KR-1000B Catastrophe!

DonQuixote99

just give me some truth
Well, I got in this 1982 monster Kenwood KR-1000B Galaxy Commander. It really needed cleaned-up, so I did so. This involved flushing the back half, where huge amounts of dust had accumulated, with soap and water. Did that work Thursday AM, left it drying all day Thursday, then in the evening spent some time detailing the front panel with q-tips and windex. Didn't power it up until Sat PM, when I figured it would be nice and dry. Played a CD, ran it for half an hour or more. Everything seemed great, it sounded powerful and very good.

Today I tried to power it on, and it doesn't work any more! No display lights (except the clock) unless you hit the FM selector, then you see the tuned frequency. No sound of any kind no matter what.

Some delayed short due to washing water, or something else? Any ideas?

Oh--here's some pics after cleaning....

Kr-1000Bfront_zpsce19629f.jpg


Kr-1000Binterior_zpsa44084a5.jpg
 
Last edited:
So far I've checked the three fuses that I was able to find and get at. They were OK, as I expected....
 
I rescued a receiver from the rain once.
I thought I had it pretty dry (it wasn't that wet).
Gave it a couple days and it worked fine.
Next day, she blew up.
Took out a couple outputs and a driver transistor.

I do not know if the water did it.

Someone said wet (ceramic) caps can cause problems...not sure about that one.
 
Sigh. It probably was the washing, of course.

Will dry for four days, with heat, next time.

In the summer I put them out in the sun, but that wouldn't have worked at all this weekend....
 
Put a fan on it as well...draw as much air through it as possible. Water can take a long time to evaporate if it has found certain nooks and crannies.

I thought I had destroyed a Sharp window AC unit that I cleaned with a garden hose. I let it dry for 3 days, but it didn't work after I slid it back into its casing. After a week it ran perfectly.
 
UPDATE!

I took all the panels off the chassis (a bit of a puzzle this one is) and parked it by a heating duct for a week (turning it this way, that way, and downside up from time to time).

It worked! Unit came back to life! The moral is to take special care getting washed electronics dry in winter.
 
I was beginning to get a bit concerned. I've had several in the utility sink with hot water, Dial soap, and a stiff brush, and haven't had one fail yet after a thorough drying. Glad you got all the liquid out of it. I've gone as far as to place the washed unit in an oven which has been preheated to about 200-ish then shut off. Let the chassis soak up the latent heat then pull it out and let the water vapor escape.
 
My check will likewise be in the mail, bstable. I certainly acknowledge that I'm in your debt for an encouraging word when I was rather discouraged..... :)
 
I was beginning to get a bit concerned. I've had several in the utility sink with hot water, Dial soap, and a stiff brush, and haven't had one fail yet after a thorough drying. Glad you got all the liquid out of it. I've gone as far as to place the washed unit in an oven which has been preheated to about 200-ish then shut off. Let the chassis soak up the latent heat then pull it out and let the water vapor escape.

Well, that sounds like a safe enough oven procedure. I've always felt kind of queasy about the oven-drying idea. One thing I know as a matter of creed is 'heat kills electronics.'

With this unit I would have had to uninstall the plastic front panel, which has a ton of wires plugging into it. Would have been a real pain.
 
With this unit I would have had to uninstall the plastic front panel, which has a ton of wires plugging into it. Would have been a real pain.[/QUOTE]

Yes! There was a ton of ribbon wire used in that Kennie!:D
 
Back
Top Bottom