Replacing the Caps in My Sony Walkman
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ต.ค. 2024
- I had previously tried to fix a cassette Walkman I had picked up from eBay pretty inexpensively. But after addressing its obvious faults, there was an audio problem that I couldn't quite sort out. There was an overwhelming number of comments in that video that said I should replace the capacitors...but would that make a difference?
Previous Walkman repair video: • Trying to Fix a Sony C...
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The very first Walkmans were like a hand-crafted watch more than a media player. A ton of it was hand made. So many little mechanical parts like gears and things. Work of art!!
Yup, I have the same one as he showed briefly (WM-R202) and you can clearly see some of the solderjoints are hand soldered
The Sega Game gear uses those weird caps too :)
Yeah... I've been putting off recapping my Game Gear (which basically doesn't work anymore) because of that.
Plenty of electronics from this era do. They were designed for constructions where there was limited space between boards and other components.
@@PotatoFi it's very easy to replace on the game gear if it dosent have a lot of rust or gone pads, just cut the caps with snip cutter or a nail clippers like I did clean the board put new solder in the pads make trace repairs or jumpers if the board is damaged (hopefully mine did not as trace repairs is hard ) and it worked
@@briansegarra9312 Cool, yeah it doesn't look like too bad of a job. Ordering caps is usually the most annoying part. :)
@@PotatoFi console5 is the best place to get them!
Have you actually cleaned the contacts in the headphone jack? That might be a part that needs replacing too.
Could be an internal problem physically inside the headphone jack too
Also worth checking it for dry joints
I thought that my headphones were going bad when you demonstrated how they sounded.
repost if
gonb
You should clean the leftover of the leaked electrolyte on the PCB, which might still be conductive between the terminals of the new caps. There was clearly some residue visible, especially on the horizontal SMD cap (that's how they are called - they were pretty common in the 90s, e.g. in the Sega Game Gear and many laptops, but aren't manufactured anymore). When the flux turns really dark like that, it's a clear sign. But you should really clean both of them. Always do this when replacing leaking caps. This might even fix your remaining issues.
Came to say this too. The electrolytic residue loves to eat it's way into PCB traces/vias and ruin them, and many times it's not visible to the naked eye. In fact I bet that's the cause of the missing audio channel.
Yep, whenever you replace caps, you need to clean. Even if you can't see the fluid, it might be there.
Came to say this too.... wash the entire PCB with Isopropyl alcohol and a tooth brush...gently.
@@Retroaria This isn't even necessary here; the leakage wasn't THAT bad. When washing the entire PCB and not doing it thoroughly, you risk spreading the electrolyte rather than cleaning it. This is especially an issue when large caps (e.g. inside a power supply) have leaked.
@@niino4329 you should still clean it regardless even if it's a small amount of electric Left behind it can still eat away at the board. Better safe than sorry as the saying goes
When it comes to BITS & BYTES you're so contrite,
but DIPS & CAPS you're one heck of a CHAP.
Love your repairs.
.
Man, so impressive seeing you replacing surface mount components! I wish I had a steady enough hand for things this small. I replaced all the belts in my WM-3 and it runs nice, but I'm terrified of anything else ever going wrong with it!!
I've bought used walkmans - CD and cassette and this is INCREDIBLY common. It's just old caps. I have a CD walkman I'm currently using and it suffers from this problem. I'm going to get to it in the new year, but I have to wait for warmer weather as my hands don't work properly at the moment.
I think it's fair to say that THE most important thing to do to ANY electronic equipment over 20 years old, you should check the caps out especially electrolytics just as a par for the course.
For the corroded battery terminals... Before going to sandpaper, try full strength white vinegar on a cotton swab. I find that at least loosens the corrosion for more effective sanding and in many cases removes the corrosion completely. The acid base reaction occasionally foams satisfyingly. 🙂 Follow up with distilled water on a cotton swab to clean off any leftover vinegar and dry the terminals thoroughly.
or diluted nickelacetat. just for the nickel plated contacts.
Lemon juice works well, and it’s 100% natural
I replaced the caps in my Sony DDII which was new old stock. I have also restored some Sony video walkmans like the GV-9 which have over 30 caps to replace eek! But it works excellent. After buying a like new AIWA PX10 from japan I sent it to Sergui in Romania (Magnetic Blood) who fully restored it including recappingand he cleans the board of any leaking cap fluid which corrodes the board. After 4 months post it arrived last week and sounds amazing, The PX10 was the Sony DD-9 and DD100 killer.
The PX10 surely have worse wow/flutter then any of the DD models, but from what I read it's feature packed and definitely a good contender, keep in mind that the DD9 have a amorphous head which would almost certainly have better frequency response
@@99897767 DD does not mean better sound quality. it is more than just the head.
