shrapnel, heheh.
There should be some ceramic caps that would work.
I doubt a mini-explosion would cause as much damage as leaking acid on the circuit board. If you have a decent fuse, it should prevent excessive current dissipation anyway. Recently I found that my old Mac IIsi from 1992 had leaky electrolytics, which had corroded the circuit board and pretty much ruined the machine. They were the tiny surface-mount ones too, not the big cans. Every one of the 5 or 6 throughout the board had leaked.