[Gavtech]

Thanks for that useful report Geoff. Intriguing symptoms.

Can you say anything about the cap that had a relatively short service life in this challenging location?

Make? 85° or 105° ?

[Geoff Prince]

I have to admit, the cap was not new.

It was one I'd had in my spares box for some years, a PHILIPS 680uF 25V, temperature not marked.

It still reads fine on my capacitance meter!

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by Geoff Prince

I have to admit, the cap was not new.

It was one I'd had in my spares box for some years, a PHILIPS 680uF 25V, temperature not marked.

It still reads fine on my capacitance meter!

No doubt that explains the short service life.

Unmarked it will be a 85 degree device... and the location is obviously challenging enough for a 105 degree type.

[Geoff Prince]

The new cap I've fitted is 105° - lesson learnt!

As an aside, prior to replacing the cap last year I'd been plagued with U80 errors, sometimes 3 in one evening. It got to the point where I was considering scrapping the box.

However, after changing the cap, NO further U80 errors in the 12 months since.

[zippymad]

i have a Panasonic DVD recorder which i have had for a few years and it was working fine until i unplugged it to move it, now it wont find any channels and i dont know why, my brother has one which i borrowed and it picks channels up find in my bedroom fine but mine does not want to know, the hard drive works and it plays dvds fine it just cant find any of the channels i have tried plugging it in to other tvs in the house and still nothing we have also tries replacing the 680 uf capacitor

[spinaltap]

I called on my local Pana Service centre for the cost in replacing the suspect capacitor that is causing loss of all digital and analogue channels on my EX85.

Their repair policy is to undertake 'per component' repairs; and if they subsequently discovered that the assumed capacitor replacement (£60) did not remedy the situation, their advice would then be to scrap the whole machine and buy another recorder.

[karmar]

Hi all,
I joined to say thanks to all for there answers about no free-view due to the 680uf 6.3v electrolytic capacitor fault and others .

I couldn't find the correct type and fitted an SMD style (680uF 6.3V SMD Electrolytic Capacitor) part # C680U6E3SMD from Search which has worked perfectly so far fingers crossed and has gotten the missus of my back and happy now .

Sorry for of-topic question but the missus did ask one question that I found interesting it was "If it finds HD stations and has in the past played them for a quick second or three, what needs to be changed to play HD with the machine?"
Has anyone thought about or tried to do this?

Anyway thanks to all will do some looking around now I have joined.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by karmar

Sorry for of-topic question but the missus did ask one question that I found interesting it was "If it finds HD stations and has in the past played them for a quick second or three, what needs to be changed to play HD with the machine?"
Has anyone thought about or tried to do this?

Anyway thanks to all will do some looking around now I have joined.

Welcome to the forum and thanks for your report.

Unfortunately your wife is under a misapprehension... possibly misled by seeing BBC1 promos which indicate that programmes are being simultaneously broadcast on HD.

It is absolutely impossible for these machines to receive HD transmissions under any circumstances.... and even if they could, they would not be capable of decoding or displaying them as HD.

[Smithys]

Big Cheers to Gavtech.

Stripped down my folks panny to discover the cap had gone, quick trip to maplins and bingo all working.

[homer73]

Big thanks to rusp191 and everyone else who helped on this thread.
DMR-EX85, same problem as most people, my capacitor was only domed not broken.
A quick trip Maplins to get the DT69A capacitor sorted it, even though it's been 10 years since I touched a soldering iron.
I believe what goes around comes around, so hopefully all those who helped with there posts and photo's, will get some good fortune.
To whoever's fault it is at Panasonic, I hope your next *****e's a hedgehog!

[agrobler]

Just want to thank everyone contributing in this thread.
I had the exact same problem with my unit (bought here in Australia) and was able to fix it following your instructions.
The replaced capacitor also cured one other fault I was struggling with since the purchase: when switching between certain channels tuner would loose the signal and wouldn't regain it. You had to switch from another channel to not loose the signal. So I had to sequence my favourites in a specific order and when programming time recording I also had to record a short clip of a channel that didn't have issues when switching. Who would have thought this was because of a weak capacitor This silly workaround is now no longer required.
I've got my capacitor from our local RS Components online shop where they're offering this type from three different manufacturers, one of them, you guessed - Panasonic. They have mostly the same characteristics apart from the lifetime. I went for Nichicon which has 6000 hours, twice as much as Panasonic with 3000 hours.

