NIB Turboduo - Should I break the seal to recap or is it safe to leave it sealed

[adolobe]

I have a new in box Turboduo that I purchased around 1997 or 98 the box is steal shrink wrapped and has the game bundle offer box sleeve.

I know the caps in the Turboduo are crap and will lead and destroy the board. So my question is since it has not been used since the assemble line is do you think its safe to keep it sealed. Or should I finally open the box after all these years and do a recap.

[ToyMachine78]

The better question is... Why the hell did you never open it!?

[adolobe]

The better question is... Why the hell did you never open it!?

lol cause I already had one and a Duorx

[Alt-Nintega]

you should grade it and sell it to some collectard for stupid money and then use the money to buy yourself a recapped duo, recapped turbo, recapped express, recapped PCE, and about hundred random games.

yeah, grade it.

[Gentlegamer]

Open it, check it, and recap it.

[mickcris]

Open it, check it, and recap it.

Moderators: ban tool for suggesting grading.

Ha ha

I think grading is stupid also.  There are some people that will pay out the ass for a NIB console though. 2 recently sold on ebay upwards of $1k.  So its worth more NIB even though its probably not working correctly at this point, than if you were to open it up and get it working.

If you plan on keeping it to use, then open it and recap it.

[SignOfZeta]

Guess what. Turbo Duos didn't come with shrink wrap. That clear plastic you're hemming and hawing over is totally worthless. Open the fucker and get it recapped at once before the PCB is wasted, assuming it isn't already.

Fuck.

Also, btw, using a Duo doesn't wear out the caps. They just leak because they suck.

[Alt-Nintega]

Open it, check it, and recap it.

Moderators: ban tool for suggesting grading.

wo wo wow I was just trying to maximize OP's possibilities. I wasn't really serious. Personally I don't like collectards and grading and stuff. Just was trying to suggest grading as a money making scheme to get a lot of great recapped items. Calm down.

[LostFlunky]

Guess what. Turbo Duos didn't come with shrink wrap. That clear plastic you're hemming and hawing over is totally worthless. Open the fucker and get it recapped at once before the PCB is wasted, assuming it isn't already.

Fuck.

Also, btw, using a Duo doesn't wear out the caps. They just leak because they suck.

Yeah, they had shrink wrap...

[LostFlunky]

Guess what. Turbo Duos didn't come with shrink wrap. That clear plastic you're hemming and hawing over is totally worthless. Open the fucker and get it recapped at once before the PCB is wasted, assuming it isn't already.

Fuck.

Also, btw, using a Duo doesn't wear out the caps. They just leak because they suck.

Yeah, they had shrink wrap... 

we should start a poll on this. I don't recall shrinkwrap but half of my brain has suffered the same fate as my liver. :/ 

Just like anything else on the market, there were probably some units that didn't for whatever reason. 

Over the course of a couple years near the end of the 90's, I had about a dozen new Duo's pass through my hands to US Obeyers who could not buy them directly from Donsal, the Canadian distributor.   They were all shrinkwrapped.  Not all had the OBI though...

[PCEngineHell]

It could have been a 3rd party distributor shrink wrapping them. I don't recall NEC/TTi or even Smartworks shrink wrapping any of the hardware their-selves, and never saw any systems done that way in the stores here.

[adolobe]

Guess what. Turbo Duos didn't come with shrink wrap. That clear plastic you're hemming and hawing over is totally worthless. Open the fucker and get it recapped at once before the PCB is wasted, assuming it isn't already.

Fuck.

Also, btw, using a Duo doesn't wear out the caps. They just leak because they suck.

I purchased it from Babbages when they were closing out the line with the one I use now and they both came with a plastic shrink wrap to hold the box sleeve on. So I just assumed the ones that came with the sleeve that advertised the 3in1 CD free hucard and magazine all came shrink wrapped. Granted the shrink wrap isn't perfect its got a large 5 inch piece hanging off on the bottom.

I honestly hate to open it but I also dont want it to become destroyed at the same time

[ddoubledee]

I'd sell it, then use that money to buy games and a recapped TurboDuo. Buy everything you want to play. Lol

[ClodBusted]

They tried to make me go to recap
But i said no, no, no...

[wildfruit]

They tried to make me go to recap
But i said no, no, no...

😅😂

[NecroPhile]

You know that all original caps eventually leak, so this is a dumb question.  Either you care about it being functional or you care about it being a pretty omg sealed l@@k dust collector.

[NightWolve]

My Turbo Duo box was not sealed (bought new from TTi going-out-of-business sale for $99), neither was the TurboGrafx-16 system that I won... I'm leaning on "the case of the glossy duo" with this sealed claim of his... Least Ninja had the good sense to put up photos right off the bat, albeit they were quite bad.

