PIcked up this one for FREE! Got it home and diagnosed a stretched drive belt.

Installed the belt, Everything works as new, EXCEPT the Digital counter. It's stuck on ZERO as in 0000. Tape Plays FWD and REV, FF, and REW. tape Records FWD and REV.

NOTE: There is NO BELT for the Counter. It runs off a sensor in the tape transport, sensing light/dark strips on the back of the take up spool.

It has been cleaned and gone thru as much as I can without a SM.

Does anyone have a SM they could look at and tell me what the voltages to and from the sensor should be??? I haven't checked them yet, but I can if necessary.

It's not a life taking issue, but it would be nice if I could fix it.

Larry

PIcked up this one for FREE! Got it home and diagnosed a stretched drive belt.

Installed the belt, Everything works as new, EXCEPT the Digital counter. It's stuck on ZERO as in 0000. Tape Plays FWD and REV, FF, and REW. tape Records FWD and REV.

NOTE: There is NO BELT for the Counter. It runs off a sensor in the tape transport, sensing light/dark strips on the back of the take up spool.

It has been cleaned and gone thru as much as I can without a SM.

Does anyone have a SM they could look at and tell me what the voltages to and from the sensor should be??? I haven't checked them yet, but I can if necessary.

It's not a life taking issue, but it would be nice if I could fix it.

Larry

I have the higher end R-888X, and if your unit is anything like mine, I would guess an IC has gone dead, since I know mine has a lot of ICs. I would take some measurements in mine, but I've had so many bad experiences with taking measurements when the unit was on, I'm very wary about it. Trace back the circuit to an IC, and whatever IC that is, it might be bad. Without a SM, it's tough to be conclusive. :sigh: I would recommend you get one for this, since it would eliminate the possibility of misdiagnosing an IC. Usually a SM will give you measurements you can take on ICs to determine if they are good or not.

A helpful command (not even a hint, here): DO NOT take measurements on an IC without IC clips. Do not remove or put on the clips while the unit is on. You WILL cause a short somehow.

I found what the problem was. The sensor leads plug on the board had a bad connection. De-soldered and re-soldered. All ok now. I did get the SM. I've seen more informative Basic Readers in Elementary school. Lots of pictures for alignments, not a lot of substance for diagnostics. Almost a waste of money. The comparison of this to the SM for my craftsman Model 10 Tuner is Kindergarten for the TEAC, and 1st year Colllege for the Craftsman. Component level repairs are basically non existant on the TEAC. Something goes wrong, replace the board. No troubleshooting of the basics. The dumbing down of America's techs started with the Manufacturers.

Thats why I love OLD (mid 70's and OLDER) Audio equipment. At least you could fix it at the component level.

Larry