LaserDisc Database :: View topic - Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [DEAD AGAIN, HELP]

Well, sadly, the victory was short-lived. It worked long enough for me to digitize Casanova, but that was basically it.

I moved it to a more permanent spot and the player stopped reading any disc past about 60 seconds. I opened it up and found there was a gear in the slider assembly that was broken. (My guess is it was able to read the first minute or so simply through making mirror adjustments, though I could be wrong.) Since I was offered a refund on this player, I bought a second unit specifically to use for parts. I swapped out the gear and tried it out before fully reassembling it. Powered it up, hit Play, aaaaaand it started smoking. I couldn't locate any shorts or incorrectly connected boards or components. Couldn't even locate any burned components, though I know the smoke was coming from near the DRVB board. So I replaced that board with the one from the parts player, triple-checked all my connections. Power it on... now the motor spins at full-speed regardless of whether there's a disc in or not, or even whether or not the lid is open. I swapped out every single board one at a time with the matching one from the parts unit and it made no difference at all. No change.

All I can figure out is there seems to be something shorting out to ground on the FTSB, but I can't figure out what or how. I can't find any bridged connections on the board anywhere, from either player. Just to be on the safe side I covered the bottom of the board with electrical tape just in case something was touching the chassis, leaving nothing exposed except where it's supposed to touch for grounding purposes. No improvement.

I'm absolutely stuck. I have two useless VP-1000s and I don't even know what's wrong.

:( I remember hearing that the early VP-1000's (fixed are VP-1000A) had power supply issues.

That pinion gear was the bane of Pioneer's top loading models. That same pinion gear is used on the LD-660, LD-1100, PR-8210, LD-V1000, Magnavox VC-8010 and Sylvania VP-7200. It is driven by the slider motor and runs the slider assembly forward or backward. The part is VNL-028. The one in the VP-1000 was open in the center, with three legs that held the outer band of teeth. It was later modified to have a solid back so that the legs wouldn't break. The little legs would break off if the unit got shipped without the shipping screw. I've had to replace almost every one of mine.

Pioneer doesn't stock them any more...obviously. Finding any junked player you might get lucky and find a good one.

Sad to hear it isn't working again.

One thing I can suggest, if any of the boards has it, is to scrape off any glue applied to wires or components to keep them secured. In many cases the glue turns from yellow to brown over the years and becomes conductive. In other words, it could short out stuff. Not sure if Pioneer used it, but I've seen it in other electronics like amplifiers and VTRs in general from other brands.

Anyone want two broken VP-1000s?

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 21 Jul 2016, 21:01 ]
Post subject:	Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [DEAD AGAIN, HELP]
So in my last thread I was contemplating buying a VP-1000. I decided to go for it because I think they're cool and they're half the price of a PR-7820. Unfortunately, it seems to have sustained damage in transit -- cracked shell, sheared-off case screws, bent transit screw in disc compartment. Some photos of the injuries. I'd be okay with all of this if the player actually worked. Instead, when I attempt to play a disc, it spins up, and I can hear the laser move up and down, but after about 15 seconds, it shuts off the motor without ever syncing to the disc. This video illustrates it. The laser DOES work, as I've been able to activate it by tricking the player into thinking the lid is closed. Naturally I've gotten in touch with the seller about it, but I'd love to get it working if possible. I have the service manual and I've followed its guidance for discs not syncing. It requires adjustment of variable resistors, which I've tuned to the manual's specs, but still no luck. If anyone more experienced than I am in LD player repair can give me some guidance, I'd really appreciate it!

Author:	happycube [ 21 Jul 2016, 23:01 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help?
It's probably physically knocked off alignment pretty bad As I said in the earlier thread, I don't know of anyone who's active who can fix one. :'(

Author:	rein-o [ 22 Jul 2016, 03:41 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help?
Sounds like you are SOL sorry. The only thing i can say is make sure the transit screw is all the way removed. Also take the top off and try playing etc but don't look at the laser. Good luck.

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 24 Jul 2016, 11:51 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help?
Doh -- I ended up answering my own question on this one! I reopened the shell to inspect the guts a little more closely... I found something fairly significant I managed to overlook. Haha, whoops. That'd probably make a difference! Broke out the soldering station and multimeter and rewired the connections like so: Put some electrical tape down over it, flipped it over, put in DiscoVision "Jaws" CAV aaaaand... success! Picture quality is actually very impressive! I think it beats my CLD-59 for DiscoVision, at least. With the player working, I removed the sheared-off screws from the chassis and replaced them with brand-new ones with matching washers from the hardware store. Next project: digitizing a copy of Fellini's Casanova for a friend who loves Fellini but has never seen it. And just for fun, here's Star Wars: Ep. I: Now to see if I can get my Harmony One remote to work with it...

