Trying to FIX: PANASONIC DMR-EX77 HDD / DVD RECORDER

[@Ali6359.]

i have a panasonic DMR-EX75 and it had the famous u81 error code. fixed it with a kit containing the 1.8v regulator and a few capacitors. works very good now.

[@mahlapropyzm9180]

Those Panasonic DVRs are notorious for having weak PSU and bed caps. One of my first MyMateVince inspired fixes was to my own Panasonic DVR. Needed a refurbed PSU and replaced one chip on the logic board plus about 8 bulging caps. Now works perfectly.

[@drgusman]

Vince, a bit of info about capacitors ;) A capacitor acts as a resistor for AC (it's value depends on capacitance and frecuency), the ESR (Equivalent Serial Resistance) is a measure of the resistance that a capacitor presents for a 1Khz signal. For DC a capacitor acts as an open circuit when it's charged. Basically a capacitor in series acts as a high-pass filter (blockls low frequencies, allows to pass high frequencies), and in parallell as a low-pass filter (derives to ground high frequencies). A capacitor can fail in three ways: 1-Short: both electrodes of the capacitor are short circuited 2-Open: the electrodes have no good dielectric between them and it acts as an open circuit 3-Leaky: the capacitor still acts as a capacitor but it "leaks" an amount of DC. 1 and 2 are very easy to diagnose, 1 is just testing continuity and 2 can be also tested with the continuiti meter, if you set it to buzz then when you apply the multimeter leads to the capacitor you will ear during some milliseconds a beep and it will stop, if you reverse the polarity you will again ear the beep. That's because while the capacitor is charging it allows DC to flow, but once it's charged it blocks the current, when you swap the polarity the charge is inverse and it discharges and charges with the new polarity and thus allows the current to flow for a moment. 3 is more difficult to check, but usually leaky capacitors has it's value off from it's specifications. Also a high ESR (remember that ESR depends on the capacitor value) is a simptom of the capacitor is becoming dry, so that usually will end in 2 or 3. Finally, capacitors start to bulge and spill acid because they have been too hot, that means that or the circuit was not well designed and the voltage values are too tight or the device becomes too hot and the acid boils. In the case of that power supply the problem is the capacitor is very near to the transformer and power transistors and the temperature make them boil, so if you want it to last a lot of time, you should add a small fan to cool the area. Hope it's not too boring :D

[@Mymatevince]

Brilliant info geniwab, thanks for taking the time to type it :-)

[@murrij]

Thanks for this information friend.

[@drgusman]

@@murrij You're welcome :D

[@blackcountrycarpets1129]

Hi ... Just to say .. I have one of these , same problem , I followed this bought new capacitor s and I've done it !!! I'm so pleased, there's things in there I thought I'd lost .. thank you for such a brilliant channel 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🚀

[@DaveCargill]

Another satisfied customer. Thanks, did the repair today and I'm happy to say my machine is back to its best.

[@andrewroberts744]

Brilliant. I have a Panasonic DMRES20debs which is completely dead! I checked internal and external fuses. Both OK. Looked closely at the power board and noticed some odd lookimg capacitors. Found this video which decribes and fixes exactly what I saw on my board! Thanks guys. I'll go ahead and try my hand at capcitor replacement now!

[@Podunk82]

Definitely my favorite channel, you never know what hes fixing next! Just remember that all electronics run on smoke, as soon as the smoke is let out they dont work anymore! :P

[@alanwestwood3433]

Huge thanks guys. Have same DVD recorder and same issue ie suddenly went dead. Followed your video, found same 2 caps blown and replaced them. Then the magic 'please wait' returned. My first time doing soldering on a pcb. It was a case of throwing away, or taking to a repair shop ($$$$), or spend $20 and have a go!! So glad I did.

[@dash8brj]

No need to AC check capacitors Vince, they like a little (zappy if your unlucky) battery, so DC only in this role :)

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Dash :-)

[@technixbul]

Yes, a cap can't be charged with AC :D

[@OmegaX01]

Actually if you want to see something fun take it outside and hook up AC to the cap. (Note: it has to be an electrolytic cap it can't be the ceramic ones.) Just make sure you are a good bit away, preferably hook it up to an extension cable and plug the cable in when you are a good 4-5 meters away. They make a lovely sound if they don't have the stress relief like the ones you have.