[houstmon]

Another one for the list - EX75 which lost all the digital channels on Thursday. Hopefully this thread is going to save me a fortune - managed to get a 680uF 25V cap from an electical shop up the road - a mate of mine is going to fit it tomorrow (he's built his own amps in the past so probably is a better bet with a soldering iron then me.....)

My one's 4 years old - is that the rough age of everyone else's recancitrant machines? Sounds a bit like built-in obsolesense to me...

[Andrew McP]

Originally Posted by houstmon

My one's 4 years old - is that the rough age of everyone else's recancitrant machines? Sounds a bit like built-in obsolesense to me...

This thread's got me worried now. My 75 is at least 4.5 years old, very heavily used (I pre-record almost everything I watch), and -- touch wood -- is still behaving. :-)

But suicidal capacitors are a "famous" problem in electronics, and I'm certainly familiar with it in PC circles. They've certainly caused more than their fair share of motherboard failures over the years, especially where manufacturers have gone cheap rather than reliable.

I'm not sure there was ever anything cheap about these Panasonics though. It's the only thing I've ever taken an extended warranty out on because it cost so much, and I didn't rate the chances of the hard disk lasting this long.

What a waste of £60 that was! :->

Andrew McP

[houstmon]

Job's a good un.....

One replaced cap - one working machine. Saved £250 for the price of a pint (for my soldering-iron wielding mate) and £2.50 for a capacitor (OK, I could have got it for 1/10 the price from ebay, but it meant I could get it done today...)

Many thanks to everyone who's contributed to this.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by houstmon

Job's a good un.....

One replaced cap - one working machine. Saved £250 for the price of a pint (for my soldering-iron wielding mate) and £2.50 for a capacitor (OK, I could have got it for 1/10 the price from ebay, but it meant I could get it done today...)

Many thanks to everyone who's contributed to this.

Always good to hear of success.
Thanks for your report.

[gobstopper]

My brother called me during the last bank holiday weekend to tell me that his DMR-EX85's last few recordings had come out blank and that he had subsequently discovered that all of his freeview channels had gone AWOL.

After trying a disconnect from mains - reconnect - retune (without aerial) - retune (again, with aerial) exercise two or three times and still having no freeview (and rather poor analogue) channels, I set about searching through here whereupon I found this thread. Showing it to him and looking at the pictures he took the lid of his recorder, and while the capacitor didn't look as though it had blown it's top, it was looking distinctly rounded at the top.

He sourced a replacement capacitor (from eBay, I believe), fitted it over the weekend is happy to report a full compliment of channels once again.

He wanted me to convey his thanks to those who identified this fix - particularly the very clear photographs which helped him to identify the suspect component and source its replacement.

[squareeyes68]

I am another one wanting to say thanks.
DMR-EX85 bought when they first came out so at least four years old.
Lost all channels last Wednesday. A quick trip to Maplins and an hour and a half disassembling and reassembling and all is now working again. What a great result and many thanks to the contributors on this thread!

[ferraridomuk]

Hi, im another victim of this issue with my ex75. Ive browsed the site a few times before but just signed up to say thanks to everyones efforts here.

My issue all started on monday night when a recording of the gadget show was blank. Every digital channel was gone, only analogue remained. So I tried some rescans but now joy. Now up until this point I hadnt really had any issues with it apart from a couple of signal losses for a few seconds now and then, mainly on ch5 i think. I think this, or something similar, has been mentioned by another member so it could well be another symptom that signals the caps failure.

So, after tracking this thread I decided to take a look and noticed ever so slight brown marks on both c1533 (680uf, 6.3v) and c1530 (100uf, 25v), as pictured in post 9.

