Sony DCRTRV110 that some idiot sprayed contact cleaner into

[@Jammerk40]

Happy Holidays to your family Dave! Enjoyed your video's through the year and ready for next year! Till then keep on tinkering!

[@peterferguson2344]

I had to work on a machine that wasn't playing after the owner had cleaned the heads... There was an actual 'crust' on the heads where they had used a kitchen cream based cleaner on the machine. It did survive and played again

[@kingforaday8725]

How do you remember where all the screws go? 😂 I always wind up with left over parts!!!

[@12voltvids]

Remembering where the screws go is the easy part.

[@tacofortgens3471]

Record the disassembly and assembly and put screws with the parts so you know

[@elektrokinesis4150]

When I was a teenager, I fixed a sticky transport on *my* video8 camcorder with WD40, it worked but I wouldn't do it again lol. I only used a tiny drop and didn't let it aerosolize, it had the effect of rewetting the pre-existing grease.

[@mrnmrn1]

Yes, this works if you want something to be working again quickly, without hours of disassembly, cleaning and re-assembly. Works for frozen ball bearings as well, if they are frozen only due to dried up lubricant, and not worn out. Usually only a temporary solution, but sometimes that's all that needed. About 18 years ago my elderly neighbour called me because his VCR stopped working. It was a mid '80s Akai VHS. The bearings of the head drum were so frozen that I couldn't rotate it with my hand at all. I had to stick a screwdriver into one of the holes on the top of the drum, and knock the handle of the screwdriver pretty hard to get it started. Then it was able to spin up, but with a horrible squeal. I put sewing machine oil into a plastic cap, and diluted it with WD40, about 1:1. I removed the upper drum and the drum motor, and dripped that solution into the bearings. IIRC I lubricated the upper bearing through the rotary transformer, then cleaned the rotary transformer afterwards by putting a cigarette paper in between the two halves to soak up the oil from the transformer, as I really did not want to pull apart the rotary transformer, wasn't sure if I would be able to re-align it properly. It's not a great idea, because the oil and the solvents in WD40 can damage the glue that holds the windings in place. But he only wanted to play a few tapes with it, so I didn't care if it falls apart a year later, it was just a temporary solution, the VCR was condemned. But he got lucky, it stopped squealing, a few weeks later the drum started to get quite loud, but no squeal, and worked for years after that.

[@gard2232]

Just stumbled onto your page. Great stuff! I've been tinkering here and there with small electronics like gameboys. I have a ton of Hi8 and MiniDv cameras as well. I'm currently trying to troubleshoot my Sony TRV17. In the past I was able to adjust white balance etc when selecting the menu button but it appears this button is no longer responding. Any advice ? Thanks

[@Raptor50aus]

I used to do exactly that working as an Apple tech in the 90s. Got lots of gear repaired under Apple warranty :)

[@jaric5119]

I am still looking for the error in your videos that my digital camera has with the eject mechanism. It works partially, so that I can get secure videos from the tapes to my computer. Love your videos. Season greetings from Denmark.

[@SAerror1]

They probably used regular WD-40 with oil in it, contact cleaner for electronics shouldn't leave any residue (but is still probably a bad idea to dump blindly into a sensitive camcorder). What a mess!

[@12voltvids]

Both deoxit and nutrol have oil in them. Nutrol has diesel and deoxit kerosene which does leave a residue as a lubricant

[@AstrosElectronicsLab]

What is that constant sound in the background that sounds like a life support machine?

[@12voltvids]

It's my old monitor that I use to view the camera on it's an old BenQ and it has cooling fans because it sucks so much power and produces so much heat from the fluorescent backlights.

[@CrazyLittleYugo]

Hi 12Voltvids I've been watching you for a while now couple of months and I've seen you repair Hi8 camcoders and all I have a CCD-TR75E 8 Handycam and when I switch to camera the screen lights up and that's it I can't see anything (I fixed the viewfinder thanks to your video) before when I switch to camera it moved the adjusters and it would self adjust but now it doesn't do anything could it be bad caps? Thanks in advance your vids are very entertaining and educational

[@Raptor50aus]

My TRV110 is still working great with no issues.

[@BerislavBradarić]

Great job, as always. I have watched all your camera repair videos, hoping to find the same error I have with my camera. I have a sony DCR-TRV270E, the problem is that it opens the basket and when a cassette is inserted, it does not recognize that the cassette is inside. Can you help show where the microswitch is located that detects the presence of the cassette, and then retracts the basket? Greetings from the old continent.

[@12voltvids]

if the basket closes without a tape installed then it's not a micro switch because it's the same switch that the text when the basket is closed regardless whether there's a tape in it or not. If you close the basket and it reopens regardless whether there's a tape in it or not and does not retract then it's a switch issue but if it retracts when there's no cassette in it's not a micro switch. What the camera does is when you close it and there's a tape in place and it knows there's a tape in place because of the end sensors when you close the basket down without a tape the LED light in the center of the tape compartment is detected by both end sensors so it knows that there is no tape installed but when there is a tape installed one or both of them will have the light blocked typically both because camcorders will actually move the tape forward when it's either at either end so that the end sensor is not being blocked. So when it detects that the light from the tape and led is blocked it then instigates the start you can send me like this by sticking some black tape over the holes in the side of the cassette compartment where the light would shine through from the end of the cassette and it should fire up and try to do the loading cycle. what happens is when it detects as a tape installed it starts the drum motor and the caption motor to make sure that they rotate if either one of them is stuck and does not rotate it'll immediately kick the tape back out and will not attempt to load. I'll try to make a demo on how this operates using one of my demo cameras that I have maybe I will do that today because I think I can knock that one out pretty quick and make a relatively short video to show the process and create some faults in that process.

