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radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 08:38
by Jeff J
Perhaps this will be a bit of a long shot, but my Blaupunkt Cleveland DJ has developed a fault, it will not change bands or search a different frequency, it's locked into 198 LW but not playing the station, just static. Cassette player works fine. I doubt it is financially viable to have it repaired but I would like to have a go myself if anyone can give me a clue what the fault is or where to start looking. All the facia switches ( band, presets & up down tuning ) are physically operative but not doing what they are supposed to. Volume & tape controls are fine. Thanks

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 10:51
by dave friday
You could try putting the make and model into one of the service manual sites.
Can you read circuit diagrams?
Good luck.

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 11:08
by tforturton
'ghost123uk' may be able to help you. PM him, or wait for him to respond to this thread.....

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 15:00
by Jeff J
dave friday wrote:You could try putting the make and model into one of the service manual sites.
Can you read circuit diagrams?
Good luck.
I suspect not to the level that would be needed to effect a repair & I've tried that without out success on a couple of sites. I think I will be able to recognise a dry joint or a blown(swollen) capacitor or resistor if I could narrow it down a bit i.e. power cct., tuner, amp etc.

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 16:08
by dave friday
That's why you'll need a circuit diagram with voltage check points marked on it.
I suspect that a voltage regulator has stopped working( that supplies the tuner stages )

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 16:10
by ghost123uk
tforturton wrote:'ghost123uk' may be able to help you. PM him, or wait for him to respond to this thread.....
Hi, I'm here :)

I, as some will know, used to fix stuff like that for a living.
It's highly unlikely to be a mechanical (switch / dry joint) fault.
Even in early units like that, the band change and tuning functions are controlled by a (delicate) "logic controller" chip, usually of the "surface mount" style. It is highly likely that this has failed. One common cause of a failure like this is "electrical spikes" from welding or jump starting. Sadly, in the trade, this would be considered as "BER" = beyond economical repair.

The only thing to try is to disconnect all power to it for just a minute or so, then reconnect. There is a slim chance that might re-set it.

At least you should be able to pick up a similar replacement unit off eBay, or get up to date with a modern "deckless" unit and get into USB or sd card music storage ;) They are very good and can be got for around £30!! (I use one).

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 16:56
by Jeff J
Thanks Dave & ghost, as said I thought it would be a long shot but worth asking. I've seen others advertised as "vintage" on e-bay, but you would think they were antique furniture or pottery going by the prices being asked. I now thinking I would prefer to fit a new radio with aux socket to connect my i-pod to as I have mainly been using a cassette adaptor to do that for a while now. The only decent tape I have is a Demis Roussos album :D
As far as new radio is concerned are these new digital thingies any good? The one we have at home doesn't seem that impressive & I wondered if the digital signal coverage is good throughout the UK especially when on the move. I've looked at normal AM/FM ones in Halfords & if I can get one of similar dimensions with an installation kit to suit it seems like that would suffice,but I also wondered if it was time I moved into the 21st century a bit more & went digital.
Thanks ghost for the tip about powering off & on, that should be a relatively easy first step, but I'll have to try & find the user guide to see if it is coded (I presume powering down will require recoding if it does have one)

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 22 Sep 2016, 19:10
by carthago ian
I had a similar issue with my Pioneer radio cassette , it simply stopped working, tried all sorts to fix it, failed .... It had long wave and a small remote control unit brilliant for the camper. So I started to look for a modern version , must have long wave and remote control what i found fitted the bill perfect Blaupunkt Toronto 440 took a while to get use to it , apart from that it's brilliant with all the wizzy stuff bluetooth aux jack .

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 23 Sep 2016, 06:17
by ghost123uk
Jeff J wrote: As far as new radio is concerned are these new digital thingies any good?
I wouldn't go for "digital" DAB one, just get a standard FM/AM one with no CD deck. They can often be got in Aldi / Lidl for £30 and ny all accounts are fine.

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 25 Sep 2016, 07:42
by California Dreamin
I find the head units which have an SD memory card slot are particularly useful if you like recording and listening to your own music.

I've got a couple of old Blaupunkt RC's that were fully working when removed but haven't been connected for 10 years at least. Also a Sony Face-Off somewhere.

Martin

Re: radio cassette

Posted: 25 Sep 2016, 17:03
by Jeff J
Well thanks for all your input. Ghost was spot on disconnecting the power (both supplies, I'd already tried the main one but never thought about a secondary supply until I read the installation instructions) cured the problem. Presumably allowing the logic to reset itself. Big thanks to you ghost123uk.