I have a Philips DCC 730 that won’t turn on. I don’t find any classic fuses on the power board, unless they are integrated … Do you have any suggestions on where they can be and how to repair them?
The fuse is a little round black plastic part near the power inlet. In my recorder it has the words “FUSE 160mAT 250V” printed on it 
You can download the service manual at https://digitalcompactcassette.github.io/Documentation/Service%20Manuals/philips_dcc730.pdf .
If the machine doesn’t power on, it doesn’t necessarily have to be the fuse; it’s possible that the power switch is dirty, or the MOV is open or one of the power rails isn’t operating because of bad capacitors or a bad regulator or something.
Be careful, you don’t want to zap yourself on 220 or 230V or whatever. If it is the fuse, make sure you replace it with the correct rating (as printed on the circuit board). If you only have glass fuses, you may have to rig it up. Don’t use chicken wire; the fuse is there for a reason: if something else is shorting the power supply, the fuse sacrifices itself to keep the rest of the electronics alive.
===Jac
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Thank you, Jac, for your fast reply and for link.
Obviously, if I will check the various parts of the power supply with a tester, I will be more than careful since the voltage here is 230V …
Another question… forgive my ignorance…
What do you mean “MOV”?
Thanks
In most cases it is the fuse. Easy to measure without power.
You can short it (quickly) to see if it powers on, but need to replace it to be sure nothing else is wrong.
Ralf
Metal Oxide Varistor
=== Jac
Some news. I have disassembled the recorder and found three power supply capacitors with some vitrified glue underneath. This is likely to have short-circuited the diodes just around; I have unsoldered the capacitors and I am cleaning up everything. Before reassembling them and trying if it lights up I want to clean everything thoroughly. Stay tuned…
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I unsoldered the capacitors, I cleaned up the dried glue, I reassembled everything and it works. There is only one problem: despite having cleaned the head with isopropyl alcohol, every time I insert the cassette from the beginning, “clean head” appears on the display, while if I play the cassette from any point this writing does not appear. What may have happened?
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That is normal with the 730 and 951. When there is the slightest variation in contact head vs tape this message appears.
It is not a big problem and most likely caused by the tape and not the head. There is really not much you can do other then ignoring. As long as there is no dropouts you are fine.
One thing you might consider is changing the pinch rollers.
Ralf
Thank you, Ralf. There are no dropouts, the recording and subsequent playing are perfect. The pinch rollers appear perfect, a little dirty.
Hi,
I would then just live with it. We all have this problem more or less with the 951 and 730.
Naturally it will get better if the pinch rollers (whom are 25 years old) are replaced, but it might not completely solve the problem.
Ralf
Thanks, Ralf. Does the DCC museum have any of these pinch rollers?
Yes, we have New Pinch rollers for every dcc player.
You can contact us for more info at [email protected]
Ralf