I recently bought a DCC 175 without adapter and to be honest this was a wild guess !
I tried with an alternative power adapter (around 5,75V). When I press the Stop/Off button, it shows Charging on the display for some time (several seconds at least). When I remove the original battery and do the same exercise, charging is shown for just for a split second.
Edited:
I read some other related issues in this forum and therefore know a cassette must be in the device. So when the DCC cassette is in and I press the play button I can hear a light clicking sound (relais ?!?). It also indicates if the hold switch is set or not. But that is all it does for now. I read some reply in other topic by Jac, referring to the lid switch and analog tape record indicator (not sure where to find both).
Any idea what is the problem (power supply issue) and how/if it can be fixed?
Thanks in advance for your feedback and support!
Hi,
If the hold switch message appears, while the switch is not in that position, the switch is broken or there is something wrong with the top board. We have seen this a couple of times.
First of all thanks for your response. The hold switch functions fine! If it is set to hold and I turn on the DCC 175 it will show the message that âSet is on holdâ. If the hold switch is off, then the charging message appears. Did you ever repair portable DCCâs with the âChargingâ issue? As mentioned: when I turn on the DCC 175, I hear a light click sound (similar like a small relais sound, only when the cassette is in), unfortunately no motor humming sound :(.
So any ideas or thoughts what might be wrong (e.g. weak a power supply)?
I am halfway opening the âdamnâ thing which is easy to do (thx to your vids) even the desoldering is not that hard as I have done similar activities more often. But when it is the belt, I would expect to hear the motor humming shortly.
All components/capacitors look fine, even the boards seem okay. so not sure. I also measured the analog/digital cassette switch which seems okay. Let me find the AB switch and hope it is not the motor .
I opened the DCC 175, desoldered the PCB board (fairly easy job) and removed the old belt (still intact but way to loose). Now I will order a new belt but have some question about the little switch, gear settings, cam wheel, capstans:
I read on on the internet that the âChargingâ issue could be related to several switches or due to incorrect motor direction, gears or camwheel. I think all switches are fine from what I measured/checked/see, but how can I âresetâ the gears, camwheel and âmotor directionâ settings to an initial state? As mentioned above, I read about âlever of the camwheelâ, capstans, motor direction, etc⊠, but it is (still) a bit puzzling to me . So any feedback/direction would help.
Mainly the position of the black gear which is controlled by an electro controlled switch. I mean the gear that makes the rattling/clicking sound if you turn in reverse. You manual change its position three times before it is in the right position, but it is hard to see on the video what this exact position is.
Normally that is not important. You have the side a, b or neutral (right in the middle position). As long as the mechanical switch is aligned with the electronic slider, the player will recognize the position.
Sorry for all the questions⊠but having a DCC 175 feels like a pearl and therefore want to exclude every wrong/false step in fixing this.
Thanks again for your reply which I reply appreciate a lot âŠ
So assuming that all switches work fine (some I did actually measure like tape detect and a-b switch while others seem fine based on visual inspection).
So what about the black gear as highlighted in red in the attached image? What is its default position? In your repair video (DCC 170), you manually switched the lever 3 times (and each time turned the gears forth and back) before the position was fine. So from the video I couldnât clearly see the position you set it before you assembled all back together. Can you please explain the right position before i start assembling or doesnât it matter like the A-B switch (lever) as highlighted in green?
Furthermore, could a loose belt cause wrong switch and/or gear position so that the DCC will not do anything except showing âChargingâ?
Thanks for your feedback as all becomes more clear now!
I did some more research and playing around with the camwheel lever and a-b switch. I didnât notice during my first tests that the Camwheel lever is responsible for the A-B switch lever position. So now I have a better understanding of it all. Still things that need to be checked are the lid sensor and motor. Not sure how the test if the motor is till okay.
So all other switched seem okay and could be measured accordingly, electronics (e.g. PCB/Chips/Capacitors/SMD/resistors) look fine, gear and ab-switch should be in right position, so still three possible issues, lid switch, motor or maybe the power adapter could be a problem (SKY TRONIC AC-DC ADAPTOR ,SKY 500 3-4.5-6-7.5-9-12V 500mA 6VA [max]).
Made some steps⊠new belt has been placed and all is re-assembled correctly.
Good news is that I didnât broke it further , but bad news is that the problem still exists (âChargingâ only and the âSet holdâ message if the switch is set).
What I do notice once I press play, I can hear a very soft clicking sound while the display shortly (split second) shows a display full of black block characters. Thatâs it . I ordered a new adapter (6v 500ma) to be sure about the input voltage/amperes, but honestly I donât think this will solve it.
Have you tried using another DC adaptor? It must be 6V DC, center positive, and at least 400mA (0.4A); more (milli)amps is okay, but the voltage must be exactly 6V, and preferably stabilized.
Donât get a cheap supermarket power supply, get one from a renowned supplier like Adafruit, RSOnline, Mouser, Digikey etc.
Yesterday afternoon I found the issue, as mentioned earlier I had the feeling it was linked to the power adapter. This morning I see your reply and it is as you describe!
Yesterday I changed my power supply from its 4,5V position (were it outputs 7,5V) to its 6V position (were it output 9,5V). This combination seems to work as the player finally starts up⊠but now the replaced snare (MFBFreaks) seems too tight/thick as it slips most of the time. So when the player starts I can hear and see (hold the white switch when cover is removed ) the motor spins back and forth endlessly. In some cases it starts and the display comes to life but fails to play for a few seconds. So the last challenge is to find a fitting belt and stabilized 6V power supply (hopefully the one I ordered does the job right). I contacted MFBFreaks and they will deliver a new belt, so hopefully this one is the right size else I will reach out to the DCC Museum.
WHOOOOOO⊠I did it thanks to all your feedback and encouraging words!
First of all I yesterday looked for a better power adapter in my âbox of junkâ. Luckily I did find one giving a proper 6V output and the right amperes. With this the DCC 175 now every time starts properly when pressing the play button. The only issue left was the motor spinning âback and forthâ a few times and then powered off. So I decided to reopen the player and de-soldered everything again . Then I noticed that the belt had come lose from the little roller (below in red the roller I mean). So the belt was in a straight line between motor and black gear! I realigned the belt again, cleaned all rollers, oiled the roller/axes and finally did lots of manual turns (and realigning) before I reassembled everything. That did the trick, so the now I have a fully working and restored DCC 175 in decent condition, even battery still charges (see photo - @Dr DCC, for your interest, the serial Number is MZ0095370202771). Total spend ⏠105,-, I guess that isnât a bad investment .
!
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),
. I ordered a new adapter (6v 500ma) to be sure about the input voltage/amperes, but honestly I donât think this will solve it.