Author:	tasuke [ 25 Jul 2016, 18:37 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Fixed!]
Fascinating... Congrats!!!

LaserDisc Database https://forum.lddb.com/

Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [DEAD AGAIN, HELP] https://forum.lddb.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6454	Page 1 of 2

Author:	je280 [ 25 Jul 2016, 19:13 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Fixed!]
Hats off to you.... well done !!!

Author:	samaron [ 25 Jul 2016, 20:37 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Fixed!]
Well done!

Author:	svwees [ 25 Jul 2016, 21:22 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Fixed!]
That looks awesome! It is magnitudes better in pq than the tv programs via aerial back then.

Author:	happycube [ 26 Jul 2016, 07:02 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Fixed!]
Wow. Awesome work (and amazing the player mech still works after that damage!)

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 09 Aug 2016, 02:19 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
Well, sadly, the victory was short-lived. It worked long enough for me to digitize Casanova, but that was basically it. I moved it to a more permanent spot and the player stopped reading any disc past about 60 seconds. I opened it up and found there was a gear in the slider assembly that was broken. (My guess is it was able to read the first minute or so simply through making mirror adjustments, though I could be wrong.) Since I was offered a refund on this player, I bought a second unit specifically to use for parts. I swapped out the gear and tried it out before fully reassembling it. Powered it up, hit Play, aaaaaand it started smoking. I couldn't locate any shorts or incorrectly connected boards or components. Couldn't even locate any burned components, though I know the smoke was coming from near the DRVB board. So I replaced that board with the one from the parts player, triple-checked all my connections. Power it on... now the motor spins at full-speed regardless of whether there's a disc in or not, or even whether or not the lid is open. I swapped out every single board one at a time with the matching one from the parts unit and it made no difference at all. No change. All I can figure out is there seems to be something shorting out to ground on the FTSB, but I can't figure out what or how. I can't find any bridged connections on the board anywhere, from either player. Just to be on the safe side I covered the bottom of the board with electrical tape just in case something was touching the chassis, leaving nothing exposed except where it's supposed to touch for grounding purposes. No improvement. I'm absolutely stuck. I have two useless VP-1000s and I don't even know what's wrong.

Author:	happycube [ 09 Aug 2016, 03:38 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
I remember hearing that the early VP-1000's (fixed are VP-1000A) had power supply issues.

Author:	blam1 [ 10 Aug 2016, 18:35 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
forty-six-and-2 wrote: Well, sadly, the victory was short-lived. It worked long enough for me to digitize Casanova, but that was basically it. I moved it to a more permanent spot and the player stopped reading any disc past about 60 seconds. I opened it up and found there was a gear in the slider assembly that was broken. (My guess is it was able to read the first minute or so simply through making mirror adjustments, though I could be wrong.) Since I was offered a refund on this player, I bought a second unit specifically to use for parts. I swapped out the gear and tried it out before fully reassembling it. Powered it up, hit Play, aaaaaand it started smoking. I couldn't locate any shorts or incorrectly connected boards or components. Couldn't even locate any burned components, though I know the smoke was coming from near the DRVB board. So I replaced that board with the one from the parts player, triple-checked all my connections. Power it on... now the motor spins at full-speed regardless of whether there's a disc in or not, or even whether or not the lid is open. I swapped out every single board one at a time with the matching one from the parts unit and it made no difference at all. No change. All I can figure out is there seems to be something shorting out to ground on the FTSB, but I can't figure out what or how. I can't find any bridged connections on the board anywhere, from either player. Just to be on the safe side I covered the bottom of the board with electrical tape just in case something was touching the chassis, leaving nothing exposed except where it's supposed to touch for grounding purposes. No improvement. I'm absolutely stuck. I have two useless VP-1000s and I don't even know what's wrong. That pinion gear was the bane of Pioneer's top loading models. That same pinion gear is used on the LD-660, LD-1100, PR-8210, LD-V1000, Magnavox VC-8010 and Sylvania VP-7200. It is driven by the slider motor and runs the slider assembly forward or backward. The part is VNL-028. The one in the VP-1000 was open in the center, with three legs that held the outer band of teeth. It was later modified to have a solid back so that the legs wouldn't break. The little legs would break off if the unit got shipped without the shipping screw. I've had to replace almost every one of mine. Pioneer doesn't stock them any more...obviously. Finding any junked player you might get lucky and find a good one.

