Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

[Rainbow]

This drive was laying around here for maybe two years as it was not working - not able to read a CD. The lens was cleaned and it didn't help so I thought that the laser is probably bad.
There were some SMD caps on the board so - just being curious - I took my ESR meter and checked one - bad! Checked more of them and every single one was bad - the best one had ESR of 30ohms but most of them over 300 (completely open). So I replaced them all - 3x 47uF, 6x 22uF, 4x 10uF and 1x 4.7uF - by using caps from dead boards (checking ESR - they were all good). Unable to find a 4.7uF cap anywhere, replaced it with 10uF.
After putting back together, it works fine, reads CDs without any problems

Original caps - nothing visibly bad:

That's Nippon Chemicon:

Recapped:

Good G-Luxons from dead PC Chips board:

Bad chemicons:

[kc8adu]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

now find a ccd-f camcorder or video watchman for more practice!
sony was hit hard with crap smt caps

[arneson]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

now find a ccd-f camcorder or video watchman for more practice!
sony was hit hard with crap smt caps

What a terrible waist. I have hundreds of them.
The cameras are a real marvel of engineering all with bad caps.
They diss and reassemble easily but the caps are like everywhere and crusty.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

Wich particular cam models are afected? may be interesting to find some cheap on ebay and repair them for cheap.

[arneson]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

I would say every Handycam model from at least 7 yrs ago.All of them.
I ran out of storage space and had to put a hundred out on the curb.
They are on ebay for sure just don't bid more than a dollar for any.

The funniest thing about the two hundred camcorders was that some failed with tapes stuck in them. After extracting these tapes I was watching Weddings, Vacations, lots of kid Bdays, all kinds of stuff.
To bad one didn't belong to Paris Hilton.

Congrats on saving a Sony CD. Those small caps are like a disease.

[willawake]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

wanna see pic of 100 camcorders

[arneson]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

I do have a picture of all 200 lined up at my feet, it's enough to make you cry.
I must locate it from last year, 90% Handycam but also other brands mixed in.

[willawake]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

wanna see it

[arneson]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

I'll offer ten or twenty to anyone interested.
I really don't want to chuck them all.

[gonzo0815]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

Arent they relative expensive? is there no market for refurbished ones? I personally would be more interested in a good digicam, but i am afraid that they are not that plagued by the badcaps problem

[japlytic]

Re: Sony CDU55S - 2x SCSI CD-ROM drive (1995)

I once found bad SMD electrolytics in the audio output section of a Sega Game Gear, which had weak sound. Replacing them fixed the sound problem completely.
Also, I guess we should be careful in the use of SMD electrolytic capacitors, and that we avoid using them in high temperature areas...

One day, I might find a digital (not very interested in analog ones, except for the viewfinder LCD and the CCD circuitry for a CCTV camera) camcorder (one that doesn't chew tapes), and hopefully, fix it by replacing all of the SMD capacitors.

I don't know why they didn't remove the tapes from them before discarding...