@@Raptor50aus it depends on what you counts towards sound quality, wow and flutter is definitely a big thing if you asked me, Amorphous head matters because it have a wider frequency response ranges, where a normal ferrite head can't do. At the end of the day they have their own strength and falls
@@99897767 Yes. I have an AIWA JX707 and AIWA PX101 and Sony D3 Pro and DD9 and they all sound great because they were all restored correctly.
@@Raptor50aus I bet they sounded better then it was first produced, back then it's less of a treasure than it was now, and people spent a lot more effort restoring them than who assembled them originally.
Repair videos - always my favorite.
This will have been quiet the adventure by the time that little demon is refurbed.
I kinda like these multi-part videos.
I hope not. The idea is to get it playing music again, not to have it be quiet. 😋
Where did you find that replacement Dolby switch? I also have a ex 606 that I'm repairing and your videos (however brief) have been huge in helping!
From what I've been able to tell from my own research into repairing a couple of Walkman is that the few electrolytic caps they do have in the smaller units are usually in a very important place in the circuit. Too bad that it didnt clear up the channel issue although it seemed unlikely this would be the fix for that. In addition to the cleaning comments for the volume wheel, its is also possible the wheel has just gone bad from use or damage and needs to be replaced. I've had at least one unit that still had issues after a cap replacement and it came down to the volume knob just being too internally messed up.
Told you. Had the same problem on my walkman. Same noise. That solution with repositioning the cap, is really good. Good video again Collin.
Even if it didn't work, it was nice to share the excitement of first listen together. Good idea!
Yeah, those era surface mount caps on portable sony devices are like almost always bad. I did a mid 90's sony LCD walkman last year and every single one of them needed to be replaced. It was 40 caps. What a PITA.
Also, keep in mind that tantalum caps definitely can go bad. It's not as often as aluminum electrolytic, but they do go bad. Worst of all, they often short when they go bad and blow up other stuff.
Glad to see progress with it! It would have been a shame to get so far and not be able to use it.
watching this with earphones makes me feel like I'm you
To use a Nichicon cap for that kind of repair is the most classy thing I´ve watched in a wile
I don’t buy cheap caps - only Panasonic or Nichicon.
@@ThisDoesNotCompute cheers for that!
Really would love to see you revisit this one! These machines are so cool!
Finally someone do this and show to us. Thanks so much. Greetings from Seoul, have a blessed Christmas.
I spend my life buying and fixing these thanks to your initial R202 video. Get an Aiwa HS-G08 if you want a real challenge.
Nice! Never thought those would become collectible items.
Give anything time and it will be. The key thing is to pick a time when you can start colelcting, and it doesn't matter what the tiem is, the sweet spot to start buying them is when everyone else has forgotten or chucked them out. I started picking up Minidisc recorders of all stripes a few years ago for this very reason.
I do it with games and records too.
Hey Colin, enjoyed this video. Would you mind sharing a bit about your process, for example, where might someone located in the USA find A) service manuals for old tech like that and B) components for replacements? Do you have a favourite website that ships capacitors etc to the USA?
never gets boring!!!
Scientists have now confirmed that the smallest possible unit of time is the amount of time between when Colin says “Hey everyone hows it going?” and when he moves onto the next sentence without waiting for a reply.
I'm having screeching noise issues with a two of my old tape recorders. I think the cap job on my shoebox type tape recorders should be easier than working with the tiny board and tight spacing of electrical and mechanical components on your walkman.
Somehow thought this was about the buttons for some reason
That capacitor in the square case looks worryingly similar to the ones that SEGA used in the game gear, famous for their poor reliability.
Perhaps the tape HEAD is not correctly aligned so that it plays only one channel. Just my thought. Note i'm not a expert on these things :)
That would be quite a massive alignment issue, but possible indeed. You would be listening to only one channel, on the wrong one at that. In other hand, when you hit reverse, you should then be listening to both the wrong channel again (as in right tape channel only, on right side headphones only), but in that case also the other side in reverse on the right channel. If that does happen then that's the problem indeed. I don't know if left is on the outer track or inner one on a cassette tho...
It could be but i noticed something that makes me think its a connection or contact issue, the machine beeps whenever you press a button, the beep is only coming from the left hand side. Granted that could be just how the machine functions normally, but i doubt it, something else is that he had to turn the volume pretty far up for the machine to get going at all, so im thinking its got weak connections going on somewhere else, or could still be some sort of chip failure, though I also doubt that a bit cause the left side only, dirty sound and low output all sound like bad connections more than a chip failing.
