You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low. Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
12voltvids Hi i have an issue with an eject mechanism on my JVC SVHS VCR when i insert a tape it does not get through or gets stuck what could be the issue if i eject a tape i get same issue not sure whats causing it..
This mechanism is similar to the mechanism used in the Hitachi VT-11. Except there was more metal so there is less stuff to break. On mine the head was worn, so I replaced it. Even though the vcr has a lot of ours on it. Everything works fine. A shame that mechanisms got so cheap
I just dug one of these out of my dads basement, but I'm not getting any sound. Nice clear video from both outputs but now sound. Tested both RCA and VHF, Cables are good and so is cassette. Any common Audio problems with these old models? Thanks in advance.
Hey man, I have JVC HR-D120 from 1983. I found that it blew one of these circuit protectors but NOT on the power supply. It was on the main board underneath. This prevented the tape to load and thread so the machine wouldn't accept a tape. I shorted the pins of the circuit protector and...VOILA! The VCR is back to life again! One question though, is it safe to leave it as is or do you reccommend to replace the circuit protector IC?
+Fivos Sakellis Replace the circuit protector.They are there for a reason, they act like a fuse, but act much faster than a fuse to protect semiconductors.
+Fivos Sakellis Used to see them blown all the time with a tape jammed.Usually wet type cleaning tapes, or tapes that had pop or juice spilled on them. It would stal out the drum, draw too much current and pop goes the ICP. They can just fail for no reason, they are very sensitive and very fast acting.
This tells me something...The machine needs a new loading belt because when I press play, the loading motor tries to thread the tape but it can't. Could this be the reason why it drew too much current?
+Fivos Sakellis Yes that would be the reason. The loose belt probably stalled out the motor while it was slipping, or if it was sticky, it could have stretched and wound right around the motor stalling it completely.
I just found a Hitachi VCR 3 head MTS stereo with this mechanism. The belts are bad. The VCR could load tapes for a moment, but now it does not turn on anymore. Only the VFD display turns on, and none of the functions work. What causes this? I'm guessing capacitors in the power supply.
Hey old chap, I've got a Toshiba VCR (V-109F) from 1990. It was in a terrible shape, as it wasn't used for a decade. I replaced the belts (they turned into a black grease), put oil on the mechanism (am I wrong putting oil in stead of grease?) and I washed the whole unit, as long as the mode switch, but it still doesn't work. Once I put a tape, it loads, but the video head doesn't spin. Thus, play, FF, rew, etc. won't work, and it ejects too slowly to give the tape back. It just loads again. What happened to this unit? Dead cap? Is it recoverable? Thx in advance
Could be leaky caps in the power supply if it is a switching supply. The voltage drops. If the head doesn't spin up, check the drum motor supply. It will usually have a 12 volt supply to feed the drive IC, as the motor itself will be a 3 phase motor as is the capstan, so a drive IC tapes the 12v DC and turns it into a 3 phase AC signal to drive the motor.
Well actually, I tried to check the voltage by putting a LED on the head connector, and the head started to spin... Slowly I'll try to check the caps when I have the equipment required. PS: Nice videos, I watch them since 2015, continue like that :)
I picked up this nice old RCA VCR last weekend and finally got around to hooking it up today. It seems like it is running fine but all interacting with the tape is not working. I opened up the bottom hoping to find a snapped belt but everything looks happy. This video is what happens when I press play. Seems like the spool is spinning about a 1/4 turn and then emitting a humming noise for a few seconds before stopping. Has anyone seen something like this? I'd love to salve this thing as the old higher quality VCRs are getting more and more rare but don't know how to move forward at this point. Any advice?
Hi I have a RCA VMT 630HF that i got for $5 at goodwill i put new belts in it. it plays fine but when you rewind a tape to the beginning it will not play of fast forward & it will shut off. Do you think it could be something with the pink led sensor that's in the middle of the vcr? because if i put the tape past the clear leader it will play fine. to eject the tape i have to unplug it & wait a few mins. then power back on to eject the tape.