[NecroPhile]

I wanna say my Duo was sealed (bought new in '92 at a local game shop), but I can't say for sure 100%; even if it was, it could've been sealed by the shop anyway.  It makes sense that they would've been sealed, though, seeing as there's nothing else to keep the fragile band from being torn off or just falling off.

[Otaking]

Here in the UK I purchased a new Turbo DUO in 1993 and the box wasn't shrink wrapped. The person I bought it from stored the stock from a video game shop and I took my new DUO from a huge stack of them, none of them had shrink wrap.
My guess is the one bought by the OP was shrink wrapped by the retailer.

[LostFlunky]

I have to go look and see if I can find photos, but it may have been Donsal that shrinked mine... I seem to recall there was a "Donsal" sticker on the box somewhere too, which would have to have been under the shrink. 

The shrinkwrap was the brittle, cellophane type, rather than the soft Saran Wrap type...

[CPTBadAss]

Send it my way. I'll personally inspect the shrink wrap and *ahem* test if it's working. ;)

[esteban]

I know TG-16 was not shrink wrapped, not sure about TurboDuo.

BITD, I can say with certainly that many stores shrink-wrapped stuff all the time, for various reasons. For example, returned merchandise. After the original contents were verified, item was shrink-wrapped and put back in stock.

My friend was a manager at a retail store and video games/consoles/music/videos were routinely shrink wrapped.

[BlueBMW]

I dont recall Duos specifically but I seem to remember pretty much every console hardware not being shrinkwrapped.  Every time I saw anything in stores they werent shrinkwrapped.  If they had anything it would be a little round sticker over the box flaps.

[ToyMachine78]

I dont recall Duos specifically but I seem to remember pretty much every console hardware not being shrinkwrapped.  Every time I saw anything in stores they werent shrinkwrapped.  If they had anything it would be a little round sticker over the box flaps.

This is what I recall as well.

[SignOfZeta]

Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever seen any console shrink wrapped. It's pretty fucking pointless for sure.

[MotherGunner]

Looks like someone put a stack of wet newspapers in a TurboDuo box back in the early 90's and shrink wrapped it.

Maybe I'm wrong, but you will NOT sleep until you break that seal!  Good Luck!   

[adolobe]

My Turbo Duo box was not sealed (bought new from TTi going-out-of-business sale for $99), neither was the TurboGrafx-16 system that I won... I'm leaning on "the case of the glossy duo" with this sealed claim of his... Least Ninja had the good sense to put up photos right off the bat, albeit they were quite bad.

Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever seen any console shrink wrapped. It's pretty fucking pointless for sure.

I have to go look and see if I can find photos, but it may have been Donsal that shrinked mine... I seem to recall there was a "Donsal" sticker on the box somewhere too, which would have to have been under the shrink. 

The shrinkwrap was the brittle, cellophane type, rather than the soft Saran Wrap type...

When I say shrink wrapped this is what Im referring to. Either it be NEC/TTI or Babbages I dunno but this is how I purchased it loose flap on the bottom and all

[LostFlunky]

My Turbo Duo box was not sealed (bought new from TTi going-out-of-business sale for $99), neither was the TurboGrafx-16 system that I won... I'm leaning on "the case of the glossy duo" with this sealed claim of his... Least Ninja had the good sense to put up photos right off the bat, albeit they were quite bad.

Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever seen any console shrink wrapped. It's pretty fucking pointless for sure.

I have to go look and see if I can find photos, but it may have been Donsal that shrinked mine... I seem to recall there was a "Donsal" sticker on the box somewhere too, which would have to have been under the shrink. 

The shrinkwrap was the brittle, cellophane type, rather than the soft Saran Wrap type...

When I say shrink wrapped this is what Im referring to. Either it be NEC/TTI or Babbages I dunno but this is how I purchased it loose flap on the bottom and all

Seeing that, the sticker I remembered was the "TV / VCR" notice on the front of the box, not a Donsal one...

[wildfruit]

Open it, hairdryer it. Job done.

[SignOfZeta]

If real shrink wrap did exist at some point (on neither of the two U.S. Duos I had from new) then it still being on the box in 2015 is basically proof that the system needs work. If it's never been worked on or used in over 20 years, it probably doesn't work well after a few hours or at all.

Maybe this isn't the case yet, but it certainly will be in a few more years. Does ANYONE have a black Duo that hasn't needed to be recapped yet?

