Kenwood KA-5700 left VU meter not working. Any ideas?

[3outof4]

Snagged a nice looking KA-5700 from a garage sale for $15. Took it home and found that it sounds great, all inputs work, and all switches/lights function.

The only problem is that the left VU meter shows no readings at all.

Sound comes through both channels and the balance knob works great.

Does anyone have any ideas on what might be wrong?

 

[Watthour]

Welcome Aboard!

There are a few possibilities. Mechanical damage may be preventing the meter movement from sweeping. Electrical damage or poor connections may be the cause. If you have an ohmmeter handy, power the unit off and measure the resistance of the meter movement itself. If measurement is done on a higher resistance scale, the meter may actually move during the test.

 

[3outof4]

Thanks for the ideas! I was hoping it was something I could dexoit away! Like maybe the signal was getting caught behind some corrosion you know?

I'll take a look at getting ahold of a an ohmmeter.

 

[sinnerboy]

I had a needle slightly bent so that it rubbed the face. A careful adjustment solved it. It would be nice if it was as simple as that!

 

[Semanon]

Physical check: is the needle bent or in a different position then the working meter?

Connection check: are the wires connected to the board? Are the traces cracked or broken? Solder joints good? Wires connected at the meter?

Electrical check: check the resistance as noted above. Is the meter coil shorted or open? There should be .75 mV at the meter connection at the board when the meter is on.

After this you will need to start testing voltages and look deeper into the circuit. There is a thermistor and a couple of diodes that might be worth checking. There are also a couple of variable resistors.

Unlikely that Deoxit will help, except maybe at the variable resistor for meter adjust.

 

[thefranta]

Physical check: is the needle bent or in a different position then the working meter?

Connection check: are the wires connected to the board? Are the traces cracked or broken? Solder joints good? Wires connected at the meter?

Electrical check: check the resistance as noted above. Is the meter coil shorted or open? There should be .75 mV at the meter connection at the board when the meter is on.

After this you will need to start testing voltages and look deeper into the circuit. There is a thermistor and a couple of diodes that might be worth checking. There are also a couple of variable resistors.

Unlikely that Deoxit will help, except maybe at the variable resistor for meter adjust.

I have just gotten a KA5700 myself from eBay. The seller sold it with working VU meters but the light not working. Now I have received it and only the right VU meter seems to be working, while the left one is stuck at just under 0.03 watts. I have tried cranking up the volume to see if it gets unstuck but to no avail. I assume it is a physical problem. The needle does not seem bent but I'm not sure.
How should I go about fixing this? Is buying a new meter necessary?

Thank you