[@gilbertsprojects2954]

Bought a pc monitor from eBay for £2, someone had already opened it up and attempted to repair it, when I opened it I immediately noticed 2 caps on the power board bulging so I replaced them (sourced from an old sky box power supply) and it’s been working perfectly ever since. Defo always the first thing to look for 👍🏼

[@jasejj]

Those two specific caps are the main common failure point for this model. I have the same one, bought for 99p on ebay a couple of years back and the same two caps were all that were needed to get it up and running again. Good units when working.

[@ufninuyasha]

My first thought when you were describing the symptoms was a problem with the power supply. I had similar symptoms with my first blu ray player years ago. I ended up buying a newer and better one, but still checked out the issue with the first one. Figured it might be a power supply issue, but wasn't really up to trying to troubleshoot it. I found a replacement one on eBay, and swapped it out when it arrived. Blu ray player worked as good as new after that, so I ended up connecting it to another TV that didn't have a blu ray player so that we could watch blu rays in that room.

[@AcornElectron]

Absolutely whizzing it down outside 🌧🌧🌧🌧 Best have a smoke and watch my mate VINCE try and fettle something. Keep up the good work fella

[@paulfacer8000]

I have the exact same model with the exact same fault. The exact same faulty capacitors also. I replaced them as described in the video and it works! There's some stuff on the hard drive that I hadn't wanted to lose so thanks to you I haven't. Great video and thanks again!

[@Its_JustLynn]

Hey Vince, love your videos, really enjoy watching them! They gave me the courage to open some things up myself and try to fix it :) Keep up the good work, man!

[@anthonyhenryhoover9278]

Congrats on 450k subs hope you hit 500k before the end of the year truly deserved love your trying to fix videos so interesting to watch

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you so much👍

[@ReshiLuna]

Wow, my sister has the exact same DVD player! That's cool to see something you've seen irl in a video.

[@dh2032]

same here :-)

[@KnoggCorey]

I’ve had this exact unit sitting in a drawer not working. Also no power at all. I have a DVD instruction video I need to watch and thought I’d open it up for something obvious. I’m not a tech guy in this respect but I have a similar pair of capacitors that have these visual tell tales. Thanks for the confidence it’s a cheap fix and hopefully another item not hitting the land fill. Cheers from 🇦🇺

[@VioletDragonsProjects]

sweet. i wouldnt worry about those 400v caps on the hot side anyway, most of them are leaky so wont hold its charge for too long. capacitors are all DC on switching power supplies.

[@bunzthompson236]

Awesome tutorial my HDD DVD stopped working a while back and now I know what I'm looking for.. thank you

[@davidjelley7338]

Fantastic! Thank you Vince. I have exactly the same problem so I just need to buy the two capacitors.

[@DEmma1972]

Brilliant fix that most people here will need to do 1 day. Only the quick fix was showing in side bar notifications and I watched it. It then went straight to the long fix (after the short fix) on auto. May be an issue Vince

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Emma, I really enjoyed this one as it was like the perfect dream repair..... A completely dead device, could obviously see the faulty component and really easy and cheap to fix :-) I think the quick version was released a minute before the long one so maybe you seen it as soon as it was released????

[@DEmma1972]

No it auto played as if it was on a playlist

[@Mymatevince]

Hmmm, that's annoying as the quick version misses out half the stuff. Thanks for the heads up :-)

[@DEmma1972]

Maybe I was too quick. I saw the notification but only the short vid was up. Long vid still isnt showing on my notifications.

[@TechnicFreakJulian]

First Clock and after unplugging and plugging back in and nothing anymore are always faulty caps somewhere

[@teabreak4t]

excellent video, could you please do a video dealing specifically just for the soldering technique for these capacitors, removing and re-soldering them back into place on the board. thank you

[@TheOTKGameplay]

"I look like Porcupine" XD never change Vince, great vid as always! :D

[@scotshabalam2432]

AC measurements are a peak to peak calculation inside the multimeter. DC should theoretically just be a raw reading but most inexpensive multimeters have a delay between each detection of voltage.

[@GadgetUK164]

Great stuff! Didn't notice I was watching the quick version lol!

