80s philips vcr

[josephdaniel]

well i have been lurking on this forum for some time and decided to join today. anyways i needed a new vcr my nerish sanyo brokedown so i went to goodwill looking for something that felt heavy and old and relible but cheap. i found this philips vcr form the 80s and decided to gget it i had no way to test it in the store besides putting a tape in it and watching the vu meters so i bought it and i think it has worn heads if so how much would a replacement drum cost for this? and i was wondering if anyone had a link to the manuel because fore some functions like the viss i cant figure out for the life of me how to use it.i did clean the heads and they were prettyy gunked up and dull looking not shiny like most but a quick cleaanin fixed this i plan on useing this in my bedroom for timeshifting. alsoo any mods that i can make to improve it or tips and also REVIEWS anyone thing this deck would be good for everynogh tuse at least 300 days out of the year i also forgot to mention that i did clean out all grease and oil and put the same amaount of white lithum grease in its place the old was dried out and squeaking badly now silent as a mouse except for the normal vcr sounds.

[Ed in Tx]

There were several Philips VCRs manufactured by Panasonic-Matsushita for NAP, (North American Philips) including Philips, Magnavox & Sylvania. All shared the same service manuals for the most part,. You did not mention a model number. Electrolytic capacitors fail a lot in those '80s-'90s units. Finding a new drum assembly? Not likely. Too old, obsolete.

[josephdaniel]

here is the model
VR6585AT74
i think its from 88' because when i go to set the date that is the default date but im probably wrong.

[Tony75]

Most Philips VCRs from that era sold here were actually made by Sharp. This remained the case up until the mid 90's where they changed to JVC mechanisms, but having Philips electronics.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by Tony75

Most Philips VCRs from that era sold here were actually made by Sharp. This remained the case up until the mid 90's where they changed to JVC mechanisms, but having Philips electronics.

Interesting. Sharp-made in Australia but not in the USA. Never saw one made by Sharp here. They did later change to JVC, before selling the name out to Funai. The JVC-made ones were pretty much identical in and out to JVC except certain features and functions.

[josephdaniel]

Dammit the **** thing caught on fire tonight im assuming that the big electrolityic caps let go it had been un plugged for abaout a week I plugged it in to record a tv show that comes on lete onight everythiing normal started smeling something burning so i walk over to it and looka at it it lew a fuse ok now half of my house is dark. i replace the fuse turn it on boom what i think is a resistor or rf interfernce device caught on fire when i had it open checkin it out. now i need a new psu or can it be saved? Should i just go down o the good will and see what the have. A friend old me there was a op loader from the 70s with a wired remote fo 20 in georgetown!

[Ed in Tx]

Bummer. Usually when the caps go it won't start up when plugged in or there's lots of noise in the video or the front panel display is real dim, somethng like that, rarely self destruct mode! It definitely took a serious dump on you. The transistor and/or IC mounted on the heat sink between the primary big cap and the transformer are most likely shorted, along with a diode or two on the secondary, and maybe a shorted protection Zener diode on an output. There's always a reason the primary fuse blew so rule of thumb #1 never just replace a fuse in a SMPS and plug it directly in the wall. You will just do more damage. I think I can count the number of SMPS that just had a blown fuse nothing else on one or two fingers! I This is where a series test light bulb comes in handy. I use 40 or 60 W to test, sometimes bring up slow with a Variac, and an isolation transformer if you plan to work on it powered on because the primary side is HOT AC. To start while you have it apart go through and test every semiconductor for a short.

[ChrisW6ATV]

I would go get the $20 top-load VCR independent of what you do with this one.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

I would go get the $20 top-load VCR independent of what you do with this one.

Yep. It's likely got a nice power transformer in it, no old SMPS to blow up.

[josephdaniel]

Originally Posted by ChrisW6ATV

I would go get the $20 top-load VCR independent of what you do with this one.

If its still there im going to try to go this weekend and see if i ca get it.

[josephdaniel]

Originally Posted by Ed in Tx

or the front panel display is real dim

The dsplay would go out for a while when i waved my hand infront of it and it would slowly go back on and i also learned just a minut agao that i was made by toshiba.

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by josephdaniel

The dsplay would go out for a while when i waved my hand infront of it and it would slowly go back on and i also learned just a minut agao that i was made by toshiba.

Toshiba? Don't think so. They made some RCAs but not Philips.

Now, a lot of Toshiba ICs were used in many brands.

What is the FCC ID letters-numbers on the back of the unit?

Another sign of failed electrolytics is plug it in, and it lights up, then goes dim or completely dies when it tries to do initial reset of the mechanism as some VCRs do.

[tvtimeisfun]

Junk the machine and get an rca or zenith never had problems with niether...

[Ed in Tx]

Originally Posted by tvtimeisfun

Junk the machine and get an rca or zenith never had problems with niether...

Unless it was an RCA made by Samsung with the failing power supply problems, they had a kit of parts to rebuild them, or the Goldstar-made Zeniths with mechanical issues. Zenith started with Sony and Beta format, then went to VHS and Panasonic for their machines, then Hitachi built some RCAs, then Samsung, and Toshiba..

[josephdaniel]

here is the fcc id BOU9T22002