A
Alan
Guest
I have two JVC HR-S7600U S-VHS VCRs--each with its own problem--and am
looking for some advice.
(Unit 1) Worked great until local electric company had a voltage
regulator fail at a nearby substation and voltage fell to extremely low
levels for about ten minutes before power went out completely. After
power was restored, I found this unit to be totally dead even though it
wasn't powered on at the time the voltage regulator failed. (Everything
else in the house survived.) Tested the internal fuse (1.25A/250V) and
found it was blown. Replaced it with a new fuse but when unit was
plugged in sparks flew from the tiny box next to the fuse resulting in
the new fuse blowing as well. Not sure what that tiny box is but it
must have something to do with the power supply (it's labeled with
068 uF 250V~X2 on top with F5001 printed next to it on the board).
(This VCR has no obvious power supply unit. The power cord connects
directly to the main circuit board.)
I'm sure repairing this unit is more than I can handle but I was
wondering how involved a repair might be should I take it to a repair
shop. Would repair probably involve just replacing the tiny box next to
the fuse or does throwing sparks like it did make it likely that quite a
few other components on the board may have been damaged by a power
surge? I'd really like to have use of this unit, but if repair cost is
likely to be too high it may be time to scrap it.
(Unit 2) My second unit survived the unusually low voltage situation
mentioned above because, by chance, it wasn't plugged in at the time.
Was working fine until this week when I went to rewind a tape I was
using for the first time. While the tape was rewinding it made quite a
bit of noise which I wrote off as a bad roller in the tape shell.
However, tried a couple other new tapes today and they did the same
thing. So I tried one of my tried and true tapes which is known to be
quiet and the same noise occurred. Then tried one of the new supposedly
noisy tapes in an old VHS unit and it made no unusual noise at all. So
obviously the noise is being generated by something inside the VCR and
not the tape itself.
After experimenting with the S-VHS unit some more, I determined that the
noise is at its worst when fast forwarding/rewinding but can also be
heard to a far lesser extent when in play mode and scanning through the
video. It can't be heard when playing tapes at normal speed however.
Took the cover off to try to determine where the noise was originating
but the damn thing won't run with the cover off. I insert the tape, it
loads it, wraps the tape around the head drum, rapidly threads several
yards of tape forward onto the take-up reel and then powers off. Push
the power button and it rapidly threads several more yards of tape and
powers off again.
Since this is probably a mechanical problem, I'm fairly sure that it's
something I can fix myself if I can just find the source of the problem.
Any ideas on what part(s) may be the source of the noise? (It's more of
a clack-clack noise and not a squeal. The faster the tape moves forward
or backward the faster it clacks; thus my original belief that it was a
bad roller in the tape shell.) Whatever it is, it started suddenly
instead of gradually. If it's something that needs lubricating, what
type of lubrication should be used? And is there an easy way to trick
the unit into running with the cover off (i.e., a sensor I can cover or
something) so I can perhaps see what's going on?
Thanks for your help.
looking for some advice.
(Unit 1) Worked great until local electric company had a voltage
regulator fail at a nearby substation and voltage fell to extremely low
levels for about ten minutes before power went out completely. After
power was restored, I found this unit to be totally dead even though it
wasn't powered on at the time the voltage regulator failed. (Everything
else in the house survived.) Tested the internal fuse (1.25A/250V) and
found it was blown. Replaced it with a new fuse but when unit was
plugged in sparks flew from the tiny box next to the fuse resulting in
the new fuse blowing as well. Not sure what that tiny box is but it
must have something to do with the power supply (it's labeled with
068 uF 250V~X2 on top with F5001 printed next to it on the board).
(This VCR has no obvious power supply unit. The power cord connects
directly to the main circuit board.)
I'm sure repairing this unit is more than I can handle but I was
wondering how involved a repair might be should I take it to a repair
shop. Would repair probably involve just replacing the tiny box next to
the fuse or does throwing sparks like it did make it likely that quite a
few other components on the board may have been damaged by a power
surge? I'd really like to have use of this unit, but if repair cost is
likely to be too high it may be time to scrap it.
(Unit 2) My second unit survived the unusually low voltage situation
mentioned above because, by chance, it wasn't plugged in at the time.
Was working fine until this week when I went to rewind a tape I was
using for the first time. While the tape was rewinding it made quite a
bit of noise which I wrote off as a bad roller in the tape shell.
However, tried a couple other new tapes today and they did the same
thing. So I tried one of my tried and true tapes which is known to be
quiet and the same noise occurred. Then tried one of the new supposedly
noisy tapes in an old VHS unit and it made no unusual noise at all. So
obviously the noise is being generated by something inside the VCR and
not the tape itself.
After experimenting with the S-VHS unit some more, I determined that the
noise is at its worst when fast forwarding/rewinding but can also be
heard to a far lesser extent when in play mode and scanning through the
video. It can't be heard when playing tapes at normal speed however.
Took the cover off to try to determine where the noise was originating
but the damn thing won't run with the cover off. I insert the tape, it
loads it, wraps the tape around the head drum, rapidly threads several
yards of tape forward onto the take-up reel and then powers off. Push
the power button and it rapidly threads several more yards of tape and
powers off again.
Since this is probably a mechanical problem, I'm fairly sure that it's
something I can fix myself if I can just find the source of the problem.
Any ideas on what part(s) may be the source of the noise? (It's more of
a clack-clack noise and not a squeal. The faster the tape moves forward
or backward the faster it clacks; thus my original belief that it was a
bad roller in the tape shell.) Whatever it is, it started suddenly
instead of gradually. If it's something that needs lubricating, what
type of lubrication should be used? And is there an easy way to trick
the unit into running with the cover off (i.e., a sensor I can cover or
something) so I can perhaps see what's going on?
Thanks for your help.