[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by nickx

I can't get over how usefull this information is.. my next step is to fix it though. I noticed farnell offer this capacitor as a DC or non DC component. I assume in the absence of a DC specification it must be non DC. Could someone please confirm this. Appologies if it is a silly question.

Incidentally I noticed not only does Cap no C1533 haved a domed top, but C1530 does too on my DMR EX75.

Thanx again.

The capacitor required is a conventional type.. not a non-polarised which I presume is what you mean.

Replace C1530 also, if it is showing signs of stress.

I wonder is this the same capacitor as referred to by Dr Al in post number 83?

Is the second problem capacitor [ referring to the picture in post 76 ] the one immediately to the north west of the blue ovoid?

[nickx]

Dr Al (post 83) kindly pointed out his problem capacitor which relates to mine to. This is NW of the one in pic (post 76 - thx too).

The specs I have are as follows:
C1533 - 6.3v, 680uF, RJX series, CE 105 degC, 0614
C1530 - 25v, 100uF, RJG series, CE 105 degC, 0549

on searching Farnell I found C5133 but not C1530. Please see below for 25v search where a 25v DC and 25v option came up. As a novice I was at a loss and google did not help here either. Would I be correct in saying the 25v option below is the polarised capacitor.
On searching

Voltage Rating

6.3V dc (1)
25V (46)
25V dc (35)

I've ordered my soldering kit and fine wire cutters in preparation.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by nickx

on searching Farnell I found C5133 but not C1530. Please see below for 25v search where a 25v DC and 25v option came up. As a novice I was at a loss and google did not help here either. Would I be correct in saying the 25v option below is the polarised capacitor.
On searching

Voltage Rating

6.3V dc (1)
25V (46)
25V dc (35)
I've ordered my soldering kit and fine wire cutters in preparation.

Can you supply a link to those alternatives [ if you think it is still necessary ] ... because either of the first two on this page should be satisfactory

[nickx]

I have pasted the links below. Any advice would be much appreciated. The 6.3v rating is non dc and the 25v capacitor is dc.

PANASONIC|EEUFK0J681|CAPACITOR, ELECTROLYTIC, 6.3V | Farnell United Kingdom

PANASONIC|ECA1EHG101|CAPACITOR, 100UF, 25V | Farnell United Kingdom

Could you please point me in the right direction.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by nickx

I have pasted the links below. Any advice would be much appreciated. The 6.3v rating is non dc and the 25v capacitor is dc.

PANASONIC|EEUFK0J681|CAPACITOR, ELECTROLYTIC, 6.3V | Farnell United Kingdom

PANASONIC|ECA1EHG101|CAPACITOR, 100UF, 25V | Farnell United Kingdom

Could you please point me in the right direction.

Both of those capacitors are perfectly satisfactory.

[nickx]

Thankx again for some really sound advice.

[Jozafeen]

Another newbie to AV registering to thank everyone for the brilliant information on this thread

My DMR-EZ45V (the freeview/VCR/DVD combo) lost freeview after a retune and, as my father-in-law had taken an ES20DEB with the same fault to the authorised repairers and was told it was an uneconomic repair as it needed a whole new board (!!!), was ready to replace it until I found this post.

Despite being an IT geek, I'd never had a go at anything like this before so the pictures were especially helpful. On opening the case, it looked completely different to most of the photos on here but the blown capacitor was dead easy to spot - C1808 just behind the DVD unit.

So - another Panasonic back up and running for a few pence and a bit of swearing at a rubbish borrowed soldering iron!

[Drongo123]

Hi

Just adding my vote of thanks for this thread. My DMR EX75 stolidly refused to jump into life on digital switchover day. I found this thread, tried a separate freeview box to confirm that we did actually have a decent signal (we did), checked capacitor C1533 (very slightly bulgy), had it replaced by a solder-capable friend who also has a Farnell account, plugged it back in and voila! Freeview channels galore.

If your Panasonic doesn't pick up freeview, take notice of this thread, it can save you a fortune!

[Yuko]

Originally Posted by Jozafeen

Another newbie to AV registering to thank everyone for the brilliant information on this thread

My DMR-EZ45V (the freeview/VCR/DVD combo) lost freeview after a retune and, as my father-in-law had taken an ES20DEB with the same fault to the authorised repairers and was told it was an uneconomic repair as it needed a whole new board (!!!), was ready to replace it until I found this post.

