TS-450S Audio Fault Repair - 16 May 2022

Symptom: Complete and total loss of audio.
C104 a 470uF electrolytic capacitor had catastrophically failed blowing the capacitor’s electrolyte material out the bottom of the capacitor and onto the PC board. The C104 capacitor was replaced and all the electrolyte material was cleaned from the board which had reacted with green PCB mask causing the mask to be completely deteriorated from the area under the capacitor and leaving exposed copper after cleaning.
There is reasonable concern that the electrolyte material would have ultimately corroded the copper PCB tracks.

[@OpSic66]

C104 is the most common audio failure seen in the TS-450s and TS-690s model. If you have an audio issue, always check that cap first. Most of these radios are now at the age where all capacitors should be checked and replaced as needed. Also take a very good look at the memory battery on the back of the faceplate, if they leak they can cause a lot of damage. They're not too particularly hard to replace either.

[@petermiles6557]

Thanks, good advice.

[@Caprica-Approaches]

Thank you! Very helpful to see, and hear you describe, the repair techniques and considerations you had! As @fredvicary5935 suggested, it gives us confidence 🙂 I have two TS-450S's, one in California, one in British Columbia - both needing repairs. Any suggestions are most welcome! Thank you again.

[@isidrohuguet6825]

Saludos desde mi país.. Mi kenwood Ts 450 S he detectado que solo sale con muy poca potencia unos 20 W en AM/FM/SSB.. este condensador que nos muestra ¿ afecta a la transmisión.? También he detectado que en la escucha en USb y en LSB no hay mucha diferencia al momento de escuchar pues se entiende con facilidad en las dos modalidad. Saludos cordiales y gracias por documentarnos... Saludos desde la zona EA... Ea2ecp...Operador Isidro

[@fredvicary5935]

wonderful. I am sure I can fix it myself. I was scared to try but now I'm sure ill be OK. thanks

[@petermiles6557]

Good luck Fred, keen to hear how you go.

[@Driver-UK]

Excellent well done 👍👍 My Kenwood TS 420s has exactly the same problem 🙁 your not hear Manchester UK to do a repair for me are you ?? Probably not listening to your accent 👍👍

[@skylabby]

Great work peter, thanks for sharing.

[@ciaoitalia683]

Hello, I bought this radio recently on eBay, everything works, but there is no sound at all, it's deaf as hell, I'm devastated, I don't know what to do, or maybe I don't know how to turn something on?

[@lptelegdy8298]

Thanks Peter ...I think I will tackle mine now.! KD0TKX

[@stevegooch2356]

Thanks for the great video! Saved my butt (and a lot of $$$$).

[@stevegooch2356]

Follow up question: C104 fixed the audio coming out of the speaker, BUT the ACC2 (pin 3) and DSP3 (for digital mode into sound card) audio is almost non-existent. Can you point me to where the fault might be for that?

[@isidrohuguet6825]

El C 101 ¿No es de 6,3 Volt.?

[@richardmillican7733]

I have the same issue where the cap was changed but the tracks to and from have perished.
I see that one side of the cap goes to the resistor (track on underside of board) but the other side was tracked to in between the 2 black filters.
Any idea where I can "wire" the cap legs to on the underside of the board to get the cap back into the circuit? ?
The tracks are gone!

[@bktx1975]

I'm having the exact issue. I'm comfortable with soldering but haven't done this kind of repair before. Any suggestions on sourcing capacitors, or does it matter as long as they are the correct value and type? I would probably need to get a solder sucker and a jig as well. I have a solder wick but a sucker seems much cleaner and precise.

[@joeburch9515]

thanks for sharing, but you owe it to yourself to get a better solder sucker.