[@Mymatevince]

CHRIS!!!! You have committed the ultimate sin. Haha. I've been battling with an Atari Lynx 1 today, can't quite work out if the sound should be better or not. It is louder on the headphones than on the built in speaker, not sure if this is normal or not as it is approx. half the loudness of a GameGear?????? I am wondering if the speaker itself maybe to blame.

[@GadgetUK164]

Haha =D Sorry for my slow reply, just been made redundant in my job =( How are you getting on with the Lynx? Some Lynxes have bad speakers where the volume is less than it should be! You can find similar sized replacements online! Just check the size of the outer part of the speak and look at the impedance. Off the top of my head I think the original ones are 16 ohm, but I have recollections of fitting an 8 ohm one and that being louder and clearer vs the original one. Also worth checking the electrolytic that couples the audio to the speaker - they can leak.

[@Mymatevince]

@@GadgetUK164Sorry, to hear about the job, hope you find an equal or better position soon. I think the speaker is 16 Ohm and from memory 40mm. I searched eBay for 16 Ohm but no luck, 8 Ohm are available though so I may try that. I tested all the caps for ESR but I didn't unsolder them so the reading may not have been accurate. C11 did look a little out but I am not sure which caps deal with the sound. I have a smaller 4 Ohm speaker which I may test at low volume in case it is speaker related. You can whizz through your vids now that you have more time on your hands. The redundancy could be a blessing in disguise 👍

[@thinlizzysupporter]

Hi Vince. I’m a relatively new subscriber to your channel and I can’t get enough of your great trying to fix it videos. This one has encouraged me to have a go at fixing my DRM-EX77 and I’m pleased to say it’s been a success and is now working perfectly. Have you ever tried fixing an old boombox ? That would be interesting. Keep up the great work 😊👍🏻

[@garystevens6831]

My guess is this unit was from early to mid noughties, around this time many electronic equipment manufacturers were plagued with batches of bad cheap capacitors.

[@wasserman63]

HI VINCE good Job. A wise man once said its not the big moutains what makes us struggel but the littel mole hills cheers

[@guitchess]

Looks like it may not be that long before you have to open this one again. That heat sink looked under sized and there was significant board damage. That chip, probably a mosfet, could die at any moment. Love your vids. Inspiring.

[@technixbul]

In electronics, the integrated elements can't work half way or die of uglyness. When you remove the faulty components the schematic just works. The IC's either work or not, there is not middle state, only the caps may wear because electrolyte can dry an cause shortage inside

[@guitchess]

@@technixbul that may be true to a certain extent, but excess heat will shorten the working life of every component surrounding it. If I'm understanding your point correctly, I would say that's its this flawed thinking that allows manufacturers to spew out "disposable electronics." An idea that this channel and I are firmly against

[@scottfirman]

I found one on a toy RC car that hadn't been soldered down. It was simply stuck down with the sticky back used to hold it down till it went through the solder bath. I soldered the 3 legs down and junior had his toy RC car back in business. Not my child but I can bet he was happy. I only buy hobby grade RC but cannot say no to anything electronic. Just fixing something like that is awesome!

[@markshellard5894]

Excellent repair...really enjoyed the video

[@markpirateuk]

A very common fault, I always replace the duff caps with a higher voltage rating, as the ones originally fitted are run at the top of their rating, hence the high failure rate.

[@smartatwork2344]

Very nice video. Why you are always working on the floor not on a table?

[@dodgydruid]

Dunno why I prefer the uncut versions Mr V, abs look forward to your vids all the time... do more vids I say Sir :)

[@ufninuyasha]

I agree. I'm sure there are some people out there who might like the quick versions, but I prefer the uncut ones, too. And yes, that includes the ones that are over an hour long, lol.

[@NeonNightmares]

sometimes i am bored and watch both versions just to see what has been cut out. xD

[@thedutchretrogamer]

@@ufninuyasha m2

[@BikerBloke600]

Well done Vince, nice handy fix. Mick 👍🍻

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Mick, this was a nice easy one :-)

[@braziltoomes1925]

good video but you should never just go by the markings on the board cos on the odd occasion they are wrong so always make sure they are correct before you remove the cap,or make a note of the negative and positive sides of the cap on the board before removal

[@PCUser1024]

"The whole thing can fail from such a small component" - That's consumer electronics. They wouldn't put components that you don't need in there...and to cut cost, there's no redundancy. No surprise here.

