I’m planning to do a partial capacitor replacement on the power supply of my old Macintosh IIsi computer. After 25+ years, these capacitors aren’t in the best condition, and the PSU doesn’t work correctly anymore. When plugged in, it makes odd clicking sounds for a few seconds, then does nothing, and the computer won’t boot. Occasionally if I plug it in, unplug it, plug it in again, and say some magic words, I can get the computer to boot. But it’s clearly on its last legs, and the research I’ve done says replacing a few key capacitors will likely fix it.
After dismantling the PSU and removing its circuit board, I was surprised by some of the components I found inside. I’ve never looked inside a power supply before, so this was all new to me.
In the center is a relay. I’m not sure why there’s a relay inside a PSU, but there it is. At right is probably a transformer? It has some exposed wire windings, and is located close to where 110V AC comes in, so I assume that’s it. At left is… something. A capacitor? It looks like a rolled up length of plasticized paper, coated in oil.
Here’s a closer look at the mystery capacitor thing.
On the other side of the PSU circuit board are two white plastic towers. They look like they might be removable covers. What are these, and what mysteries do they hide?
At the end of the board opposite the AC power connection, there are two cylindrical components that look sort of like capacitors, but aren’t. They have vertical grooves cut into them at regular intervals around their circumference. The smaller of the two has 4R7 stamped into its plastic case, and the larger one is marked 830. Could these be some kind of high-power resistor, maybe?