CED VideoDisc and Player Discussion

[Shogi]

Alright, so I read the FAQ and thought I was all set to look for a Stylus for my SFT100, but then I looked closer at the stylus arm and now I'm a little confused. The stylus arm has a sticker on it saying to only use stylus number 154100



I see that this sticker is covering another sticker that maybe said use number 149000. (I haven't pulled the top sticker off to check)

When I open up the arm it looks like theres other parts from the 149 series in it



The player says it's a SFT100 and looks like one, but I don't know which stylus I should get (I suppose the easy answer is follow the stcker's advice )

[blindfury420]

RCA "F" & Early "G" 149000
RCA Late "G" 154100

Unless you have an sgt late model with an sft-100 case somehow on it, I would go with the 149000

What does the stylus you have say on side? See this pic below its for an sft-100.



Does they stylus you have already in it work? If so stick with that kind, ie whatever barcode on side of stylus says!

Its actually very weird to see that, ohhhh where did you get this player? Someone could have replaced the entire stylus arm from a late G to your early F. I honestly don't know if that would work, but if every thing but that is an F part that could be it. idk I can compare part numbers with you I have 5 F players and no G players so I could help a lil bit!
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[Shogi]

Got it at a Goodwill store. There was no stylus in it.

I can turn it on and load a CED. The CED spins and the indcator shows an L. The arm doesn't move on it's own (I don't know if it needs a stylus to do that) but I can hand crank the gears and move the arm manually with some resistance (I've heard that could be because of gummyness in the gears)

[blindfury420]

I see. I'm about to work on the last 2 F players that I need to grease gears on. I just got my phonolube in the mail!
I'll take some pics of parts and numbers to see if we cant match it up. The resistance might be the gears when it is engaged in play mode. Put it in load mode and it will slide freely.
Gears do need grease though and it makes a world of difference. Not sure if you need stylus to progress arm with buttons. likely though. Also is the servo drive belt still there?
Worst case scenario you have to buy a different stylus and the one you bought before can be sold very easy. In fact I can find you a stylus for a 100 right now for $30 which is cheap as of lately.
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[Shogi]

Thankfully I haven't bought any stylus' yet I saw the $30 100 stylus you're probably talking about, now I just have to make sure I can use that

I took the top off of the player and snapped a few more pics:



Serial Number Sticker on the front bottom


Here are the only two items on the arm that have any numbers on them



I'm assuming the 1983 sticker possibly means the arm could be from a later model?

Here's the gears, looks like the motor belt is still there and good

[blindfury420]

Yeah your case says march 81 and the arm says 83 which means serviced? or is an 83 part which would explain why it would be a G arm in there. It might not even be the arm just the stylus cover.
I took pics ill upload in a second here.






different sft same numbers





I cant honestly say for sure what is up, all you can do is buy and try or wait for someone else to chime in and hopefully be able to fully explain it.
Btw, for you I tried my player w/o stylus and it would not fast forward reverse or move at all!
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[Shogi]

Thanx for your help man! Looking at your pictures it looks like the inside of the stylus arm is the same as mine. Also good to know that your arm wasn't moving without the stylus, maybe that'll be all I need (I hope, I hope, I hope )

Unless someone else chimes in I'll probably just pick up one of those $30 100's when I get paid on Friday

[Jesse Skeen]

What a waste to transplant a stereo player's arm into a mono player! The same size stylus will work in either one, but only the 154100 model is designed for stereo. If you use the 149000 stylus in a stereo player, stereo discs will have a slight hissing in the left channel- I didn't notice that until I got a real sound system a few years after collecting CEDs. I heard CEDatum can fix those cartridges with the part they need to eliminate the noise.
_________________
Videodisc and stereo sound- there's no better value around!

[Shogi]

ok, so I picked up a 149000 stylus



Put it in and tried to play a movie.....same problem as before

The disc spins and the arm moves for a couple of seconds as if it's getting into position, but then nothing happens. Pressing any button other than pause makes nothing happen.

Also, the disc never goes back into the caddy when I try to take the movie out. Could it be that the disc isn't being lifted enough to make the arm move? Or are there many more problems with this player?

[blindfury420]

Next time you try to play a ced try this, with top off as it starts to play do you hear the servo motor running, trying to move the servo belt? Do you see that big thin gear on top in picture? servo belt is right underneath that. When it starts to try and play give that gear a lil nudge if it starts to move chances are you need a servo belt! I need a belt on 2 of my sft's and that gear occasionally gets stuck cause the servo belt is crapped out. try that and let us know cause there is two ways to go about fixin that belt!



_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[Shogi]

I tried running a CED and manually turned the gear to move the arm over the CED while it was "playing". The arm never really moved on it's own and I never got a picture on the tv.

Like I said, the only time I see the arm move on it's own is when I first move the switch to "play" and the arm moves slightly towards the edge of the CED.

