Recap guide

Recap the Sony PlayStation (PS1)

Capacitor lists for several PlayStation board revisions live in the same community repository.

Open the interactive checklist Tick off each capacitor as you replace it. It saves in your browser.

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Which board do I have?

Boards changed during production. These notes come from the linked sources, and many are only partly documented, so check the board in front of you.

PU-7 (1994 to Nov 1995; SCPH-1000, early 1001/1002/3000/3500) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Three pots on the board (RV701, RV704, RV705) and pads for an S-Video port; made early Nov 1995 or before. Capacitors: No cap list found for this board. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PU-8 (late 1995 to mid 1998; SCPH-1001/1002/3000/3500/5000) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Made late Nov 1995 on, with S-Video removed and three pots (RV701, RV702, RV704). Capacitors: No cap list found for this board. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PU-18 (1997-1998; SCPH-550x, 5552, early 700x/750x) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Smaller board with one pot (RV703) and a 5-pin power supply connector. Capacitors: norly keeps a separate cap list for PU-18. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PU-20 (Apr-Aug 1998; SCPH-700x) (Medium confidence). How to tell: No parts on the bottom side and a single CD chip. Capacitors: norly keeps a separate cap list for PU-20. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PU-22 (Aug 1998 to May 1999; SCPH-750x, early 900x) (Medium confidence). How to tell: No potentiometers and an integrated SPU and CD DSP chip. Capacitors: norly keeps a separate cap list for PU-22. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PU-23 (May 1999 to Aug 2000; SCPH-900x) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Parallel port removed and still no pots. Capacitors: norly keeps a separate cap list for PU-23. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source
PM-41 / PSone (2000-2004; SCPH-100) (Medium confidence). How to tell: Serial port removed and no pots; this is the PSone board. Capacitors: ConsoleMods names C550 and C551 (220 uF 4V near the AV out) and C705 on the PSone, and says a higher voltage or tantalum is fine for C550/C551. Capacitor list differs from other revisions: not known. Source

Where to start

Clues from write-ups and forum threads, not a diagnosis. Low confidence means one thread or one repair; high means several write-ups agree.

No or garbled picture (PSone) (Medium confidence). ConsoleMods says that on a PSone with no video you should replace C550 and C551 (220uF 4V, near the AV output). It says a higher voltage or a tantalum is fine. These references are for the PSone only. Source
Discs not read (PSone) (Medium confidence). On a PSone that will not recognize PS1 discs, ConsoleMods says to replace C705. Source

Tips, tales and maybes

Found in write-ups and forum threads. These are other people's reports, not tested by us. Check part references and values against your own board.

Story: Sync on luma trouble, C551 replaced earlier (Low confidence). On a Shmups thread a modded PSone gave bad sync over SCART where an unmodified PS1 was fine, with C550 and C551 (220uF) discussed and a taped through-hole cap found in place of C551 from an earlier modder. A reply said to recap fully rather than swap one or two parts. Source
Watch out: Wrong-voltage PSU blew the main filter cap (Medium confidence). A Hitman's Museum log on an NTSC-J PS1 records the PSU main filter cap venting after a PAL supply with a different mains voltage was mixed in, and only that cap needed replacing. The same log restored a corroded power switch with isopropyl, a fiberglass pen and DeoxIT. Source
Watch out: Tall caps in the power board (Low confidence). A diyAudio thread on an audio-quality PSX recap used 105C Nichicons on the power board and reported a 2200uF 10V part was too tall to fit. Low-ESR high-voltage parts were also hard to source. Source
Watch out: No video after a mod, not the caps (Medium confidence). A Hitman's Museum NTSC-J PS1 log lists no video after a recap because a mis-wired mod board had shorted the 3.5V rail and blown the PS604 fuse. If a recapped PS1 has no video, check fuses and recent wiring before blaming the new caps. Source
Story: ESR readings on the disc-read caps (Low confidence). On a Shmups thread about slim-console disc read failures, one poster measured ESR on a failing PS1 and reported C738 at 5.5 ohms, C705 at 17.5 ohms and C731 above 20 ohms, all near the DSP and servo chip. They said they were unsure what the spec is for old SMD caps, so treat it as a data point only. Source
Story: Left channel missing after replacing DAC-area caps (Low confidence). An iFixit asker on an SCPH-1000 with no left audio replaced all electrolytics around the AKM DAC and even swapped in a known-good DAC with no change. The only reply was a link to a schematic, so audio faults may lie elsewhere in the circuit. Source
Watch out: Cross-check any community list (Medium confidence). The same repository covers PU-18, PU-20, PU-22 and PU-23 and carries a no-warranty note, with the author asking users to validate against other sources. Use it as a starting point, not the final word. Source

Before you start

PS1 boards changed a lot. Find your board code (such as PU-8 or SCPH-7001) before you buy.

Guides we used

This page and the interactive bench are built from these. They have the photos and the full detail, so please read them and support their authors.

capacitor-lists (List) by norly on GitHub. A repository of capacitor lists. Read the license in the repository before copying values.
Console5 wiki: PlayStation (Wiki) by Console5. A community wiki page for this machine, often with board photos and capacitor lists.
Console5 wiki: Sony PSone (Wiki) by Console5. A community wiki page for this machine, often with board photos and capacitor lists.

The capacitor list

We have not checked a capacitor list for this machine yet, so none is shown. Follow the guide above for your board, then add the capacitors in the interactive checklist and it builds a shopping list for you.

Skip the sourcing

Ready-made kit: Amazon · eBay
Already recapped: Amazon · eBay

While you are in there

Need the machine itself?: Amazon · eBay
Games for it: Amazon · eBay
Save your game: Amazon · eBay

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Steps, tools and safety

The steps, the tools in top, middle and budget picks, and the safety list are the same for every machine, so they live on one page: How to recap, step by step.

Values are shown as published in the guides above, and boards changed during production. Check the board in front of you. A recap involves hot tools and, on some machines, dangerous voltages. You do it at your own risk.