Fisher 800c Stereo Beacon

Freddie73

Active Member
My stereo beacon light always lights up when I turn on my 800c as part of start up then goes out if not set on stereo fm. If it is set on fm stereo upon turn on the fm stereo beacon light will stay on, sometimes for hours sometimes it will go off after about 30minutes. If I switch stations it is sporadic if it lights up or not. When the light is not on if I switch from fm stereo to mono or vice versa it is definitely playing in stereo even if the light is off. Anyone know what’s happening and a solution? Thanks
 
Likely either the bulb is going out, the lamp socket has dirty contacts, or the relay contacts are dirty.

In FM Automatic, the lamp should in fact turn on when the set is first turned on, and then go out after a few seconds. From that point, it should then either turn on when receiving a stereo station of sufficient strength, or stay off if not.

In the FM Stereo Filter mode, the lamp should turn on when the set is first turned on, and stay on as long as the set is operating, regardless of whether a stereo station is tuned in or not, or whether any station is tuned in or not for that matter.

In FM mono mode, the lamp will turn on when the set is first turned on, and then go out after a few seconds. Following that, as long as the set is operating in FM mono mode, the lamp should never light, regardless of the station type being received, or whether any station is being received at all.

If the set is actually producing stereo sound, but the lamp is not lit, the problem can only be in one of the three areas mentioned.

I hope this helps -- good luck with it!

Dave
 
I have removed the light bulb and cleaned it and the inside of the socket with deoxit. How do I access the relay contacts . Thank you very much for your help.
 
With unit off, remove bottom and locate the relay, below. Soak a stiff piece of paper with deoxit and slide between leaf and contact. You can gently apply pressure to the leaf while you rub.









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Freddie;

Cleaning of the relay was exactly what took care of the Stereo Beacon in my 800-C. Like yours, mine was intermittent. I tried cleaning the dial lamp socket and a substitute new lamp with no improvement. The relay is pretty much the usual culprit. The same thing happens to the 500-C models.

Joe
 
Remember too, to clean the contacts on both sides of the armature leaf. When looking at the relay, its upper contacts control operation of the Stereo Beacon lamp, while the lower contacts control the diode matrix switching circuit that forces mono operation of the unit when the Beacon lamp is extinguished.

Dave
 
I just got mine back from a tech friend after pulling it out of a box stored for 20+ years. It sounds decent but I dont recall, if I ever I knew, how the stereo beacon is supposed to look or work?
I dont have a bulb in or wiring attached to the stereo beacon housing. Does anyone have a photo from the top side of the stereo beacon housing. Also the signal strength meter moves only to the 1 position with an antenna attached when other tuners in the room are pegged, I am curious if the meter is dusty or oxidized and can it be cleaned with deoxit by spraying into the housing, realizing realignment should be done I wonder if clean and lube would be helpful
 
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