Wow,... I remember that I bought that model in 1993 when I first got a paycheck from temporary job for $200 more or less.
As many others commented already, the Sega Game Gear uses the exact same rectangular, side-mounted electrolitic caps. And they are extremely prone to failure. So yeah, most likely that cap is absolutely dead.
22uf 4v can be obviously replaced with 22uf 10v even 16v tolerance ceramic ones in either 0805 or 1206 sizes
Always good to see a success story!
Can i ask you where you find the switch ? 'cause i have the same exact problem with one of my walkman !
Last time I broke a button repairing my Bluetooth headphones I found the exact one to replace on Aliexpress. It would be great if you knew the exact standard code, but that's pretty damn hard usually.
Check the solider on the headphone jack... Had to fix that on my sony wm-45.
Also a common issue with seventh generation ipods. The headphone jack is always badly soldered compared to everyother connection and I've never worked out why
while you're in there, don't forget to adjust the tape azimuth once you get audio out both ears. It could also be a dodgy solder joint on the headphone jack too.
What was the song that played on the tape you tested?
Edit: Oop. Never mind. I see you answered someone else who also asked.
For those wondering, it's “Talk to Me” by 3D Blast.
Thanks.
can you post a link to the little swicth I have also cracked mine.
Oh, very interesting. That gives me hope 🙂
I've drooled over these last-gen decks for a while now, but the more I really look into them the more I've decided to stick to older models. It seems like over-complicated boards and mechs plus the bad capacitor quality from the time creates a nightmare to diagnose and repair that isn't worth the price of admission and unguaranteed end-goal.
I spent years tracing electrical problems in my walkmans. Surface mount components are not reliable reliable over the long term and they have no tolerance to dropping. They crack or de-laminate and are extremely hard to diagnose those faults. a thermal camera and an oscilloscope are a necessity to track down noise from damaged or failing parts.
You almost have a winner Colin. Just a few more bugs
I got alot of my walkmans fixed and my game gears are all repaired to. Most of my vcrs as well they just needed belts with most of them.
Please don't use that cap, they have horrible ESR & ESL. Search for SMD aluminum caps, you should find that kind of caps with a plastic base as a drop in replacement.
Well I didnt see you clean the board, gotta get all that electrolyte off of there. And, I also saw where it had eaten a couple vias. So that could be your issue in the audio path as well. And, it sounds like the tape is running a bit slow. So you need a test tone tape, and adjust it since you changed the belt, it likely changed the torque against the motor.
I watched someone do an early discman and it would not read cd,s only when every single cap was replaced it worked again some of the surface mount caps that whee used in some years had a design fault and that was why they were prone to leaking i read somewhere .
I didn't know those slots on top of the cassette were for metal/chrome tape detection. I thought they were overwrite protection tabs?
The ones farthest to the outside are the write protect tabs, but chrome tapes have an additional notch next to them, and metal tapes have another one in the middle. For playback, chrome and metal tapes are treated the same so there’s no need for the player to check for a middle notch.
@@ThisDoesNotCompute sweet, I've always wondered why the slots were so large and only half covered. Thanks!
Sounds like the beeps and stuff are also only in the left channel so the tape head cant be the fault of the left only sound. might be a failed tantalum they like to go short circuit which could mess it up I would for sure go through all the caps and check for shorts
The crusty sound could be a dirty head too or again more bad caps
no expert on walkman repair though my only walkman repair was on a MD machine
"wasn't an electrical problem but rather a mechanical one" - anyone remembers the alyx-judith exchange in black mesa east chapter in half-life 2?
Someone misjudged the capacity of Combine thyristor.
Pretty sure this is the algorithmic connection that brought me to this video. I've been playing Half-Life on the Pi4 next to this one.
Large value caps are a common piece of audio filters. As far as I can tell the larger the caps in your filter the smaller the resistors you need for your filter and the less amplification you need overall.
At 4:17 I did the same thing when reassembling, the FWD REV switch is not in the metal lever :) Lots of swearing fixing these things.
I think the channel problem is the plug of the headphones. Try a different one? Some don't fit in right to get stereo (second ring).
After old caps removed, board must be cleaned - do not underestimate effects of spilled out electrolite. Also spotted one coroded via, thats the most probable reason for missing 1 channel.
You probably want to make sure there's no crack solder joints and also make sure the circuit board is clean especially after leaky capacitors
loving these retro repair videos man. keep em coming
Now you've gotta finish it! It's got two videos already
Nice work! Your videos are great!
hey it’s 2023 why didn’t you just use tantalum or ceramic capacitors for the same capacity?
The board looked kinda dirty too, maybe some leaked fluid got on it and some traces got eaten away?
