JVC Direct Drive 3 head TD-V541 motor problems

[TAGO MAGO]

A couple of years ago I bought this JVC deck as part of a pallet that our local university was selling as part of a surplus sale. I have had this deck as part of my systems and never had a problem with it. As I cycled other decks into my listening areas, this one was put into storage for about a year. When I got it out to use it again, the capstan motor was noisy and would run for awhile and then stop. I took the cover off the deck, gave a slight spin to the capstan motor and it would run noisily and once again it would stop. I took this thing apart having never serviced anything direct drive and cannot find anything that would be causing the problem. I am providing some snaps of the disassembled heap hoping for some guidance as it was a good deck and hope to get use out of it again.

 

[diepbtt]

your problem is the famous by DD-Motor of JVC/Victor in cassette deck. The both tiny alu-caps(10microF/16V) on the DD servo board go bad. Try to fix it through replacing them with two new electrolytic caps of same value.

 

[PacificStereo]

Like diepbtt says... see those itty-bitty electrolytic caps? Change 'em.

99.9% VOILA!

 

[TAGO MAGO]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably look into that, although for now it might take the back burner for other projects, especially until I get a better soldering iron. I usually like direct drive decks due to the lack of belts (well this one has a belt since it is dual capstan), but as far as this goes I think I would rather change a belt. Of course I am well aware that this is probably confined to this brand and model. I'll be putting that one together until later on. Thanks again though.

 

[PacificStereo]

These aren't hard to change. Easiest thing to do is heat one side, and tilt the part up with your finger. Do the other side. Do that a couple of times and the part comes right off. Often, these parts leak electrolyte all over the place, and corrode traces and degrade the solder. To get good heat transfer, you might add a bit of solder to each leg before you start the removal process.

After the part is off, clean everything with a solvent, then use solder wick to clean up the pads, then use more solvent. When you are ready to put the part down, make sure you use some flux (paste, liquid, it doesn't matter, as long as it is electronic flux) on both the pad and the part leads.

Set the part down. I usually hold them with tweezers, but you can just push down on the top with your finger in a pinch. Put a smidge of solder on the iron tip, and then touch it to the pad/lead. Tack the part down. Then go to the other side, and solder it normally. Return to the tacked down side and solder it correctly as well. Clean up, and done.

Not hard at all. Those parts can be had from Digikey and Mouser. Or, if there is room, just solder in regular leaded parts, laid down on the board. Probably a good idea to dab a bit of glue on them if you do it this way.

 

[TimRiker]

JVC TD-V541 bad caps

I got my deck out of storage to convert a cassette to digital. It had a similar issue. Tape speeds up then slows down in about one second intervals. You can hear this happening when the desk is on, even if a tape is not in it. The JVC TD-V541 normally runs the capstan motor all the time the deck is powered on.

Here's some details on my repair in case someone else comes along and also needs the same thing.

The Servo board attaches to the back of the tape transport. I detached all the wires leading to the transport. Two connectors on the main board have slides that release the raw cable. The other white cable has a slide release on the transport end. There are 2 audio connectors that just pull off. Be gentle with the cables on these especially as they are delicate.

I then removed the 4 screws holding the transport in place, removed the entire transport assembly, and then removed the 4 smaller screws on the back to pull off the plate with the servo board attached. There is an orange connector on the right in the pictures above. Pull this out carefully. There are 2 black wires soldered on to the servo board that are part of the motor. You can see these on the left in TAGO_MAGO's pictures. I think this is some kind of tachometer. At any rate, I left those soldered on and just worked on the servo board while it was still hooked up. I did not remove the belt, or the capstan flywheels.

I picked up a couple of 10 μF 25V? electrolytic caps from a local electronics shop. Removed the 2 bad SMD (surface mount device) capacitors labeled here as "10 16v" or 10 microfarad 16 volt. Laid the new caps on their sides and soldered them in.

Deck is back up and running. I have not decided if I'm going to order in exact replacements from Mouser or just leave the over-voltage caps. I can't recall if they are 25V, but they are over 16v and perhaps twice the physical size of the originals.

Thoughts?

Thanx so much for this post. It led me to the exact problem I was having! I hope TAGO_MAGO got his deck fixed. I like this deck. My other deck (a BIC T-3) needs all the belts changed. The belt on the JVC TD-V541 still looks great.

Wish I had service manuals for both of them.