[@patprop74]

When it comes to throwhole caps and other little bits, its always a good idea to keep a few donner boards( AKA pick up a few LCD and analog TV, DVD, on hard rubbish days) and you will have parts to last you a lifetime of repairs.

[@lonestardavid]

i bought a Panasonic dmr ex79 yesterday from car boot for £1, today i opened it up and found in the psu a 100uf @ 50v capacitor bulging, took it out and on test it read 47uf with an ESR of 5.6 ohm, it was right next to a heat sink, i replaced it with a 100 degree capacitor of the same value, and it worked immediately.

[@michaelmcdonald2348]

ESR - equivalent series resistance. The ESR meter is one of the most useful pieces of equipment for testing electrolytic capacitors and you can usually get a good idea even testing in circuit ( unless there are several capacitors in parallel ). I first bought one as a kit in the 90's when my job was repairing CRT tv sets and it saved a lot of time and money. The capacitor should appear as a low resistance to AC which is how the meter tests it. Only really useful with electrolytic capacitors though. Eventually you get a feel of what is good and what isn't. I always regarded anything above 1 ohm as suspicious, though it does vary with value and working voltage. You can also use the meter to measure very low resistances which is very useful, like zoning in on a short using the resistance of the copper traces, the resistance getting closer to zero as you approach the area of the shorted component.

[@pds8475]

Capacitors block DC and allow AC through. The capacitors in question are between the positive rail and the ground rail. They are used to get rid of any AC on the positive rail, Or in other words smooth the positive rail. Since AC goes directly to ground you only have to worry about DC and only have to test on DC volts. The large capacitor does most of the job of smoothing the positive rail and is some times referred to as the smoothing block. A little point to say is that to safely discharge the smoothing block it is best to use a 1MΩ resistor rated at a couple of watts, Solder some insulated leads on to the resistor so you don't get a shock and use that to discharge the capacitor. It takes a few seconds longer to discharge but doing it to fast as with the light bulb can damage the capacitor.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks PDS, I don't want to give away the outcome of an upcoming video but lets just say a large capacitor left a nice little burn mark on my thumb even after it was left unplugged for 30 minutes. I used the light bulb technique to safely discharge it as it still had 200V left in it after the shock!!! Do you think the 1M Ohm 2 Watt resistor would cover all likely scenarios that I will come across using 240V home equipment. Or should I get one rated higher. I would like a one device fits all type of thing if possible. As always thanks for the invaluable advice you give on these videos :-)

[@pds8475]

By the way to test the ESR of a capacitor in most cases you don't have to take it out as the equivalent series resistance is very low. ESR is the actual resistance to AC(Tested at a frequency of 100KHZ on a good meter). There is another thing called Capacitive reactance this is the theoretical resistance to AC if it was a perfect capacitor. The formula for capacitive reactance which is donated by Xc, Xc=1/(2πfC) or in the case of a 100µF capacitor the sum would be 1/(2 x 3.142 x 100000 x 0.0001) or Xc=1/62.84 or Xc=0.016Ω. If you were to draw it graphically with ESR on the X axis and Xc on the Y axis, If you plot a point where the ESR and Xc converge then draw a straight line between 0 on the scales and that point, The small angle between the Xc axis and that line is called the dissipation factor or in other words how good that capacitor is. This video explains it better than I can do. kzbin.info/www/bejne/n6e5hKRmfs6NfdE

[@pds8475]

@@Mymatevince A 1MΩ resistor will be fine for all capacitors but get as high a wattage as you can. Also hold the leads(insulated leads that you add) from the resistor on to the capacitor terminals for at least 10 seconds and measure the voltage again afterwards. It just eliminates the shock to the capacitor from discharging to rapidly. I have had plenty of nips of caps in the past if fact one burnt a small hole in my finger once because I didn't check the voltage after discharging the cap for a couple of seconds. Moral of the story is when it comes to electrics check, check and then recheck.

