My DCC170 stopped working. Absolutely nothing happens with normal C-cassette. With DCC casette, I can hear the motor spinning in few seconds cycles. Display stays blank, sometimes the first square block blinks.
I read that this could be because broken belt and changed it following DR DCC’s video.
The old belt was ruined, so this was needed.
But it didn’t help the main problem. Symptoms are the same as before new belt.
I’ve measured the power source and it’s ok.
Battery is dead though. Should the player work without it with external power or does it require working battery at the same time?
I don’t know the excact measure of the belt but here is a picture of the bag label it came in. Does it tell anything?
The old belt was still in one piece, just streched, so I don’t think there are particles left in motor.
After installing the new belt I rotated the motor by finger as was in video. All the wheels seemed to rotate well. But who knows, I didn’t understand to pay attention to motor wheel inside.
One thing I started to think was the step 15 in video, ”Memorize the position of middle switch”. In the video the switch seems to be on the right. After he replaced the belt, he says ”…one more time to get it back to middle section”. I followed this and set mine to middle. Was that correct?
He previously stated that the player won’t work if this is not set right.
I guess I have to open the player again.
Can you advice what else to check then? I guess de- and resoldering many times is not healthy either.
Hi,
If you set it in the middle, but the original position was left or rigth, the player will not work.
But that would also mean that the swicht might be broken as they easily break when not inserted correctly.
You really need to open it up again. You can easily see if the the switch is still intact and in the correct position. It should only fit one way, but the postion can be left, right or middle.
The motor might also be defect, but chances are slim that this happened.
We are happy to help if needed and repair it for you if needed.
What you need to do with the little switch, is make sure that whatever it’s set to when you put it back together, it matches what the mechanism is set to (which may not be the same as in the video). If you don’t, you’ll break the switch and then you have a big problem because matching switches are pretty much impossible to find.
Hopefully you got it right and it’s not too late.
Insert a cassette (DCC or ACC) in the cassette compartment. Open bottom of the recorder and take the top circuit board out carefully. You have to disconnect the flex cable between the top and bottom boards because there’s a screw underneath it; reconnect the flex cable and plug in a 6V (center positive) power supply in the top board so you can power the unit up while you have it open. Check through the little hole in the circuit board to make sure the plastic actuator of the switch is between the two metal prongs of the mechanism. You may need a flashlight. If not, you’ll have to desolder the motor and switch contacts, and take the bottom board out to correct the problem. If the switch is broken off, contact the DCC Museum for a repair.
If the switch is okay and you push Play while the power is off and a cassette is inserted, the motor and the two pulleys should go back and forth while the screen turns on with a little animation. It won’t work without a cassette. If there’s a cassette in there but it’s not powering on, the problem could be the cassette detection switch in the lid. Most of the time, putting a piece of sticky tape over it with fix the problem; if not, you’ll have to open up the lid and clean the switch (or short it so it always thinks there’s a cassette).
If you push Stop while power is off and it has external power plugged in, the unit should go into charge mode (I’m not sure if a battery is needed but probably yes). If it doesn’t, there’s an electronic problem. The DCC Museum can help.
