VHS recorder stopped working

TechiMan

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Last night I was in the process of capturing a heap of old VHS tapes to my laptop using my capture device. After I had loaded the last tape into the machine (which as far as I could tell didn't look broken or the tape snapped inside apart from the front label which was partially hanging off), and decided to rewind the tape to the beginning to see what was on it, and I had left the room for a moment but when I came back a few seconds later I noticed the recorder had stopped working - no display panel lit up, the eject button wouldn't work, the ON button wouldn't work, nothing it was dead.

I unplugged the machine (which was plugged into one of those four way adapters, which I suppose isn't a good thing with 3 other plugs plugged in but i've never had this before) and tried it in a different plug socket but still nothing. I also took the fuse out of the plug replaced it with another one, but still nothing. Up until this point the machine was performing flawlessly, although I admit I did have the machine on most of the day chucking in tapes left right and centre, so maybe the machine overheated, that's the only thing I can think of. The machine is a Sony SLV SE740.

Anyone know what might have happened?.
 
Try this thread.


My SLV-F990 died a good few years years ago, was due to two capacitors in the PSU cage:

47uF 50V 105 deg C
1uF 50V 105 deg C

Use 105 deg C replacements.
 
Could it not be down to another cause?. How does a capacitor just die?. I've never had this on any other VHS recorder before. I got the feeling I was using it too much and had let it overheat, but then again I didn't see the machine getting hot. I would guess getting replacement capacitors won't be cheap. I don't understand circuits and capacitors. I have wondered maybe it's the power cable that's gone or been damaged. I just happen to have an identical VHS recorder but the machine screws up tapes. I could probably swap over the power cable or maybe the capacitors from the other machine.
 
Other causes. Of course there could be other causes but can you diagnose it? The capacitors failing is a know issue. Hence why I posted a link.

Capacitors expire due age and heat, Sony used perforated screening cages to surround the PSU so the heat does not dissipate easily. Cost less than a ÂŁ1 for the two.

However from your other suggestions I suggest you take it to a repair shop.
 
I've no idea what else could be the cause. Abit strange it happening so suddenly when I was rewinding a tape and then it stopped working. Are the capacitors easy to remove?.
 
I've no idea what else could be the cause. Abit strange it happening so suddenly when I was rewinding a tape and then it stopped working. Are the capacitors easy to remove?.
Yes, if you’re used to handling electronic components and can solder/de-solder neatly.
If not, try and find someone to repair it or source another VCR.
It's not an easy job for someone with no experience.
 
Could it not be down to another cause?. How does a capacitor just die?. I've never had this on any other VHS recorder before. I got the feeling I was using it too much and had let it overheat, but then again I didn't see the machine getting hot. I would guess getting replacement capacitors won't be cheap. I don't understand circuits and capacitors. I have wondered maybe it's the power cable that's gone or been damaged. I just happen to have an identical VHS recorder but the machine screws up tapes. I could probably swap over the power cable or maybe the capacitors from the other machine.
If you have an identical machine you should be able to just swap out Switching mode psu PCB, just a couple of connectors and a few screws. Power supply caps can fail just like that when the electrolyte drys up the value of the capacitor drops so low (beyond a tolerance) then the power supply simply will not switch on at all, very common.
 
Probably the same thing that happened to my Sanyo Betamax video which I bought off year about a year ago (had been serviced) in order to transfer old tapes to my PC, but with that machine it still powers up but nothing functions.

What does a PSU PCB look like?.
 
To be brutally honest If you have to ask that I'd advise you to get someone who knows a wee bit more about them to swap it over from your identical machine.
 
Probably the same thing that happened to my Sanyo Betamax video which I bought off year about a year ago (had been serviced) in order to transfer old tapes to my PC, but with that machine it still powers up but nothing functions.

What does a PSU PCB look like?.
It's the smaller circuit board on the right, or in other models the left. But as JayCee quite rightly points out its best left to an experienced technician, there are high voltages on that part of the circuit and you can still receive a shock even when the power is switched off if you don't know what you're doing.
 
The problem with getting someone to look at it is that there aren't any video repair shops these days, certainly not where I am in the UK. They've pretty much bitten the dust as most people just throw their old players out once they've stopped working and get a new one, although with VHS recorders they don't make em anymore. I think the last repair shop in my area closed about 15 years ago. Had a look on ebay but people are wanting upwards of ÂŁ50 for a working one (some with no remote), and there are plenty of spares and repairs that people are asking for 30 quid, why they want money for something that isn't working I don't know.
 
Unfortunately your are absolutely correct about all the repair shops disappearing, it's the throw away world we now live in which I was just talking about with another guy on here, that's not good news when you are faced with having to take your 2 year old 65 inch oled or even your old top of the line SVHS Panasonic VCR to the dump (painful)
If you have nothing to lose (in breaking the broken VCR) then have a go yourself. Leave it powered off for 1-2 hours before you open it up. If the VCR is (exactly) the same as the other one you have then have a go at swapping over the Psu Board. Take a photo of it in situ before removing connectors etc so you can refer to it if you need to later. Just make sure you unplug the power first and don't work with it powered on until the lid is back on. If there appears to be only one large Main Circuit board with the mechanism on top then the job is less straightforward.
Glad I kept hold of my excellent JVC HR-S6965 SUPER VHS vcr, it gives almost DVD picture quality, I cant believe how much they are going for on ebay now.
 
