SX1250 Kludge!! I sure can pick 'em

kevzep

Its all about the Music
So here we have a guy who bought a SX1250 off ebay, it turned up damaged, so a lot of work was needed to get it running again.
It seems the tech this was taken to was a "get it working and out the door" type......The first thing was "apparently" the voltage selector was not working. So I have taken a look at this issue, and it seems this guy decided, instead of finding out the problem and returning it to factory, he would just cut all the wires off the selector and hard-wire it to "230V" according to his note on the back, and decided that the soft start relay wasn't necessary.
Man, this sort of thing really annoys me. Why not just fix it!! There is no reason this could not have been restored to factory with the voltage selector functioning correctly.
I have had a quick assessment with the meter of the voltage selector, and off course it is functioning as I thought it would be.
Looks like there was an issue with the balance pot, so this is bypassed, not fixed.
Other "spot" repairs have been made to "get it going".
But none of the actual preventative maintenance has been carried out, not one cap replaced, no real restoration work has been done.
I'm not even going to start talking about the state of the wire wraps.....
Apparently the tuner was "aligned".....It is on frequency, but there is literally no stereo separation, you can barely hear the difference between FM Stereo and FM Mono...

The owner got sick of getting it "fixed" and then having something else go wrong a few weeks later....
So its come to me so I can get it back to factory, and carry out the work that should have been done in the first place, carefully restore, and turn it into a fully functioning SX1250.

I've got my work cut out for me here........I am looking forward to it!!

Couple of pictures of my initial findings.
First, I really want to get this voltage selector wired up and the soft start working again. I will also fit a 3 core power cable and 3 conductor power plug, everything has to be earthed in our country.

IMG_6216.JPG IMG_6218.JPG IMG_6219.JPG IMG_6221.JPG
 
'work' like that makes me think soldering irons should only be sold to people with a technician's license.

Give it the full treatment, charge accordingly and make him happy. :)

The main filters have small raised dimples on the vent I see. The last 1250 I did, the main filters were very low in capacitance, no electrolyte leakage either. Replaced of course.
 
'work' like that makes me think soldering irons should only be sold to people with a technician's license.

Give it the full treatment, charge accordingly and make him happy. :)

The main filters have small raised dimples on the vent I see. The last 1250 I did, the main filters were very low in capacitance, no electrolyte leakage either. Replaced of course.

Oh yes this one will be given the treatment it deserves.

I've alerted the owner to the amount of the work required to restore, and that it may not be cheap, but he'll be happy...

Yes I think those main caps are toast, I'll have to replace those.
 
its EVERYWHERE!!! you can only imagine how prevalent that attitude is. i CRINGE at the thought of letting anyone so much as touch anything i bought and paid for and that includes all things electrical and things with moving parts!!! im 67 years old and i learned the hard way as a young man.
 
:lurk:
It makes you wonder.
I'm glad you have a positive attitude.
Usually (unless it's for myself and relatively unattainable , ) I'll just say no.
Too many WTFs was this guy thinking .
Often followed by bad subs, jumped fuses, lifted traces.
It's not for the me.
I'm sure it'll be right when you're done:thumbsup:
 
It happens in every field. It is not always easy to identify the root of the problem. Part of it may be the tech not communicating with the owner. In that case, the tech needs to learn to educate the consumer and offer his best advice. Part of it may be the consumer not wanting to drop enough coin to make it right. In that case, the consumer may be better off streaming audio on his phone and selling the receiver.

It's tantamount to a person taking his vehicle for service because the ABS warning is on. The tech diagnoses the problem as an intermittent RF wheel speed sensor, and replaces the sensor and harness for that wheel. In the process of replacement, the caliper, rotor, and hub have to be removed. The tech advises that the pads are about worn away, the bearings are galling, and the rotor is grooved. The owner declines further repair, but two weeks later when the wretched noise starts to emanate from that wheel he calls the tech and asks what he did to ruin his brakes. People like that need a Schwinn, not a Chevy.
 
Neither of the Wright brothers had a pilot's license. Enrico Fermi didn't have a NRC operators license. Jim Irwin didn't have a license to drive on the moon.
 
Sadly a lot of techs only develop their craft or lack of it by the clientele that comes in from the area they are located in. Some areas are happy to pay decent money to get the job done right while in other areas the folk are the sort that want to pay next to nothing but get the item working regardless of the method taken. The tech will subconsciously adjust his method of operation to suit his customers requirements.
 
It's tantamount to a person taking his vehicle for service because the ABS warning is on.
I just leave them on and run <1980's style brakes, since I know what i am in for if I try to fix it. I use my brain as the ABS system.

I see you have the old soft start assembly, the thermal fuse is not even bonded/touching the big R. They usually have it tied up with some questionable material. the new assy has the thermal fuse underneath/perpendicular to the big R.
 
I just leave them on and run <1980's style brakes, since I know what i am in for if I try to fix it. I use my brain as the ABS system.

I see you have the old soft start assembly, the thermal fuse is not even bonded/touching the big R. They usually have it tied up with some questionable material. the new assy has the thermal fuse underneath/perpendicular to the big R.

I like to use my brain as the ABS system too!!

Part of it may be the tech not communicating with the owner.

Yes this is what it is in this case, the tech being lazy and not explaining whats happened and what needs to happen, and giving the client options.
I always give my clients options, "how much do you want to spend?" etc etc.... I can usually convince them to spend a bit more to make it right.
The gentleman that owns this is not tech savvy, so relies on what the tech is telling him to make his decision.
I will be speaking to him this morning to give him the options.

Sadly a lot of techs only develop their craft or lack of it by the clientele that comes in from the area they are located in. Some areas are happy to pay decent money to get the job done right while in other areas the folk are the sort that want to pay next to nothing but get the item working regardless of the method taken. The tech will subconsciously adjust his method of operation to suit his customers requirements.

I agree with that to a point....The tech will also subconsciously choose the easiest option which is full of apathy!!
I like this old gear and I want to bring it back to factory as much as I can, obviously sometimes the re are upgrades and substitutes and re-working things such as the SX1980 PSU but in general, work like this is from a lazy tech who can't be bothered finding the issue....
The owner just got sick of heaving this into the car to keep taking it back for another round.....

It's all good, I am not bagging this guy, they are everywhere, and I am sure they are nice human beings, but it is frustrating to see this kind of work.
 
Oh, does someone have a clear image of the Export transformer/voltage selector wiring, the schematic i have is somewhat readable but is a little smudgy, so not sure of some of the colours of the wires coming from the transformer.
I would appreciate that....
Thanks guys.
 
blow up of the wiring.
 

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As far as I am concerned, there is no justification for bodgy repairs on anything that plugs into a power point. We've all seen some absolutely disgusting 'repairs' done by 'techs' and I've also seen some shocking (pun intended) wiring jobs done by the original importers when configuring the new units for sale in the first place.
 
As far as I am concerned, there is no justification for bodgy repairs on anything that plugs into a power point. We've all seen some absolutely disgusting 'repairs' done by 'techs' and I've also seen some shocking (pun intended) wiring jobs done by the original importers when configuring the new units for sale in the first place.
I agree, what is annoying is all it takes is a few minutes on google and you can find out where to get parts, what the idiosyncrasies are of the unit, you can even get a parts list and find out what other people have done to repair/restore these units.
This guy just forged ahead with the "everything is unobtainable" attitude and made a mess of it.

Never mind!! Its in the right hands now and I will put it right.
 
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