Despite being an IT geek, I'd never had a go at anything like this before so the pictures were especially helpful. On opening the case, it looked completely different to most of the photos on here but the blown capacitor was dead easy to spot - C1808 just behind the DVD unit.

So - another Panasonic back up and running for a few pence and a bit of swearing at a rubbish borrowed soldering iron!

At me DMR EH65, a problem with DVD.

[stringy33]

Thanks again to everyone here - much expense and time saved with my fault identical to that depicted on p1 of this thread - ex75, no freeview, analogue channels and everything else working fine. The suspect capacitor seemed just slightly domed. Replaced. All working now.

For those who want to save on minimum orders or postage Mapiln's capacitor code DT69A seems to do the job (so far anyway!). As it has slightly higher capacitance and voltage rating I did check with a friend and then went ahead.

Thanks again.

[ianhawdon]

Having the same problem with a DMR-EX95V

Stumbled upon this thread just a little too late though, as I was looking for the component when this came up... nice to see my theory/diagnosis is probably correct though

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by stringy33

For those who want to save on minimum orders or postage Mapiln's capacitor code DT69A seems to do the job (so far anyway!). As it has slightly higher capacitance and voltage rating I did check with a friend and then went ahead.

Thanks again.

What value did you use? 1000uF/16V ?

[Loon1967]

All, just a note to say thanks for the steer as to where to look for this fault.

Symptoms - No digital reception at all, analogue reception fine, everything else worked fine.

On checking I had two suspect looking capacitors, the 680 uF 6.3v, and the adjacent 100 uF 25v.

My father-in-law (ex IBA television engineer) reckoned any distortion is normally enough to indicate failure, so I planned on replacing both.

Ordered from e-bay, pack of 5 times 25v 100uF, pack of 3 times 680uF 6.3v,all 105 Deg rated.

Total bill - £3.68
1 1/2 hours total from scratch, which included removing the entire board from the unit, and ensured a good connection.

Once back together I was thinking that it was all looking far too easy & straightforward, but plugged in as good as new.

By my reckoning that's over £200 saved not having to replace the unit, so I cannot begin to thank you enough for that steer.

[knross]

Originally Posted by Gavtech

What value did you use? 1000uF/16V ?

Hi - my first post - I have a 4 year old DMR-EX75 which has just lost Freeview so this thread looks excellent in resolving this. I am a beginner in terms of repairs so looking for a source that does not have a minimum order value so noted the Maplin product. Do you have a concern over using this one?

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by knross

Hi - my first post - I have a 4 year old DMR-EX75 which has just lost Freeview so this thread looks excellent in resolving this. I am a beginner in terms of repairs so looking for a source that does not have a minimum order value so noted the Maplin product. Do you have a concern over using this one?

Welcome to the forum.



Only mildly.
Considerations about this issue have appeared earlier in the thread.

Component value tolerances of Electrolytic capacitors is never close in any case.

I dare say that tolerances are generally better these days, but it used to be held that an electrolytic may be up to twice its rated value.... so a 680uF may be up to 1360uF ... but therefore a 1000uF may be as conceivably high as 2000uF.

The concern with very high values is that at cold switch-on, whilst in their discharged state, the capacitor momentarily presents an almost dead short to the preceding semiconductors that are feeding them.

Also, if the voltage rating of the capacitor exceeds by too great a margin, the voltage it will encounter in use, it cannot 'self-repair' which is a characteristic of electrolytic capacitors.

Each circuit application is different and these factors may or may not be critical , according to application.
In this case here, it does not seem to have proved critical.

Some users in this thread have used 1000uF caps and do not seem to have had any problems.

Good luck with your repair.

Skim through as much of the thread as possible and you should find pointers that will help you with your task.
Also, check the nearby associated capacitor which has also shown signs of stress in some machines... before placing your order.

Let us know how you get on.

[ianhawdon]

Originally Posted by ianhawdon

Having the same problem with a DMR-EX95V

I have made a blog post showing my repair: How I saved (about) £400 on a new PVR (Personal Video Recorder)

[Stockers99]

I specifically joined this forum to say a BIG thank you to all those that have posted advice. My DMR EX75 lost the freeview channels about 1 week after the DVD Drive unit failed!!! I purchased 4 capacitors from ebay for £2.50 spent 20 minutes with shaky hands and a soldering iron and the unit now picks up all channels.

I should get a huge pile of brownie points from the wife and kids as they have a huge list of things they want to record.

