Cleaning Classic generation pcb boards?

[dgordon86]

Has anyone ever attempted to clean the pcb board of a nes or other classic system?

in guides theres answers to cleaning the case, metal parts, etc, but I've yet to see anything about the board.

in one of the comments on this page they say rubbing alch. is the best solution to use.
http://www.arcaderestoration.com/index.asp?OPT=3&DATA=292&CBT=4

[ClubNinja]

Dishwasher. Just let it dry completely before you attempt to use it.

[dgordon86]

seriously?

you don't have to take anything off the board? What about a cleaning liquid?

[Pantechnicon]

It flies in the face of common sense, but I've heard a lot of people swear by the dishwasher thing. I've just never had the guts to try it myself.

For we less adventurous souls I recommend Radio Shack Catalog #64-4345: Precision Electronics Cleaner. I've been using the stuff for years on cart contacts and PCB's. It also gets the "jitter" out of Atari 2600 paddles if you're into that sort of thing. Works great. Costs about $10 a can but is absolutely worth it.

[ClubNinja]

Yup - the dishwasher won't kill anything. If you have concerns that a socketed chip may pop loose during the cycle, then feel free to remove it first. Otherwise, your PCB(s) will be fine. The major problems with water and electronics are electrical shorts and long-term exposure. As long as the board is dried before usage, there will be no shorts and the whole washing/drying thing takes an hour or two at most.

[Pantechnicon]

Re: The dishwasher, do you use any sort of cleaning agent or just plain old hot water? Water I can deal with, but I'd be reluctant to pour some sort of goopy soap in there as well. Maybe a scoop of Oxi-Clean would be all right....

[anagrama]

Just water. It's the cleaners and other stuff that will fuck it up.

[ClubNinja]

Just water. It's the cleaners and other stuff that will fuck it up.

Exactly.

[dgordon86]

would you have to disassemble the power supply somehow from a nes?

[Ed Oscuro]

I recently cleaned a NES. Really the only thing you can do to get dust and other nasty stuff off the board is plain ol' water. I do it by hand - don't need to be shedding rust and transistors in my washing machine, and besides that's just too much abuse for the electronics.

My problem with that is that the A/V box on the back of the console won't detatch, and that's one of the spots that's prone to being rusted (as was the case with the NES I recently got).

[ClubNinja]

don't need to be shedding rust and transistors in my washing machine, and besides that's just too much abuse for the electronics.

Washing machines (I assume you're referring to clothes washing machine here) are not the same as dishwashers. Dishwashers will hardly abuse the electronics.

[Dave Farquhar]

The NES's power supply is actually the power brick. The only power-related part on the board itself is the 7805 voltage regulator, which steps the voltage from the power brick down to 5v. Water won't hurt it.

Washing PCBs with hot water from a kitchen-type sprayer was standard practice at the local Commodore repair shop 20 years ago. I remember someone I knew telling a story: His wife spilled a soda on his computer while he was at work, so she rushed the computer over to the shop and begged them to do something so her husband wouldn't know what happened. They took the computer in back, disassembled it, sprayed all the parts down with hot water (including the keyboard), and dried it with a plain old hairdryer and put it back together. For whatever reason, she confessed, and he posted the story on practically every BBS in town.

A dishwasher is just fine, but if you'd rather use a the sprayer in your kitchen sink for finer control, that's fine. I even know people who have used detergents and gotten away with it. The key is just to make sure it's rinsed thoroughly and dried quickly and thoroughly. I'd found plain water does a good enough job for me, so that's what I do.