[GohanX]

I would ask this question: why keep it sealed? The answer would be to keep it like new for the eventual day it would get used, but consider that there's a very good chance it doesn't work right now, and the longer it's neglected the more likely it will suffer permanent irreparable damage if it hasn't already.

[adolobe]

I've decided to open it tonight and do a recap on it after work. My duo I use now that I also purchased at the same time actually worked great up until last year when the audio finally started to get dim so I did a complete recap. So hopefully this one has little to no leakage

[Gentlegamer]

I've decided to open it tonight and do a recap on it after work. My duo I use now that I also purchased at the same time actually worked great up until last year when the audio finally started to get dim so I did a complete recap. So hopefully this one has little to no leakage

You've made the right choice.

[thesteve]

agreed
also i second the no shrink wrap on original packaging
they should have seal stickers over the tabs that hold the flaps closed, thats all

[LostFlunky]

Would the caps still rot without having ever been juiced up?  I thought it was the caps failing through usage that was the issue, not caps sitting unused...

[thesteve]

they die on the shelf

[bozo55]

Some pics of your repair would be cool if you get the chance.  Would love to see just how bad a new unit could be.

[adolobe]

Some pics of your repair would be cool if you get the chance.  Would love to see just how bad a new unit could be.

Yea I'll take a few photos maybe an unboxing video when I actually open it. I was going to do it the other day but family stuff got in the way and this weekend is full of activities so hopefully early next week

[thesteve]

just a note
the leakage will likely be clear as without power it doesnt eat into the copper bad
as the copper is dissolved by electrolysis the fluid will turn green or black

[EvilEvoIX]

Some pics of your repair would be cool if you get the chance.  Would love to see just how bad a new unit could be.

This.

[adolobe]

just a note
the leakage will likely be clear as without power it doesnt eat into the copper bad
as the copper is dissolved by electrolysis the fluid will turn green or black

Thanks for the tip. I finally got around to opening up the box last night. To my surprise the random Hucard game was Splatterhouse. I was pretty excited about that but thought it odd they would include a gory game as a pack in, but Im not gonna complain.

I've not open the duo up yet, all the capacitors I have on hand are a mix or rubicon, kent, and some chinese named ones. So I put in a order for all Panasonic caps with Digikey. Once they arrive I'll open up the Duo and take pic's of the motherboard.

I did test the duo for all of 2 mins and everything works and sound came out crystal clear on Y's. But didn't want to run it for long just encase there was leakage.

[cjameslv]

Man... that pic is beautiful. I'm envious!

FUCK! I second that i can smell the mintyness from here! Time to go charge my JO crystal 

[esteban]

I have charged my JO crystal with the help of a fellow forum member. Thank you, adolobe.

[NightWolve]

I did test the duo for all of 2 mins and everything works and sound came out crystal clear on Ys. But didn't want to run it for long just encase there was leakage.

Fresh Ys Book I&II and Gate of Thunder 4-in-1 CDs! Nice!

[geise]

Guess what. Turbo Duos didn't come with shrink wrap. That clear plastic you're hemming and hawing over is totally worthless. Open the fucker and get it recapped at once before the PCB is wasted, assuming it isn't already.

Fuck.

Also, btw, using a Duo doesn't wear out the caps. They just leak because they suck.

This.  Mine was brand new and no shrink wrap.  The fact it was kept in a box all this time not getting played is sad.  I am glad to hear though that it is working.  I would also test the headphone jack.  The caps around there tend to go first.

[NecroPhile]

A black Ys tray and no long box?  I'd guess someone was already in that 'sealed' box before you.

[geise]

A black Ys tray and no long box?  I'd guess someone was already in that 'sealed' box before you.

Where is the Gate of Thunder manual?  In there with the Bonk manuals?

[adolobe]

A black Ys tray and no long box?  I'd guess someone was already in that 'sealed' box before you.

My first duo back in the mid 90's also didn't have a box for Y's. It was just shrinkwrapped jewel case just like this one. I still have it to this day

[NecroPhile]

Where is the Gate of Thunder manual?  In there with the Bonk manuals? 

I assume so.

My first duo back in the mid 90's also didn't have a box for Ys. It was just shrinkwrapped jewel case just like this one. I still have it to this day

I didn't mean a retail box, I meant the long plain white box that held both jewel cases.

[adolobe]

A black Ys tray and no long box?  I'd guess someone was already in that 'sealed' box before you.

Where is the Gate of Thunder manual?  In there with the Bonk manuals? 

The manual for it is in the poly bag with the console manual, warranty card, Turboforce Magazine and the coupon book. Actually there are manuals for all 3 games on the CD (Gates of Thunder, Bonk, Bonks Revenge) no bomberman obviously since its a hidden game