Unfortunately your are absolutely correct about all the repair shops disappearing, it's the throw away world we now live in which I was just talking about with another guy on here, that's not good news when you are faced with having to take your 2 year old 65 inch oled or even your old top of the line SVHS Panasonic VCR to the dump (painful)
If you have nothing to lose (in breaking the broken VCR) then have a go yourself. Leave it powered off for 1-2 hours before you open it up. If the VCR is (exactly) the same as the other one you have then have a go at swapping over the Psu Board. Take a photo of it in situ before removing connectors etc so you can refer to it if you need to later. Just make sure you unplug the power first and don't work with it powered on until the lid is back on. If there appears to be only one large Main Circuit board with the mechanism on top then the job is less straightforward.
Glad I kept hold of my excellent JVC HR-S6965 SUPER VHS vcr, it gives almost DVD picture quality, I cant believe how much they are going for on ebay now.
It is ashame people just throw them away, but if fixing them is expensive then they've no choice but to throw em out. I asked someone I know if they still had a VHS recorder so I could buy it off em, but they said they don't have anymore. I find it strange they never bothered to get another as I'm sure they must have VHS tapes with family home videos on them (they're in their late 30s so old enough to remember VHS) and had kids when standard Hi8 or DV camcorders were still very popular before DVD camcorders and DVD recorders became more commonplace, unless they never bothered to transfer the footage from their camcorder onto a full size VHS tape or DVD. Some people are lazing when it comes to home video recording, alot of people never bother to copy them from their camera, device or phone and it just sits there. Not good if the device, tape or machine breaks or files get corrupted and they never backed it up on another format. Once I've recorded something on my camera it goes straight onto my laptop either onto the internal HDD or an external HDD. I've never bothered to back them up on a DVD because of the huge file size and time it takes in converting them, but I'm in the process of doing it very slowly. I'd rather go back to using an Hi8 camcorder, so much easier.
 
It's a dying trade now unfortunately, I used to work for a few of them here where I live, its a REAL shame and a complete waste of all those years at college and money I spent training to become a TV repair engineer, it was all I wanted to be when I was at School (70's) I had to retrain to become an IT engineer.
Re: old recordings, fortunately the world has moved on from unreliable magnetic tape now and of course everything is either stored digitally on our phones or stored in the cloud (I'm not a fan of this really) It is very sensible to keep a local backup of all your stuff.
Many young people just be bothered until they lose their phone or tablet. Luckily I copied all my stuff from old camcorder tapes on to DVD discs years ago and backed up as data ISO files.
It's now so easy to watch content from your phone or tablet on the new TV's and the camera's are getting so good now its kind of killed off video cameras (unless you want good zoom), I've had a very expensive sony camera sitting idle in my cupboard for the last 4-5 years, I just can't come to part with it or my SVHS video recorder even though the VCR is not plugged in now as my new TV doesn't have the correct socketry. The world of technology is moving too fast, sometimes for the worse.
 
It's a dying trade now unfortunately, I used to work for a few of them here where I live, its a REAL shame and a complete waste of all those years at college and money I spent training to become a TV repair engineer, it was all I wanted to be when I was at School (70's) I had to retrain to become an IT engineer.
Re: old recordings, fortunately the world has moved on from unreliable magnetic tape now and of course everything is either stored digitally on our phones or stored in the cloud (I'm not a fan of this really) It is very sensible to keep a local backup of all your stuff.
Many young people just be bothered until they lose their phone or tablet. Luckily I copied all my stuff from old camcorder tapes on to DVD discs years ago and backed up as data ISO files.
It's now so easy to watch content from your phone or tablet on the new TV's and the camera's are getting so good now its kind of killed off video cameras (unless you want good zoom), I've had a very expensive sony camera sitting idle in my cupboard for the last 4-5 years, I just can't come to part with it or my SVHS video recorder even though the VCR is not plugged in now as my new TV doesn't have the correct socketry. The world of technology is moving too fast, sometimes for the worse.
Yeah you're right about the TV repair industry being gone now. My dad's friend used to repair TVs starting his trade at a young age back in the 60s, lots of times in the 80s and 90s he used to come round our house to repair our TV or video recorder for next to nothing. I've never been fan of cloud storage, anything stored online with private information I stay clear of.

I wonder if the MTS and MP4 files on my HDD can transferred back to my HD camera, would be interesting to try so I could hook up the connection to the TV and transfer the footage to my DVD recorder (if I can get it fixed) or the VHS recorder (if I can get it fixed - I need to because a tape is stuck in it), that way I could just real time transfer the videos to that medium, but the chances of a modern TV having the connections are slim. Too much messing about with software which more often than not don't work very well especially with very large files in different formats.
 
If you have a Laptop or PC with CD/DVD drive you can use "ConvertXtoDVD" to transfer files to a DVD discs. It support most file types and works very well.
The stuck tape in the VCR can be removed by manually winding the eject mechanism (a small cogged wheel by the side of the loading tray) the power doesn't even need to be on however you will need to remove the cover from the VCR. There are plenty of videos on youtube to help you.
 

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