Author:	blam1 [ 10 Aug 2016, 18:39 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
happycube wrote: :( I remember hearing that the early VP-1000's (fixed are VP-1000A) had power supply issues. Very true. The power supplies would smoke for any number of reasons out of the blue.

Author:	tasuke [ 11 Aug 2016, 17:33 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
DAMN, proverbial Pandora's Box, this model...

Author:	je280 [ 19 Aug 2016, 11:47 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [THE JOURNEY ENDS]
Got to say well done, your perseverance & patience has paid off - quite a journey all told. The remote is really cool & is such good condition too. Hope it does everything as expected with no further issues & enjoy . Best regards.

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Author:	samaron [ 11 Aug 2016, 17:43 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
Sad to hear it isn't working again. One thing I can suggest, if any of the boards has it, is to scrape off any glue applied to wires or components to keep them secured. In many cases the glue turns from yellow to brown over the years and becomes conductive. In other words, it could short out stuff. Not sure if Pioneer used it, but I've seen it in other electronics like amplifiers and VTRs in general from other brands.

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 12 Aug 2016, 22:50 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
I printed up a bunch of wiring diagrams from the service manual for the questionable boards -- gonna pull everything out again this weekend and check it all again. There has to be SOMETHING I'm overlooking... blam1 wrote: That pinion gear was the bane of Pioneer's top loading models. That same pinion gear is used on the LD-660, LD-1100, PR-8210, LD-V1000, Magnavox VC-8010 and Sylvania VP-7200. It is driven by the slider motor and runs the slider assembly forward or backward. The part is VNL-028. The one in the VP-1000 was open in the center, with three legs that held the outer band of teeth. It was later modified to have a solid back so that the legs wouldn't break. The little legs would break off if the unit got shipped without the shipping screw. I've had to replace almost every one of mine. Pioneer doesn't stock them any more...obviously. Finding any junked player you might get lucky and find a good one. Yep, that's exactly the type that broke. The one I pulled from the second VP-1000 I bought had the same type, too: Who came up with that design? However, it has a second gear on the slider mechanism of the exact same size, but with a solid center, so I pulled that one and used a bushing to make it fit the shaft where the original went. If I can get the rest of the player working, it should be trouble-free from now on. samaron wrote: Sad to hear it isn't working again. One thing I can suggest, if any of the boards has it, is to scrape off any glue applied to wires or components to keep them secured. In many cases the glue turns from yellow to brown over the years and becomes conductive. In other words, it could short out stuff. Not sure if Pioneer used it, but I've seen it in other electronics like amplifiers and VTRs in general from other brands. I'll keep an eye our for this as well. Thanks!

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 14 Aug 2016, 05:45 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
Today I dismantled the entire unit down to the chassis and double-checked every connection against the wiring diagrams I pulled from the service manual. Nothing is shorting out, nothing touching where it shouldn't be, nothing missing. I even found what fried on the DRVB board -- a resistor. Totally carbonized, though I'm not sure what caused it. Wired in the DRVB board from the junk player following the service manual's schematics, made sure the connections were good, and reassembled it all. Still no better. Motor still spins at full speed the moment the system is turned on. Anyone want two broken VP-1000s?

Author:	tasuke [ 14 Aug 2016, 20:45 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [Edit: Dead again
forty-six-and-2 wrote: Anyone want two broken VP-1000s? how much?

Author:	forty-six-and-2 [ 19 Aug 2016, 11:12 ]
Post subject:	Re: Ended up buying a VP-1000. DOA. Help? [THE JOURNEY ENDS]
THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM. I found ONE MORE VP-1000 on eBay. This one was advertised as "brand new in an open box." I bought it and it showed up on Wednesday. Unfortunately, as soon as I pulled it out of the box, I could hear the slider moving around on its own. Another busted gear. And... a beat-up copy of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in the disc compartment. Clearly not "brand new." But at least it powered up and didn't do anything strange! Lucky for me, I still had the modified gear assembly I put together for my first player! I swapped it out and the slider worked perfectly! Upon testing, while it needed zero adjustment to play discs and looked as wonderful as my first one, I found that the Left audio output wasn't working. Curses! Tested the connections and found no breaks or other trouble. BUT WAIT! I still had an audio board I know to be good from the first player! A two-minute swap and audio was cookin' once again. Voila! As it stands I have absolutely no reason to ever open this unit again, so I don't predict any more trouble. As a neat bonus, this unit came with the original warranty cards and a remote! Awesome! I've never seen a remote with the original LaserDisc logo on it before. tasuke wrote: how much? If you're still interested in the broken units, make me an offer. Shipping is my only real concern with these.