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you. I will make up a discharge lead. I have just ordered a 1M 2W resistor from eBay. I tried looking for higher wattage but couldn't find them (I might have been searching wrong). Next time I do an order from RS or CPC I will check there. I also have a nice big resistor (16mm x5mm) which is measuring 22K Ohms but I don't know the wattage and the markings have burnt/flaked off, it was from an old 240V bathroom fan that was on a previous 'fix it' video so this may work for discharging these caps. I will use the light bulb method until I have this new lead made up. Thanks for all the help mate :-)

[@pds8475]

@@Mymatevince RS does higher wattage resistors but they are silly prices. A 2W resistor will do for most equipment, For the old CRT TVs I used a 1W. Unless your repairing really heavy duty equipment you wont need anything higher than the 2W. Just remember it takes longer to discharge because of the high resistance, So always check to make sure it has fully drained before working on the equipment.

[@grahamgynn8606]

Hi Vince - my panasonic dvd recorder does not work properly - the time function etc seems dead - do these machines have an internal battery to keep basic functions going when the power is off - if so can they be replaced - thanks

[@jayarmstrong9504]

Hi Vince, I've found an old Nintendo DS Lite. Terrible, terrible condition but wondered if you want it. I'm UK based so happy to send it over to you free of charge.

[@1977dazzza]

Panas are renowned for blown caps, they are also finicky as to brand and quality of cap you replace them with, go for a good quality replacement cap or you will be changing them again in a short while

[@KorAllRBare]

Just a heads Up Vince, it's good practice to replace the failed Filter capacitors with a higher voltage rating Eg if the Capacitor is 400Volts get a 450~600Volts minimum, and heres why, Regions such as England, Australia Etc.. Rely on 240~260 Volts AC from the Grid or "Mains" and as such experience high voltage spikes, Spikes which are much higher than regions that rely on around 100~120 Volts AC from the grid or Mains, Voltage Spikes are passed on through transformers so what should be lets say 12 volts, with a spike that voltage could tripple if not quadrapple. Now with Electroylitic Capacitors the higher the Volatage Rating the more expensive they are, So even though devices are designed to handle mains Voltage spikes, Here in Australia and no doubt in England mains spike are significantlty higher than anticipated, Hence why a lot of devices experience power supply failures.. I was always relieved when ever I came across Faulty Filter Err-"Electrolytic Capacitor/s" in the Power supply, as they're a nice n quick easy fix, I dropped a like on both "video versions" of this here fix..

[@majinzed]

Hello there! I have a Thomson recorder, and somehow it just stucked after turning it on. The display itself says hello, but no reaction from the machines buttons or from the remote control whatsoever. Any idea what shall I do? The only way to turn it off is to remove the power cord from the network, and that shuts it off. I digitalized so-so many VHS in the last few weeks, but this never happened before. There aren't any signal on the TV as well, so i'm kinda clueless. Thanks for reading this, and have a nice day!

[@scottchampion3511]

Awesome once again Vince 👍

[@BakedPrawns]

Great video as always Vince 👍🏼

[@CTCTraining1]

Very good, although I think if I had gone to the bother of desoldering those caps I’d have put new ones back in, but each to his own. Keep up the good work!

[@technixbul]

When you fix impulse power supply, make sure you first change every bulging cap, then you make sure those left caps are in the low ESR (equivalent serial resistance) range - lower than 1 ohm and change them if not. The caps stayed charged for near minute because they have bleading resistors in parallel. If this don't fix the problem you should check the switching transistors if they short, then diodes. Then resistors if they are open/infinite resistance. When you check caps you ALWAYS make sure that they are discharged because you will damage your meter equipment if any charge left. Impulse PSU's are big spoon for newbies, but the faults that i mention are typical problems for SMPS's (switch mode power supplys).

[@technixbul]

Also you don't go too higher-up on cap's voltage and specially on SMPS because on high frequencyes they can burn something with overcharged voltage and the ESR will be higher on those by default

[@louf7178]

I have a DMR-EH75V. I really like these things.

[@patrickparker8417]

The volume on my one does not work on the tv but works on the dvd , its certainly connected right , this one is a replacement because my old one's dvd wasnt working , any ideas ? Thanks .

[@sly2196]

If it has a slight bulge is done? i have a monitor and after opening it up 2 capacitors are just like the ones you have shown with a slight bulge and the monitor turns on but just flahses green light. They are 16v 1000uf they are cheap anyway... From what ive noticed on my multimeter it doesnt matter what i measure AC or DC with but. If i measure AC with DC settings the voltage is all over the place and same with DC with AC settings

[@sadmac356]

Yeah if they're bulging or leaking their contents, they need to go.