In the longer run I was thinking about buying a unit with a failed hard drive with the plan that I could drop in the hard disk from my player to restore recording to DVDs etc (the kids like to keep films). If I go down this route will the machine automatically boot up and see what's on my hard disk or will it try to do some sort of reset and wipe everything first?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Neil

[knross]

Originally Posted by Gavtech

Welcome to the forum.


Let us know how you get on.

Success - Thanks for the guidance. It was the C1533 cap (the 680uF one) that had swollen so I went ahead with the 1000uF/16V cap (Part DT69A from Maplins at 49p). The other capicitor looked fine.

Being a complete novice I sought help from an experienced engineer so here are some pointers on doing this that I hadn't picked up in the thread:

Once you have removed the case lid, to find the swollen cap you then have to remove the centre circuit board (between the hard drive and the DVD drive).
To do this unscrew the 4 screws (or 3 as that was all mine had) and disconnect the 7 ribbon connections on top.
TRICKY bit - the circuit board is plugged in to 2 other connectors below and there is only a small amount of give to the SD card circuit board so careful when removing with a bit of wiggle!
Once removed you will likely see the offending capacitor so snip off and solder on the replacement.
Fit back together and you should be able to scan your Freeview channels once more.

Thanks again to all who posted to this thread - certainly worth doing this repair.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by knross

Success - Thanks for the guidance. It was the C1533 cap (the 680uF one) that had swollen so I went ahead with the 1000uF/16V cap (Part DT69A from Maplins at 49p). The other capacitor looked fine.

Thanks for posting back.

Such accounts can offer encouragement to others.

I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.. My Panasonic DMR EX85 all of a sudden stopped receiving any free view channels and I thought on the off chance I would have a quick look on these forums to see if anyone else reported such issues, so I was very surprised to find this thread

Anyway, I'm a complete novice when it comes to these things but I followed the comments posted on this thread, bought the 1000uF/16V cap from Maplins and to my surprise, it worked!!!!

The most difficult part was getting the old capacitor out, I resorted to twisting the old one out which is probably not good practice. I then jammed the new capacitor into the board and soldered the shorten legs of the new capacitor (I had to snip them as they were to long) to the remains of the old..

To my surprise, the process was not as complex as I thought... I'm so glad it works!!!!!

Again thanks very much

[suecie]

Hello,
Just posting to say my DMR-Ex75 went on the blink on Wednesday and then I lost all my digital channels :-o

I've been trying to find a cause - was it the aerial? the transmitter? I kept re-tuning and only getting analogue channels - it was starting to do my head in. As a last resort I googled for problems with the DMR-Ex75 and I found this forum - finally it makes sense, and other people have experienced the same thing! The machine is going to the 'dad clinic' hopefully it can be fixed...

Thanks

[jackpot]

Evening all
I went to bed last night after watching freeview through my DMR EX85. Woke up this morning and there were no signals/ no service on any channels.

1. Is this a capacitor issue which this thread refers to
2. If so how much can i expect to pay if I take it into a repair shop as there is no way that i will be able to attempt this my self. I wouldn't even know how to take the cover off

thanks for help

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by jackpot

Evening all
I went to bed last night after watching freeview through my DMR EX85. Woke up this morning and there were no signals/ no service on any channels.

1. Is this a capacitor issue which this thread refers to

It is extremely likely to be.

Originally Posted by jackpot

2. If so how much can i expect to pay if I take it into a repair shop as there is no way that i will be able to attempt this my self. I wouldn't even know how to take the cover off

I would guess in the region of £30 to £40... but it is entirely circumstantial.

The best thing would be to approach a repair agent and negotiate with them... of the costs to replace the C1533 capacitor.

Good luck... and please keep us informed of how you progress.

[tommy129]

I've just registered to say a big thank you to all who have contributed in the past and saved me a fortune in repairs or even a new machine.

Like many others, my DMR-Ex75, bought in Aug 06 started to have quick flashings on recordings, particularly on Channel 4, after 30/40 minutes of the recording, about 2 months before failing. One evening I checked and the unit hadn't recorded a programme. A quick scan revealed the Freeview channels had gone down and only analogue channels available. I could get Sky via the A2 channel and this is how I recorded for a few weeks before taking the plunge. A bit of a pain this way, as Sky had to be manually changed (no Sky +).

Got the new 105 deg capacitor (or 5 of them as min order) from RS Components (part 571-278) for £8 inc p&p. Likewise with a number of others, I found out about the min order of £20 with Farnells.