Reading up in the FAQ I just noticed that all the stylus' shown have that little plastic bit that goes between the two holes on top of the stylus. Mine doesn't have that, could that be a problem? I'm wondering if I didn't just get a defective stylus

[Rixrex]

You might want to first check out your stylus set down adjustment, see here:

http://cedmagic.com/tech-info/repair-solutions.html#improper-stylus-set-down-adjustment

A quick check test is to put the player into load, load the disc, put it into play and let the stylus move forward as if to play. Then go back into load, let the disc stop, manually move the stylus arm about 2/3 the way into the disc, then go back into play and see if the stylus gives you a time display and picture with audio.

If so, you need to adjust the stylus set down, and it's easy. If not, could be bad stylus. You have to check the stylus in a known good working player.

Those are your first steps before moving on to other solutions.

[Shogi]

I'm gonna lean towards a bad stylus since I never get any video at all.

Also after closer inspection, I noticed that when I put it into play mode the arm doesn't actually move but the gears move for a second as if to make the arm go backwards (I believe the stylus set down is what's keeping the arm from moving) When I manually moved the arm into the disc, everytime I started it up, the arm would move backwards for a second or two then stop (Still no video on screen and the counter only displays -- )


I also need to fix whatever makes it impossible to put the CED back into the caddy. Whenever I slide the caddy back into the machine, the insert goes in fine, but the actual disc slides underneath the caddy and is left in the machine. I want to say I read something about that being due to a turntable belt or something but I can't find where I read that so I don't know if that's the actual problem or not.

[Shogi]

OK, I "might" have found the problem. Reading through the Trouble guide I saw this:

Player Category: F/G Chassis Fault: Defective 15 Volt Regulator

Symptom(s):
Loading indicator "L" flashes slower than normal and the display indicator may stay in "--" mode permanently after a disc is loaded and the player attempts to initiate play. Pickup arm may suddenly run forward without any buttons being pushed.

Solution(s):
This indicates a weak 15 Volt regulator inside the player. The regulator is designated U3801 and is a 3-pin integrated circuit attached to a large heat sink at the corner of the PW3000 circuit board just behind the ventilation duct on the back of the player. The voltage between the center ground pin and the right V_out pin should measure 15V +/- 0.6V. If less, replace the regulator with industry standard equivalents LM7815CT, NTE968, ECG968, or SK3593


Now, I don't know how long is a normal flash of the L on the indicator (mine currently will be on screen for 83 tenths of a second before it flashes off) But the whole indicator staying in -- sounded like what's happening so I took the bottom off the player



I didn't see a U3801 but there was a U801 that has three pins in the corner of the circuit board



I set my multimeter and started testing the 3 pins. Keeping the ground on the middle pin, when the red lead was on the left wire I got a reading of 15 or more, when the red lead was on the right pin the reading was 1 but it was as if it just couldn't get a reading.

[Rixrex]

I can't address the board electronics as I'm not familiar with them.

Usually when you get the problem of the disc sliding under the caddy upon reinsertion for disc removal, that is because the turntable height is off slightly and the caddy rides above the discs a little too high. Not a problem when putting in a disc, and only a problem when removing it.

You can see the turntable lift up and down in relation to the load lever as you move it into play. If that turntable is sitting too low, you stylus probably never even touches down. Seems to me there is some lever cam needing adjustment in this case.

If this is going to take some time, you might consider purchasing another good working player that will use your styli that you now have, and fiddle with this one at your own leisure. Maybe an SGT 200 or 250 is an option.

[Shogi]

Thanx for the info! Looks like i'm gonna be fiddling with some turntable hight tomorrow. Good thing I have the day off

BTW, I found the bit I remembered reading about belt adjustment.....it was for the J/K models' function motor belt replacement that's in the FAQ (I kept looking in the technical area )

[Shogi]

OK so I poked around the front of the player and noticed a bar that goes across the front and has a few rubber blocks attached to it



The spring on the left side of the bar was unhooked from the rubber end piece and the grooved tab by the bar



I hooked the spring back up and now the discs load back into the caddys with no problem whatsoever.......they still won't play, but now the player is a little more fixed

By this point I'm thinking this thread should be titled something like "Adventures in repairing a SFT100" or something

[blindfury420]

I got some spare players I can do around 50 if you want one. Obviously you will have to pay shipping but I can guarantee they work!
_________________
I dont own

McMicheal 5001h
Hitachi VIP202P
JCP 686-5705
RCA SKT265, SKT300
RCA SJT400X, SJT425

[Rixrex]

You really must get a stylus you can prove is good. Either by placing your stylus into another good player to test it or one from a player you actually see working. Having a known good stylus either fixes it or takes away half of your wondering about the cause of the problem off the bat. And then you can move onward.

Check this one SGT 200 out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/CED-RCA-Stereo-Videodisc-Player-SGT-200-Works-Great-/160638078930?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2566c68fd2