Ok, so i picked this deck up on the cheap recently and so far have replaced the belt and fixed a meter that was not reading. However, in fixing the bad meter by simply heating up the solder joints i killed all of the meter lights and can't seem to get them back. I'm pretty sure it's a bad connection somewhere but i can't track it down. Any thoughts? I don't have a multimeter unfortunately. Thanks.
Tascam 38 w/ no meter lights
- Thread starter joe lp
- Start date
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
follow the traces from the lamps on the PCB that has all the wires attached to it. That will tell you which wires supply th lamps and then see if you can see the problem. Any more than that ad you'll need to get a multi-meter, even a cheapy one from an auto parts store or Wal Mart or whatever will do for troubleshooting this stuff. Check the fuse board too. Actually check that first...might just be a blown fuse.
Thanks for the helpful reply sweetbeats. Everything looks all right to me. I picked up a cheap meter as per your suggestion and did not getting any reading from the lamps. But now I have a bigger problem. Suddenly this machine has gone into total meltdown. It's not fully powering up - no lights, no capstan or reel motor action, nothing. The only thing i am getting is a jump in the meters when i turn it on and off. Do you still think it might be the fuses? If so, do you know their location? I have a manual coming in the mail but would like to get a jump on this.
dodgeaspen
New member
Sounds bad. I haven't had any problems like that with my 38. Good luck.
Ok, thanks JP i found the fuse board and found two blown fuses. Changed them out and fired it up and my lights are back! Small victory though because there's still no motor action. I looked at the fuses again and one of them had fried. I was wondering if it happened as soon as i turned it on or if it was when i engaged the capstan motor so i put another fuse in and it blew as soon as i hit the power button. Any thoughts? I really appreciate the help you guys have provided so far.
Check the branch of the power supply that feeds the motor.
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
Yeah...bummer. Not insurmountable but my half-educated advice at this point would be to open 'er up, and disconnect everything you can from the power supply PCB...I'm talking the power to all the logic boards, pull all the channel cards out, etc. Then replace all the fuses and turn it on. If no fuses blow then take your shiny new multimeter and test the ouput of each voltage rail at the power supply PCB and compare to what it is supposed to be then report back.
This may seem like a lot, but at this point I think it is prudent to protect what you have left and get to root of the problem and usually seems to tie back to making sure the power supply is kicking out the right voltages like RRuskin said.
This may seem like a lot, but at this point I think it is prudent to protect what you have left and get to root of the problem and usually seems to tie back to making sure the power supply is kicking out the right voltages like RRuskin said.