Nice work! I broke off the power switch from my Game Boy Color. It looks pretty similar to the one you used on the dolby switch. Any idea where I can find a replacement switch for that?
I bet the "special" capacitor shape is for one reason only: because it had to be placed on the board by component placement machine with a vacuum nozzle.
Bro, capacitors are sooo hard to replace in walkmen. You can never find replacement caps that are as small as the originals, so your stuck jamming them in at weird angles.
Just somehting i noticed at the end whn you played sound, it sounds much slower than it should ... I guess speed of the tape should be sped up..
Probably too late now. The cap leaking causes a via sitting just in front of the pins to corrode. I had the exact same issue. If you solder a wire from the right channel of the 3.5mm jack to the first resistor that the right channel trace connects starting from the amp IC, you will solve the problem.
The Maxells like yours are chrome bias, but actually they are cobalt tapes. Ferri-cobalt I believe.
Yes and clean the board with Isopropanol and a toothbrush or get fancy and use an ultrasonic bath.
I’m a bit surprised you wouldn’t proactively clean the headphone jack and tape head, as well as lubricate moving parts. You’ve seen the same things on other repairs so why not just do it?
I'm trying to repair ipods. Mainly for practice. I can't find the LCD flex connector anywhere. Any ideas besides bodge wires?
Even though caps is a catch all it should just be SOP to check 'em and anything else that can degrade with time .
Not related to the video but I know you like weird, old laptops. I got a Toshiba Satellite 1555CDS that needs some new parts but I cant find squat on this specific machine, so any info would be great if you know anything.
Bro is Jason JJ Cruz’n here.
clearance is always an issue with your dealing with things designed to be in the smallest form factor one can get way with. I suspect Sony had those odd caps specifically made for them to solve the issue you ran into.
Hi i wanted to ask you about a problem that i cant find solition. There is a computer Os: XP service pack 1. We are using that an laser machine that must work 24 hour. Problem is i can't find any original windows key to it. This computer locking itself because of the license. I can only find license for service pack 3 . But i couldn't boot it. Every 30 days i use an image and turn it back.But when it stops lazer machine stops too and lose a lot of money. Do you have any ideas for the problem. Thank you sorry for my language
I tried network boot,usb boot,cd boot
Nice Video , whats the Song you´ve played ?
It's called Talk to me
th-cam.com/video/jwLajdPEooQ/w-d-xo.html
@@idontknowusers6166 Thanks !! and the Song is so muffled by istelf :) i thord i came from the Tape :)
Are those hear.in 2 headphones?
Love those videos!
Where did you get your charger for your gumsticks? I've picked up a couple original chargers but they're for NiCad and don't charge the NiMH sticks.
I’m probably going to put together a quick video about that soon!
2:02 I've seen those before in Sega Game Gears, they ALL leak.
Good video, but Please! NO ONE SAND YOUR TERMINALS! You remove the plating in doing so, as you can see in the video. Use white vinegar on a cotton swab and use a nylon brush. You can get it clean without sanding it and removing the plating.
deoxit and a head clean and you'll be sounding better.
the problem is NOT the tape head because the beep is also in the left channel only
0:45 rinse the volume regulator with at least 95% alcohol
adjust the regulator while it's still wet with the alcohol
Gameboy color is a good example of ceramic caps failing as they lose capacity and eventually have low resistance to ground.
Sounds like a hum. I have a Rhino 3 clone phone that puts out a siren.
2:48 why's it look so rusty and gross under the sm cap?
mostly burnt flux or some leaking from previous cap that he was too lazy to clean
Nice job, everyone who noticed that.
what was the song playing on the cassette? it sounds funky and familiar but I can't remember what it is
It’s “Talk to Me” by 3D Blast.
@@ThisDoesNotCompute thank you so much!! :)
Can't find gumstick battery
3.5mm phone jack rocks, right? heh
0:49 that’s just the Japanese noise-rock
Love those flush cut trimmers, someone has a 3D printer...
Mmmm mint chewing gum battery. Tasty
dont miss tape at all
Me either, I get the nostalgic revisit, but tapes were meant as a "cheap" alternative to vinyl and CDs. And you can hear it. I don't miss it.
is your blood sugar levels okay? not trolling. I notice the shaking hands. when my sugar levels start dropping my hands will shake.
ooh good catch
All SMD caps 1988-1993/94 need replacement these days.
Yep. I don’t even bother to troubleshoot power supplies or CRT monitors anymore. Just recap them, _then_ see if they work.
With Walkmans and Discmans, old computers and game consoles - it’s the caps. It’s always the caps. If it’s not, it was the caps AND something else.
Props to the comment boys
Hey for once it was the caps lol
Tantalum caps can and do go bad.