When the clear leader is showing, the machine will try to advance the tape past it. On many of those RCA machines there is a spring that activates the clutch on the pendulum gear (the gear that drives the take up and supply hubs depending on which way the capstan motor is turning)There is a little plastic cog that the spring hooks on, and that cog breaks and allows the return spring to flop around. This prevents the unit from going into high torque mode to wind the tape past the leader. It also prevents full fast forward mode from engaging.
the spring was fine it has a metal part on it instead of plastic. but the problem was i used a belt that was a little to tight that was making it not play when the tape was rewound all the way
You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low. Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low. Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
Well this one is working fine, just no record video due to the IC failure. The fellow that owns it is mostly interested in playing his linear stereo tapes on, as playing them on a hi-fi machine will only play the sound track in mono. There are no more analog broadcasts these days anyway, so not many people use VCRs for recording, just playing old tapes back.
12voltvids True....I occasionally use mine to record when testing some of my vintage cameras as such but no over the air stuff... occasional if I need to copy a DVD to tape....
JacksJunkDotCom Well considering that this one was all corroded inside it looks like it has been sitting outside, and the capstan motor is just about shot. I was lucky to even get it working to this point.
I liked these Hitachi and Matsushita built units. When we heard the squeal we knew it was the loading belt. This was a good time to change them all.
I love your old intro. It never gets old.
Successfully learned how to clean mode switches on these particular VCRs. Thanks!
Finally! Now I saw how you opened the mode switch. Cleaned mine now!
You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low.
Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
12voltvids Hi i have an issue with an eject mechanism on my JVC SVHS VCR when i insert a tape it does not get through or gets stuck what could be the issue if i eject a tape i get same issue not sure whats causing it..
This mechanism is similar to the mechanism used in the Hitachi VT-11. Except there was more metal so there is less stuff to break. On mine the head was worn, so I replaced it. Even though the vcr has a lot of ours on it. Everything works fine. A shame that mechanisms got so cheap
At 18:20 it looks like a bunch of mold on the tape (supply reel). Definitely was stored in a damp environment.
wow, i remember my old days.
Thanks for sharing this informative video.
I just dug one of these out of my dads basement, but I'm not getting any sound. Nice clear video from both outputs but now sound. Tested both RCA and VHF, Cables are good and so is cassette. Any common Audio problems with these old models? Thanks in advance.
Hey man, I have JVC HR-D120 from 1983. I found that it blew one of these circuit protectors but NOT on the power supply. It was on the main board underneath. This prevented the tape to load and thread so the machine wouldn't accept a tape. I shorted the pins of the circuit protector and...VOILA! The VCR is back to life again! One question though, is it safe to leave it as is or do you reccommend to replace the circuit protector IC?
+Fivos Sakellis Replace the circuit protector.They are there for a reason, they act like a fuse, but act much faster than a fuse to protect semiconductors.
Do you have any idea why it blew?
+Fivos Sakellis Used to see them blown all the time with a tape jammed.Usually wet type cleaning tapes, or tapes that had pop or juice spilled on them. It would stal out the drum, draw too much current and pop goes the ICP. They can just fail for no reason, they are very sensitive and very fast acting.
This tells me something...The machine needs a new loading belt because when I press play, the loading motor tries to thread the tape but it can't. Could this be the reason why it drew too much current?
+Fivos Sakellis Yes that would be the reason. The loose belt probably stalled out the motor while it was slipping, or if it was sticky, it could have stretched and wound right around the motor stalling it completely.
I just found a Hitachi VCR 3 head MTS stereo with this mechanism. The belts are bad. The VCR could load tapes for a moment, but now it does not turn on anymore. Only the VFD display turns on, and none of the functions work. What causes this? I'm guessing capacitors in the power supply.
It's likely the mode selector.