Decided to head off to maplins rather than wait for delivery from ebay and bought DT69 and DT61. The unit is now working fine again! Total cost:65p

Though I think I will unplug the unit before I go to bed at night just in case! Not keen on it being left on unattended after my handy work

Many thanks

Dom

[drummerjohn]

For anyone not feeling up to the task of swapping out the capacitor - print this forum thread off and take the product back to the retailer and explain there is a known issue with the product and it hasn't fulfilled the obligations of the Sale of Goods Act. As long as it is within 6 years of purchase the Sale of Goods Act will cover you. The retailer in this instance may repair the product free of charge OR offer you a discount on a new product OR give you a part refund determined by the cost of the product and how long you have had it. You could try Panasonic direct and discuss this issue with them but your contract is with the retailer.

[drummerjohn]

Oh yes - good work by the way. I love it when people get their soldering irons out and fix things. Well done.

[Phil Thomas]

Panasonic DMR-EX75 No Freeview Fault

Just fixed mine as well - same capacitor as everybody else.
My thanks to all who supplied the info.

Regards to all

[Skinner83]

Another success! Many thanks to those that shared their knowledge particularly Gavtech. Another DMR-85 lives to record another day.

[houstmon]

This thread must have saved thousands of pounds in replacement unit costs, for the sake of pennies on replacement caps and a few soldering irons. :-)

[johnaerial]

Amazing isn't it. And when your DVD drive packs up, you can do something about that too!

(For some reason, the words 'DVD drive' have had a link added which will take you to a Currys site. Please ignore.

[72hmt]

A big thank you folks from another member of the 'dodgy panasonic capacitor club'.
According to Panasonic 'customer service' department the fault was not worth trying to get repaired. They said
I was lucky to have had 5 years use from my DMR EX 85.
An expenditure of under £5, a little solder, and here we go to prove them wrong! So much for planned
obsolescence.

[grahammy]

Originally Posted by Gavtech

That part number will apply to the original part which will be a standard 85° type capacitor. [ EDIT - Correction - It isn't. Its a 105 deg.]

Replacing it with that type will work of course ... but I recommend fitting a 105 degree type, if it can be sourced, because the part has shown itself to be vulnerable in this location, almost certainly due to the local heat as detailed elsewhere.

I don't have one of these machines to hand so I cannot tell how critical the component size is - or how much clearance there is between it and the digital board that mounts above it.... because it is also possible to use capacitors with a slightly higher voltage rating [ not too high] and often a value either side of the specified value.
The rating here may be critical - I don't know. But the problem of using other capacitors may be one of physical size.

Judging by the pix - it may be possible to mount a cap sideways if it is physically larger .... provided one can be sure it is physically secure.

As a newby..... I've got my Panny recorder apart and I'm looking at the 'soldering' option - do I have to somehow take the main board off to solder it underneath...????

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by grahammy

As a newby..... I've got my Panny recorder apart and I'm looking at the 'soldering' option - do I have to somehow take the main board off to solder it underneath...????

Welcome to the forum.

In an ideal world the capacitor would be installed that way - by penetrating the board with the wires and soldering underneath... but that remedy is only recommended for the experienced, and even then it is not without risk, as to go that far requires complete dismantling.

Most users have simply clipped off the existing component and soldered to the tails of the original leads which remain.

If you look through the thread you will find a video that shows someone doing this.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by Gavtech

If you look through the thread you will find a video that shows someone doing this.

It is in post number 218

[naresh27]

Hi,

Please can anyone help with a PDF of the Service Manual for the DMR-EX75EB ?
I am looking for a service code to re-index or retrieve lost recordings as the Navigator seems to have lost all of the approx 74 hours of recordings.

I am on F/W 1.20

Kind Regards and Thank You
Naresh

[Johnbs]

EX75 lost DVB channels only: found the thread, and then discovered that both the capacitors were implicated:

680uF / 10v top ruptured, but still measured c. 500uF
100uF / 25v top bulging, and measured c. 20uF !!!!

So, in my case, the 100uF was probably responsible for the actual failure.

Many thanks for the pointers.

John

PS used a 470uF @40v axial laid sideways to replace the 680uF. It's the esr spec which is more important for switching regulators.