[@TheCheshireCat.]

Update the firmware too? If available.

[@cliffordgallagher4531]

Great job Guys! Excellent Fix!

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Clifford :-)

[@Noobmaster69-gp5jt]

Hello. Please tell me how can I do a full factory reset on my Panasonic dp-ub824?

[@Natei]

I needed a good video to watch, cheers vince

[@fredshead7114]

Hi Vince i have a Panasonic DVD/HDD/VHS recorder cant remember the model, but when i turn it on the dvd goes in and out a couple of times and it comes up with ERRHDD which i assume is a hard drive fault, it could end up on the scrap heap its about 10 years old, it is multiregional cost me about £400 orignally...any ideas...Fred in Essex.

[@Jar6163]

Great jobb My Mate Vince

[@williambrown5716]

Only just seen this as my unit has now stopped! Message 'Please Wait' contimuous nothing happens! Any suggetsions. Can I get at the recorded material?

[@sampalermo9472]

I had three blow and leaking 680uFd 10V caps in the DMRE75VP that I worked on but they did not fix the DVD eject yet. 10V caps are junk and I never use hem 16 V minimum.

[@CLC-1000]

The porcupine joke made me laugh so hard. 😂 Great video as always Vince. 👍

[@Mymatevince]

Haha, cheers mate :-)

[@CLC-1000]

@@Mymatevince You're welcome.

[@masonwessing3694]

hi vince love your videos mate

[@IDontWantAHandleKThanks]

Nice copy mate

[@masonwessing3694]

@@IDontWantAHandleKThanks thanks :D

[@monkeyengine3954]

Mines the same model and just done exactly the same, no response from the remote control or buttons on the unit. Un-plugged it and plugged it back in, then it was completely dead. Hopefully I can get it up and running again so thank you.

[@GameRelated]

Great Video!! Vince I have a similar model Panasonic DMR-XW450 and when I plug my super Nintendo into the back and then to the TV I get a White flash every 7 Seconds? Do you know why causes this issue? I have two snes PAL consoles and they both do the same thing. But when I hook up a N64 PAL this problem doesn't occur. So when recording to my HDD the site flash also gets recorded every 7 seconds. I read on some forums that the SNES maybe triggering a Copyright Signal causing the white flash to occur. Would you know any information regarding this? Thanks again

[@TradieTrev]

Where do I get that 3rd hand while testing? Forever with electronics have I needed one so!!

[@MyRegardsToTheDodo]

Go have a vacation near Three Mile Island in the US.

[@thomasesr]

Electrolytic capacitors are DC. Ceramic capacitors can be both. To know which part of the power supply uses AC vs DC you only need to understand where is the Bridge Rectifier. The bridge rectifier can be a single 4 pin component or can be an array of 4 diodes (full wave bridge rectifier), or 2 diodes (half wave bridge rectifier). Everything after the Bridge Rectifier is DC.

[@darrylland5659]

Another excellent video

[@TobiEstosWorld]

great video !!! learned so much from you.

[@walker55able]

I have the same model and have had the please wait repeated and found the power supply caps can go leaky have changed 2 today

[@mickyparker3949]

Well at least I didn't see any dandruff, love your vids

[@piperbob2]

I have had a Panasonic DMR-BWT720 Blu-Ray recorder with 1 TB HDD since October 2012. In September 2019 the HDD broke down - I lost all recordings, and couldn't record any more. I took it to Panasonic repairers DK AVS, who did a good job in replacing the HDD with a new 1 TB one. All went well for almost 22 months, until last Friday, 2nd July 2021, when the HDD failed again, with all my recordings lost. What can I do ? Why do the HDDs not last ? (I have had a Panasonic DMR-BWT880 since September 2010 with no HDD problems, but it only had 500GB, hence my purchase of the - 720.) Any advice welcome.

[@jeanettetaylor7944]

I have Panasonic DVD had recorder,all of a sudden voices aren't in sequence when I play after recording.

