View Full Version : Sony Mega Watchman FD-500 story


Dan Schafer
11-12-2007, 10:43 PM
Hi All
A friend of mine gave my an old TV he found, a Sony Mega Watchman model FD-500, circa 1989. Well the thing had a cockroach nest in it....UGH! Got rid of the roches (long story), brought it up on my variac and it worked fine. The frustrating thing is that the two knobs for the volume & tone have their "inset into small trimmer pot slot tap" , tip broke off. The Knobs will not move the pot wipers. How would you Try & attempt to get replacement knobs for this model? I would not have put the time into such a project if I knew. It was still sort of fun with common sense dissassembly. Also has a nice sound. The knobs appeared fine when pulled off , so who knew? I'll also try the AK swap board.
Thanks in advance for anyone's 2 cents & suggestions
Danny in Cleveland

compucat
11-13-2007, 07:08 AM
Those units appear on Ebay all the time. The best way to go is get another one from which to scavenge parts. The Sony Mega Watchmen are good TVs with a great sounding radio too. I used to have one and wish now I'd kept it.

Nakdoc
11-13-2007, 08:52 AM
check out the crt inside. I can't imagine what yoke engineering went into that unit. Would you like me to try ordering the knobs from Sony? Sony is pretty good about keeping old parts. I have a color watchman with a bad tuner if you want to start a collection.

compucat
11-13-2007, 09:55 AM
check out the crt inside. I can't imagine what yoke engineering went into that unit. Would you like me to try ordering the knobs from Sony? Sony is pretty good about keeping old parts. I have a color watchman with a bad tuner if you want to start a collection.

This set does not use Sony's flat CRT technology. It is a conventional 4.5" CRT with a flat face. Picture quality is excellent on these. The only trouble I ever had with mine is a little tuner drift on the TV.