I have the same shoppers drug mart bottle of IPA in my workshop ! :)
Hey old chap,
I've got a Toshiba VCR (V-109F) from 1990. It was in a terrible shape, as it wasn't used for a decade.
I replaced the belts (they turned into a black grease), put oil on the mechanism (am I wrong putting oil in stead of grease?) and I washed the whole unit, as long as the mode switch, but it still doesn't work.
Once I put a tape, it loads, but the video head doesn't spin. Thus, play, FF, rew, etc. won't work, and it ejects too slowly to give the tape back. It just loads again. What happened to this unit? Dead cap? Is it recoverable?
Thx in advance
Could be leaky caps in the power supply if it is a switching supply. The voltage drops.
If the head doesn't spin up, check the drum motor supply. It will usually have a 12 volt supply to feed the drive IC, as the motor itself will be a 3 phase motor as is the capstan, so a drive IC tapes the 12v DC and turns it into a 3 phase AC signal to drive the motor.
Well actually, I tried to check the voltage by putting a LED on the head connector, and the head started to spin... Slowly
I'll try to check the caps when I have the equipment required.
PS: Nice videos, I watch them since 2015, continue like that :)
I picked up this nice old RCA VCR last weekend and finally got around to hooking it up today.
It seems like it is running fine but all interacting with the tape is not working. I opened up the bottom hoping to find a snapped belt but everything looks happy.
This video is what happens when I press play. Seems like the spool is spinning about a 1/4 turn and then emitting a humming noise for a few seconds before stopping.
Has anyone seen something like this? I'd love to salve this thing as the old higher quality VCRs are getting more and more rare but don't know how to move forward at this point. Any advice?
Check the idler. What model is the RCA VCR?
i have one like it but not rca but shizen The tape start and end sensors in VCR don't work on ff or rew need to try play
Hi
I have a RCA VMT 630HF that i got for $5 at goodwill i put new belts in it.
it plays fine but when you rewind a tape to the beginning it will not play of fast forward & it will shut off. Do you think it could be something with the pink led sensor that's in the middle of the vcr? because if i put the tape past the clear leader it will play fine.
to eject the tape i have to unplug it & wait a few mins. then power back on to eject the tape.
When the clear leader is showing, the machine will try to advance the tape past it. On many of those RCA machines there is a spring that activates the clutch on the pendulum gear (the gear that drives the take up and supply hubs depending on which way the capstan motor is turning)There is a little plastic cog that the spring hooks on, and that cog breaks and allows the return spring to flop around. This prevents the unit from going into high torque mode to wind the tape past the leader. It also prevents full fast forward mode from engaging.
ok thanks for letting me know i will have to take a look at it & let you know
the spring was fine it has a metal part on it instead of plastic. but the problem was i used a belt that was a little to tight that was making it not play when the tape was rewound all the way
You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low.
Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
You just gave me a clue. A too tight belt will cause this problem. The reason is when the tape fully rewinds, the machine will SLOWLY advance it past the leader by engaging the FF clutch, and very slowly turning the capstan motor a few turns to advance the tape. When too tight a belt is installed the motor binds as the torque is very low.
Put the correct size belt on and I bet it fixes your problem.
Great video...shame about such a nice VCR....I enjoy vintage electronics....hate to see them get scrapped...but I know you can't save them all! :)
Well this one is working fine, just no record video due to the IC failure.
The fellow that owns it is mostly interested in playing his linear stereo tapes on, as playing them on a hi-fi machine will only play the sound track in mono.
There are no more analog broadcasts these days anyway, so not many people use VCRs for recording, just playing old tapes back.
12voltvids True....I occasionally use mine to record when testing some of my vintage cameras as such but no over the air stuff... occasional if I need to copy a DVD to tape....
JacksJunkDotCom
Well considering that this one was all corroded inside it looks like it has been sitting outside, and the capstan motor is just about shot. I was lucky to even get it working to this point.