Surprised about My Disco Lite from eBay - Video

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b_koenig

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I posted earlier this week about my 3rd Boombox in my collection that I took a gamble on from eBay. Here's the auction that I won:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1980s-Large...Xb14XtxOa9e162VhSNJlzrE=&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
He listed it with the following description:
Condition: Seems externally in very good shape. no dammage. but Unit does not Power on - I cannot test it. the only thing that happens is the cassette plays and rewinds. but there is no other power, lights or sound. sold AS-IS, not returns.
All that I did was unpack it and play with the switches. I'm really surprised. Click on the pic below for a video of what I was able to get:
 
baddboybill

baddboybill

Boomus Fidelis
No video :hmmm: but most of time I love getting dead boxes, usually it's an easy fix with some contact cleaner and working switches :thumbsup:


Bad Boy Bill
 
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b_koenig

Member (SA)
baddboybill said:
No video :hmmm: but most of time I love getting dead boxes, usually it's an easy fix with some contact cleaner and working switches :thumbsup:


Bad Boy Bill
Click to expand...

Click the pic, it should work.... Nothing for you? Whats it doing?
 
JustCruisin

JustCruisin

Member (SA)
Good video.. :yes: I don't know what is wrong, but that is kind of screwy how the radio turns on when you press play on cassette decks... :hmmm: I'd say CLEAN THE POWER SWITCH!? ;-)
Hopefully you can get er' 100 again! :thumbsup:
 
baddboybill

baddboybill

Boomus Fidelis
JustCruisin said:
Good video.. :yes: I don't know what is wrong, but that is kind of screwy how the radio turns on when you press play on cassette decks... :hmmm: I'd say CLEAN THE POWER SWITCH!? ;-)
Hopefully you can get er' 100 again! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

That is sleep mode. It bypasses power switch. Which means cleaning switch should take care of it. Otherwise a new switch is needed :-). Easy fix!!!


Bad Boy Bill
 
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b_koenig

Member (SA)
Bad switch. Cleaning didn't work. Reflowing solder joints didn't work. When I wiggle the switch repeatedly, I can get it working. Switch number is 8701H. Any idea where I can get one?
 
JustCruisin

JustCruisin

Member (SA)
Another topic on the disco someone said they had to lightly sand the switch contacts with some sandpaper to get good connection..
 
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b_koenig

Member (SA)
Its a bad switch. I'll try the contacts. I ended up swapping the sleep switch with one of the Normal/Metal switches for the tape players since they use the same switch. Just a temporary thing, but it fixed the issue and I'm up and running. The tape player on deck 1 didn't play, rewind, or fast forward unless I really pushed the buttons really hard and held the desired button in. This was caused by the bar that holds the buttons being bent downward and dirty switches. I bent the bar up and cleaned the switches and everything works great.
I peeked at the lighting issue and there's 4 circuit boards for the lights. All have really shotty solder joints and are connected by really thin wire thats soldered heavily. Each corner of each board is heavily soldered as well. I have a friend who'd a genius with boards for arcade machines and has a scope to test everything. This should be an easy fix for him. I'll be dropping it off by him on Monday.
Not bad for my 1st Boombox repairs and a couple hours of messing around.
 
kraftmatic

kraftmatic

Member (SA)
Nice score. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

If your friend can get your lighting circuit boards sorted out then I may have to send him my Disco Lite.
 
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b_koenig

Member (SA)
kraftmatic said:
Nice score. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

If your friend can get your lighting circuit boards sorted out then I may have to send him my Disco Lite.
Click to expand...

I dropped it off today. I'm into 80's arcade machines as well and the guy's a wiz with arcade monitors. The LED boards are very similar a lot simpler than monitors. I had it open and these have to be the most poorly intergrated curcuit boards that I've ever seen. The boards are connectes with only thick solder glops with only the smallest piece of wire underneath. All 4 sides on each board are seperate and again, only connected to others with heavy solder glops. These certainly wern't built to last any amount of time. I'[d imagine that there were a lot of disappointed people who opened these when they were brand new in 1987 and already didn't work right. I'd imagine that there were a lot more that felt ripped off when their Disco Lite got bounced around a little bit. My friend saw my issue, laughed, and said no prob. I dropped it off with some of my monitors today and told him that I'd be back the weekend before Thanksgiving to pick the stuff up. When I get it back with all lights working, I'll post another vid and give you his info.
 
tshorba

tshorba

Member (SA)
The boards were made that way to save $$, these are cheap build boxes in every sense. It would have cost a lot more to make a single square board for each mount and the waste of the cutout for the speaker to mount through would quickly add up on production runs.
 
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b_koenig

Member (SA)
I just got a call from my friend and he got all the lights up except 1 small LED which was burnt out. I'll have to watch for either a light or a complete board for sale. Anyone have this to sell?

kraftmatic said:
Nice score. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

If your friend can get your lighting circuit boards sorted out then I may have to send him my Disco Lite.
Click to expand...
OK, if you want it repaired, here's his website:
http://www.arcadecup.com
This guy is a whiz with arcade monitors and the Disco Lite went smoothly for him! He's a great, dependable dude!
 
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