 

[aabottom]

your problem is the famous by DD-Motor of JVC/Victor in cassette deck. The both tiny alu-caps(10microF/16V) on the DD servo board go bad. Try to fix it through replacing them with two new electrolytic caps of same value.

I just put my JCV TD-W709 dual cassette deck back into rotation. It's 10 to 15 years old. It seems to be working fine.

Does the TD-W709 have the same issue with the "DD servo board go bad"? I am keeping my heads-up for any potential future issues.

Thanks AKers

 

[dr*audio]

I don't know of any dual well cassette decks that use direct drive. You don't usually get 2 excellent mechanisms in a deck. They would have to charge you twice as much for the deck.

 

[TS_audio]

I'm glad I didn't drop mine off at the recycle center after it started this speed problem a few years ago. I'm gonna go find some replacement caps and get mine back up and running. Thanks a bunch guys...!

 

[diepbtt]

A couple of years ago I bought this JVC deck as part of a pallet that our local university was selling as part of a surplus sale. I have had this deck as part of my systems and never had a problem with it. As I cycled other decks into my listening areas, this one was put into storage for about a year. When I got it out to use it again, the capstan motor was noisy and would run for awhile and then stop. I took the cover off the deck, gave a slight spin to the capstan motor and it would run noisily and once again it would stop. I took this thing apart having never serviced anything direct drive and cannot find anything that would be causing the problem. I am providing some snaps of the disassembled heap hoping for some guidance as it was a good deck and hope to get use out of it again.

Your deck has the famous JVC-Victor Direct drive motor illness. So you can repair it easily through replacing 2 Alu-caps 10microF 16V on DD motor board (near the IC in your foto) . Good electrolytic caps are OK.

 

[TAGO MAGO]

Thanks for the advice, although I gave this deck away to someone and he fixed it for his own stereo. I had too many decks anyway and this one went to a good home rather than collecting dust on my "get around to it" shelf.

 

[TS_audio]

Well I went and picked up a couple of 10 uf 35V caps today which was the closest value I could find here in remote NW Arkansas without ordering online and waiting a week to get them.
I did not remove the whole transport mechanism, I just removed the servo board with the four small phillips screws on the back of it. I gently fished it through the ribbon cables without unhooking any of them.
I found it easiest just to unsolder the two black wires and completely remove the servo board. Once I have the servo board removed I laid it on a piece of 1" thick foam which held it securely.
I then unsoldered the two small aluminum caps and installed the new larger caps. Put it all back together and popped a cassette in and waaa laaaa....it works perfectly.
Thanks again to the guys who offered their knowledge of the fix. It worked for me...!

 

[JXBJXB]

Just another word of "thanks" for this post. My TDV-541 was suddenly running at double-speed. I followed the instructions here (removing the transport) and replaced the caps with 44 cents worth of caps from Digi-Key (P14482-ND, Panasonic-made 10uf 16V radial caps - http://search.digikey.com/us/en/products/EEA-GA1C100/P14482-ND/2504571). Problem solved and the whole repair took around 30 minutes!

 

[Jeff0221]

Easy fix

This fix really does the trick for the JVC TD-v541 motor running too fast or eratic speed. The deck works like new now.

 

[Plex]

Hey - I have that same problem, but in no way will i try a DYI, my eye sight sucks. i found a repair place that will do the job and they are currently working on my Sansui G9000DB [cleanup and recap]

 

[piotrzna]

V-621 speed problem

I have the same problem in my JVC TD-V621... Where are these caps mounted?

 

[piotrzna]

I have the same problem in my V621... Where are these caps mounted?

 

[mrsteve7]

I have the same problem in my V621... Where are these caps mounted?

Your TD-V621 is not direct drive and hence does not have the same caps to replace.

If the capstan motor is on its last legs, you can get a quality replacement motor from Pacific Stereo.

 

[piotrzna]

Thank you mrsteve!
Are you sure there is no other tricks instead of motor replacement?

 

[mrsteve7]

Thank you mrsteve!
Are you sure there is no other tricks instead of motor replacement?

There may be something going on in the voltage regulation circuit though I can't advise you on that front.

I had to go the motor replacement route as the bushings in the original motor were worn out and the motor began to make noise, even following an oiling/cleaning.

If you should pursue the replacement motor, know that it's a tight fit to situate the Pacific motor onto the motor plate (due to a raised lip on one edge of the plate), but it will work just fine. And the motor itself is of very high quality.

The V621 is a damn fine deck and I have two of them.