[@coll6]

My Mate VINCE Not all capacitors are "DC". In this case and most consumer electronics especially in the power section are electrolytic capacitors. These are connects to DC rails with one side positive and one side negative. Electrolytics are polar so they only connect in one direction only. But other capacitors like ceramics work with any polarity. These tend to look like little tan disks but can look different and in various colors so you'll have to look them up. As for changing the caps you should have replaced all of the ones on the power board. These tend to deal with the biggest load and stress. By not changing them you have have some with new life and some with partial life. Someone in a year or two maybe will have to open this and replace the a capacitor on that board again. But maybe that won't matter if you sell it later.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks for the info and advice :-)

[@coll6]

@@Mymatevince Very welcome you make great videos.

[@coll6]

@@Mymatevince In this case those big caps filter noise. Keeping power lines clean with DC voltage. Not sure exactly why this died this way a single capacitor can kill a device. I had a TV that had a capacitor blow up in the power side and short the LCD power rail to ground. Would turn on but no visual.

[@jamesheal5389]

Well done 👍😊

[@lindawelby1]

Great video, as always :)

[@videogamerka0009]

I have very similar Panasonic DVD player and disc tray won't open. Any ideas what happened? It was working fine and suddenly stopped

[@incog0956]

Maybe some dirt got into the opening mechanism

[@Mymatevince]

Hi, I didn't look closely at this tray so it may be different, but often it has a little rubber belt that slips if it is dusty or stretched. Sometimes you can access it using tweezers if you can get the tray to open or some trays have a little hole that you can use a paper clip in to manually force them open. Unfortunately this is now back at my brothers house so I can't check it out for you.

[@videogamerka0009]

@@Mymatevince I've tried repairing it and unfortunately this disc tray is more complex than usual. I couldn't find this little belt

[@nathanmead140]

Probably a bad belt, if you use a rubber band it could be checked but don't use it longer than you need to test it for because they can snap (i did that in my PC and it didn't last long)

[@louf7178]

I once used garlic to add the right amount of grip to a band, LOL - just a little on my fingers. It has worked ever since (there's no smell at this point). (Garlic was once used as adhesive.)

[@stardreamsskyhigh8964]

Great video Great info. Thanks

[@Fogolol]

this just goes to show how important each little component is in the entire machine

[@comicsanz97]

Nice head, Vince!

[@Fawltykog]

"Open the dvd drawer please HAL" :)

[@SMAAAASHTV]

I can't do that, Dave.

[@robertv2787]

Thanks very much, mate!

[@FabiansLab]

You can get an ESR meter that works in board so you don't have to desolder them. I think it's pretty cheap. Might be a good upgrade for ya

[@FabiansLab]

And also, no capacitor stores DC. Though, there are some caps that work with AC. However, they don't emmit AC. They are just not polarized.

[@dfn03]

There just can't be AC stored in capacitors.

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

We have a similar unit i.e. PANASONIC DMR-EH50 and ours is still working, total recap joy me thinks.

[@djblackarrow]

I think the Reason why the two capacitors have burst is the value of specified- and in-circuit used Voltage of the caps. The Headroom can be very small and the capacitors heating up and the Lifetime is directly reduced (Electrolyte can boil off). In those cases i use capacitors with the next higher specified Voltage to be safe. At 3.3 and 5V i use 16V caps, at 12V i use 25V caps, at 24V i use 50V caps, at 48V i use 63V caps. I think it's always better to use capacitors where the Headroom to the cap-specified Voltage is about 10V or more, to reduce Heating loss and increase the Lifetime of the capacitors. I like to measure the Voltages at the capacitors when the device is on to make sure that it's all fine. I'm from Germany, so we have 230V in the AC-Outlets. I've seen some Devices with Switch Mode Power Supplies with a 400V capacitor after the mains rectifier. This capacitor charges up to 325V. Theoretically the 75V Headroom should be enough - but i often see blown Main capacitors especially when there is no Varistor for surge protection. So i think it's better to use 450V capacitors. But capacitors also can burst when the used Voltage is the half of the specified Value. I had this Problem with my self-made laboratory power supply with linear regulator. The designed Voltage is 12V and the 25,000µF Buffer capacitor was made for 40V. At one day the output Voltage of my Power Supply was extremely unstable even without load. I measured around and came to a defective Buffer capacitor. When I held the capacitor in hand, I noticed that it was lighter than normal. So he was dehydrated. Capacitors are strange.