[@BerislavBradarić]

The camera behaves exactly as you described, it does not want to retract the basket regardless of whether the cassette is inside or not. When, after really many attempts, he finally pulls the cassette in, it gives the message - reinsert cassette. Thanks for the reply

[@BerislavBradarić]

I took it to a local service, but I don't think they have the capacity for such a complex device. They probably don't even care because they can't charge for the time spent, and anything out of scope like replacing batteries or repairing a connecting cable or connector they don't want to do at all.

[@tacofortgens3471]

Is it only the 110 that the screws work itself lose on the boadd?

[@12voltvids]

No, every camera that Sony made with the B mechanism (8mn hi8 and digital 8) used the same transport and had the same issue.

[@australianbloke3934]

Not sure why you would say that because contact cleaner designed for electronics does not contain any oil. I use CRC CO contact cleaner. The products you mentioned, to me, are not the same. But the camera you worked on clearly showed evidence of a lubricant/cleaner.

[@12voltvids]

Nutrol and deoxit are 2 of the best contact cleaners for electronics. They both have lubricants on them. Sure you can get solvents. Freon TF was one that had no lubricants. It was banned because it was a CFC. Then the hcfc solvents cane out. They were more for flushing circuit boards and they would remove oils (so don't spray into motors with sintered bearings unless you want to replace the motor soon) but contact cleaners for switches and controls have lubricant.

[@ScottGrammer]

Waaay back in the day, there were two basic kinds of cleaner used in electronics. There were solvents, like Freon TF, Carbon Tet, and of course, denatured alcohol and acetone. Then there were what were often termed "tuner cleaners," referring to the mechanical TV tuners that went out in the '70's. These contained a lubricant of one sort or another. Today, there are all kinds, including cleaners with not only oils, but polishing compounds that "grind" switches and other contacts clean with every operation. You have to know what you're using and know where it can be used. I NEVER spray ANYTHING into a tape transport, as there is no spray cleaner that's safe for that purpose.

[@brunoprimas1483]

CRC Electronics Cleaner for the cleaning, CRC 2-26 Multi-Purpose Plastic-Safe for lubrication of switches and sliders.

[@Brian-yt8fu]

​@@brunoprimas1483I've been using WD 40 contact cleaner a large can is $7.68.

[@joelkist6493]

That's fraud, sir. I do know it is used throughout all different industries sadly. Merry Christmas!

[@12voltvids]

Of course it was fraud. We all knew that but who cares if companies didn't make shit that blew up right after the warranty then we wouldn't have to try to sneak things through and get them covered. When you have a customer who bought a $4,000 projection TV that blew the convergence ics 3 months after the warranty. The 2 parts 95 each and 200 labour with pick up and delivery a to change them now you have 400 bill and a pissed off customer. So you loom for one in the computer that someone else bought that was still under warranty or you claim the display model on the floor and put the claim through. Everyone did it I was just following the orders of the owner of the shop. He didn't want to get yelled at by the customer and I just work for him so when I'm told make a claim on this serial number of TV I did what I was told because I was getting paid regardless. But when you work in retail which I did for 20 years you realize how often that happens not only that how much people pay like what things really cost and how much they sell for. All the shops were telling everyone oh I can't give you a better price we're only making five points or seven points on it bull crap. the average markup on consumer electronics when I was in the business was 40%, sometimes more speakers for example had like a 200% markup if not more. I have a pair of altec Lansing speakers that sold for $2,000 I bought them at cost for $300. I bought an slm1 turntable Technics for $350 brand new that turntable was over $1,000 at the retail level. I bought a 50 inch Mitsubishi projection TV for three grand that sold for five in the store. Of course customers didn't realize how much markup there really was on stuff because every store had two sets of books they had the one that would lie out on the counter open to the wholesale she just left there so that customers walking around could glance at it and see what they thought that the store paid and what the really what the store really paid which was on another price sheet that was kept locked up in the back. the one at the front was the one that the sales people would refer to when a customer came in and was grinding for a better price and the salesman would go and say let me check what it cost to see what I can do and he pull out the fake official price sheet that the manufacturer supplied it was printed on their stationary and it said confidential dealer pricing on it but it wasn't it was bogus. Then the salesman could knock a hundred bucks off or 50 bucks off or whatever it might be and the customers thinks they're getting a great deal but they're still paying 35% over what the real cost was instead of 40. Had a guy come in bought some really expensive speakers that we had that had a price of I think they were $2,500 was the price on them and he got them out of the store for under 2,000 so he thought he got a really good deal we didn't realize was that the speakers only cost us 500 so selling them for $18.99 or whatever they went for the store still made it killing. That's how it works in retail but most people haven't got a clue.

[@zx8401ztv]

The spray for cleaning mass air flow sensors in cars would likely be safe. They have to be really clean . I saved one tape recorder from death, it would not go into record and the owner wanted to spray wd40 in it. EEEK!! I stopped him and showed his error Yep the record tab on the back of the tape lol.

[@elektrokinesis4150]

also putting buttons on moving parts is a dumb move, good job sony engineers, not

[@holycowmanheck]

I have 2 TRV-120's that can do pass-thru. I always thought the video looked great...

[@12voltvids]

110 can't pass thru

[@jantrammelant]

Contact cleaner does more harm then good.

[@12voltvids]

When you spray it into the transport