Being fairly limited on my soldering skills it took about 1 hour. The hardest part I had, was cutting the out the old capacitor - not much room to work in and I used a pair of sharp scissors in the end. Put it back together and hey presto it scanned and found all the Freeview channels. Early days but looking good.

Being a Panny fan with virtually all my Home entertainment equipment from them, I am a little disappointed about this, as I thought they were usually pretty reliable. The UK Sale of Goods Act and 6 years warranty perhaps need to be mentioned to retailers for this known defect, for any that follow on this forum, who are a little afraid of soldering !! Unfortunately the retailer I bought mine from has gone bust so I had no comeback there.

Panny perhaps ought to learn from Canon who have had problems on cameras with CCD sensors and are carrying out repairs free of charge regardless of age !

[jackpot]

Hello again
If its a capacitor problem, would that mean that no freeview channels would be available. Just that my recent problem i've lost most of them but i do have some left.
Coincidently my girlfriends Ex77 has lost some channels but not all and her panasonic plasma tv has done like wise.
Is is possbile that her TV could have succumb to the same fate with a capacitor issue?

thanks

[mooblie]

Just to add my thanks - another success story:

DMR-EX85 exhibiting the "No digital channels found" symptom.
C1533 found to be swollen, but not burst.
Changed it for a 680µF 10V replacement (18p from Farnell).
New capacitor was a little longer than the original, so I lay it down on the board and soldered it to the cropped leads from the original - thereby also avoiding having to remove the main board to get access underneath.
Re-assembled - digital channels all found OK!

(Tip: removing just two ribbon cables from the upper board covering the capacitor allows you to "fold" this board out of the way, over onto the DVD drive, saving removing the four (?) other ribbon cables.)

Amazing how one analogue component causes such a specific behavioural fault in the digital domain.

Thanks again.

[Gavtech]

Originally Posted by mooblie

Just to add my thanks - another success story:

DMR-EX85 exhibiting the "No digital channels found" symptom.
C1533 found to be swollen, but not burst.
Changed it for a 680µF 10V replacement (18p from Farnell).
New capacitor was a little longer than the original, so I lay it down on the board and soldered it to the cropped leads from the original - thereby also avoiding having to remove the main board to get access underneath.
Re-assembled - digital channels all found OK!

(Tip: removing just two ribbon cables from the upper board covering the capacitor allows you to "fold" this board out of the way, over onto the DVD drive, saving removing the four (?) other ribbon cables.)

Amazing how one analogue component causes such a specific behavioural fault in the digital domain.

Thanks again.

Thanks for your report.

Good job.

[Artie Fufkin]

Thanks from me too. My DMR 75 lost freeview channels as well.

My local Maplin didn't have the DT69 1000uf 16V in stock so I ended up buying a couple [in case my ham fisted soldering melted one] online. This cost £3.82 in total. Still a fair saving on the possible cost of a new HDD/DVD recorder I suppose.

...and soldering's not too difficult really.

1. Snip the existing capacitor, leaving some legs showing [5mm].
2. Snip the new capacitor's legs to maybe 10mm.
3. Bend these legs gently 90 degrees so the [bigger] new capacitor can rest on it's side on the circuit board once soldered.
4. Have someone hold the new legs touching the old legs while you use one of your hands to hold the solder and your other hand to hold the iron.

Heck, it doesn't look pretty but it works.

[johnaerial]

Another success, thanks very much. My DMR-EX75 now lives again! Replaced the capacitor and digital channels are restored.

The trickiest bits were removing the left hand side of the 4" circuit board to get to the capacitor (how hard do you pull it?) and not knowing quite how hard to tug the ribbon cables. As it turns out, a firm pull and a wiggle from side too side does the job.

I snipped the old cap off leaving the legs protruding from the circuit board and shortened the legs of the new cap and crimped them around the protruding stubs and then dabbed quickly a blob of solder on to each leg. It is clearly important not to linger too long with the soldering iron lest the circuit board soldered connection is disturbed.

But in the end, the whole process is not as daunting as first it might appear!

The adjacent 1530 looks is looking a little bulbous so I might replace that in due course.

Many thanks for the info and pictures.

[ianhawdon]

quick question...

Why are people snipping the legs off the old capacitor and soldering the new one onto them? Surely it's a lot easier to take the whole board out, unsolder the old cap, and solder the new one through the two holes on the board. (as I did with the DMR-EX95V i mentioned earlier)