[@bobrew461]

Another notorious component failure on Panasonic DVD player / recorders, are the voltage regulators near the PSU's heat sink. So in future, be prepared to change that if the machine shows "Please wait" or an error code but won't come on...

[@louieramos9740]

Do you ever clean pcp board you fix .look Dirty like Dvd. You fix.

[@ZilinaSK]

Unfortunately the DMR-EX77 PVRs appear to eat capacitors for breakfast. Mine has failed for the second time and needs several more capacitors replacing. Often they fail under the Digital PCB VEP79157 and it's a right pain in the bum as you have to completely dismantle the entire unit to get the mainboard out... which I now have to do again 😞

[@peteroreilly9321]

Very good interesting video!

[@ChAzZiTuP]

there's a website called bitsbox in the uk where you can order single capacitors and a bunch of other components that you may need at a very cheap price

[@johnobrien7134]

I HAVE A PANASONIC DMR BWT 800 RECORDER IT STARTED LOOSING PICTURE AND MAKING LOUD SCRATCHY TYPE NOISES WITH THE SCREEN ON THE TV LOOKING LIKE IT IS OUT OF TUNE LOTS OF DOTS AND NOISY . I TUNED IT OFF LEFT IT FOR A WHILE IT THEN STARTED WORKING CORRECTLY FOR A DAY THEN STARTED THE SAME STUFF ALL OVER AGAIN ..NOW ALL I GET IS A BLANK SCREEN WITH THE WORDS NO SIGNAL !!1 I TRIED IT ON ANOTHER TV WITH DIFFERENT HDMI CABLES ETC TO MAKE SURE IT WAS THE PLAYER WITH SAME RESULTS ... NO SIGNAL .. THERE IS NO OBVIOUS BURNT CAPS ON THE BOARD THAT I CAN SEE ... THERE IS ONLY ONE HDMI PORT COMING OUT OF THE RECORDER SO CAN'T TRY A DIFFERENT PORT WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST ! PLEASE

[@codebeat4192]

Police is on it's way....... anyway, tip: keep some spare pcb's from different (faulty) devices in a box that can be used to see if there is a matching spare component. You don't have to order some new and you don't have to wait.

[@scottfirman]

Yup, resale shops sell those here for $5. yard sales and junk sales almost give them away. Lots of spare parts.

[@edimopoulos10]

Vince, to discharge capacitors you can also short them lol

[@KorAllRBare]

If you don't mind getting burnt and your eardrums burst.. Sure go for it.. I DARE YOU TO FULLY CHARGE AND SHORT A LARGE ELECTROLYITIC :D lol **WARNING** Debris can reach ballistic speeds and thus potentially KILL if the Current and Voltage doesn't..

[@technixbul]

@@KorAllRBare Yes you can! The problem is not loud bang, the problem is that you killing the cap like that. Instead just use resistor around 1k/1W, no harm no bang, live cap and you did short it ...done!

[@KorAllRBare]

Using a resistor is not shorting them though@@technixbul it's actually putting a load on them, ergo the discharge is at a low enough current that avoids what essentially is a potential lightning bolt within a can of conbustible material.. 😊

[@nathanmead140]

If you need to work on more high voltage stuff the only way i have seen to discharge it is to short the capacitors, it should be safe for the rest of the parts but use a screwdriver the power can't get through the handle on and wear special gloves (and don't touch it until it can't make sparks) the only stuff i have seen other people do this with is the CRT's in old TV's and monitors so I don't know if this is ok on these kinds of electronics but someone else can reply to this comment if it isn't

[@Kimvanloocke]

how about Fixing VCR's i have 2 that needs fixing and the only place that fixes them sez they can't fix because they can't get the parts anymore and i still needed to pay them for looking at them

[@dragon940carp6]

If they knew the couldn't fix VCRs then they shouldn't have charged you to look at them... unless just identifying them as a VCRs is chargeable.

[@classicgamer4451]

That was a nice fix i jobs like that 👍

[@DanielSolis-je7fg]

20 minutos para ver 2 condensadores reventados y cambiarlos que lento. igual dejó mi like sólo por otros vídeos que e visto

[@IDontWantAHandleKThanks]

First! Hey Vince, like your videos mate!