Big Ben Is Dead.

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Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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If there is problem with the cassette mechanism of the Big Ben will that prevent the tuner from working also ?? This radio was given to me by a friend that said he swapped the cassette mechanism to another box he has and told me I could use it to listen to music or put a iPod in line in. It powers on but that's just about it. I can hear the cassette motor running. It also has the pause and the play buttons light on. Tried playing around with the selector switch and nothing. Little help here please. Thanks Gregory
 
k2j

k2j

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Hopefully there is someone who has one with the knowledge to help. They are so rare not many peeps have them in their collection and if they do I would imagine very few of those people would know anything about fixing them.

Good luck though!
 
BoomboxLover48

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Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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Yeah I remember reading his thread a while back. I wonder if he ever slove the problem with his Big Ben. Mine was a full working box until my friend did that crazy swap. Lol
 
BoomboxLover48

BoomboxLover48

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It looks like he took the vital organs. From the little I've heard about Bigben, messing with the radio circuit board can kill the whole unit.
 
BoomboxLover48

BoomboxLover48

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Elflaco65 said:
Yeah I remember reading his thread a while back. I wonder if he ever slove the problem with his Big Ben. Mine was a full working box until my friend did that crazy swap. Lol
Click to expand...
What a big mistake! Who would allow that?
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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BoomboxLover48 said:
It looks like he took the vital organs. From the little I've heard about Bigben, messing with the radio circuit board can kill the whole unit.
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I have heard the same thing.
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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So i called my friend up today.. The one that gave me the big ben and this is what he told me.. I had 2 big bens, one was in mint condition but it was in sleeping mode. Nothing worked on it but it did power on. The other big ben was ugly but complete and function perfectly.So he took the cassette mechanisms out of both boxes and swap them...Now he has a beautiful mint working big ben and i have a ugly sleeping ben... now i understand why the swap....NOW THE BIG QUESTION.... Can the casstte mechanism be bypassed so that the radios tuner can work ?? At least until i can get a working cassette mechanism. Thanks
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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JustCruisin said:
Japanese Domestic BigBen
Click to expand...
Does your Big ben have belt problems ?? In some boxes when the main belt breaks and the cassette turn off cycle is not completed it turns the whole unit into sleeping mode. Don't know if that's the case with the Big Ben..
 
baddboybill

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Usually when unit is in sleep mode it's always on and the power switch can not turn it off. Sleep mode is like a secondary power switch for unit. It's built into the cassette mechanism so if it's an auto deck like in the Sanyo and many other units and play has been pressed and belt breaks or comes off the play mode of the auto deck can't return to stop mode. You can manually return it to stop mode to end the sleep mode function as well. Sleep mode is either on or off and won't affect there being no sound. Sounds to me like there are other issues if unit is powering up but getting no sound. Try using headphones or cleaning headphone jack. This is first place to start.


Bad Boy Bill
 
Ken

Ken

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If the things you would usually check first don't work and worst comes to worst you have to open that case, I would recommend don't do it without a manual. There not expensive, and money well spent if you are going to keep the boombox. They are available here at http://www.analogalley.com/ and will get you started down that road correctly.

That being said, I still have some work to do on mine and it's loudness circuit that I have been putting off. I hope to get the chance to open it soon. The cassette works fine and if I can I'll check it for any comparisons you might need to make I will.

From what I remember, the belt can be changed without dis-assembling the whole mechanism. Again, the manual would enable you to do that, as it has instructions for that operation.

After some deoxit and headqhones, that is.
 
JVC Floyd

JVC Floyd

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i would also check the record bar , if it gets stuck between functions no audio signal will pass through it . the tuner /aux input/ signals all pass through the record bar switch on the tuner board.
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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baddboybill said:
Usually when unit is in sleep mode it's always on and the power switch can not turn it off. Sleep mode is like a secondary power switch for unit. It's built into the cassette mechanism so if it's an auto deck like in the Sanyo and many other units and play has been pressed and belt breaks or comes off the play mode of the auto deck can't return to stop mode. You can manually return it to stop mode to end the sleep mode function as well. Sleep mode is either on or off and won't affect there being no sound. Sounds to me like there are other issues if unit is powering up but getting no sound. Try using headphones or cleaning headphone jack. This is first place to start.


Bad Boy Bill
Click to expand...
I just opened the box to discover that there are no belts at all.. Could this be the problem ??? The cassette mechanism was swap for a reason and my guess is that maybe it was done that way because it was easier to swap the whole mechanism rather than to look for belts , disassemble everthing and then put back to together. But that's just my theory.. Easy fix
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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Kenpat said:
If the things you would usually check first don't work and worst comes to worst you have to open that case, I would recommend don't do it without a manual. There not expensive, and money well spent if you are going to keep the boombox. They are available here at http://www.analogalley.com/ and will get you started down that road correctly.

That being said, I still have some work to do on mine and it's loudness circuit that I have been putting off. I hope to get the chance to open it soon. The cassette works fine and if I can I'll check it for any comparisons you might need to make I will.

From what I remember, the belt can be changed without dis-assembling the whole mechanism. Again, the manual would enable you to do that, as it has instructions for that operation.

After some deoxit and headqhones, that is.
Click to expand...
I have the service manual for the big ben....It was given to me with the box
 
Elflaco65

Elflaco65

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JVC Floyd said:
i would also check the record bar , if it gets stuck between functions no audio signal will pass through it . the tuner /aux input/ signals all pass through the record bar switch on the tuner board.
Click to expand...
i will also look into that.. Thanks
 
baddboybill

baddboybill

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Are the tape heads in down position? If so the unit is out of sleep mode. But like I said earlier sleep mode causes unit to actually stay powered on. If you have no sound there is something else wrong. Check with headphones first. If you get sound then the headphone jack has corrosion most likely. If no sound you can check record bar like Floyd said because if it's corroded it to will not allow sound through.


Bad Boy Bill
 
k2j

k2j

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baddboybill said:
Usually when unit is in sleep mode it's always on and the power switch can not turn it off. Sleep mode is like a secondary power switch for unit. It's built into the cassette mechanism so if it's an auto deck like in the Sanyo and many other units and play has been pressed and belt breaks or comes off the play mode of the auto deck can't return to stop mode. You can manually return it to stop mode to end the sleep mode function as well. Sleep mode is either on or off and won't affect there being no sound. Sounds to me like there are other issues if unit is powering up but getting no sound. Try using headphones or cleaning headphone jack. This is first place to start.


Bad Boy Bill
Click to expand...
I've had this happen on I think my sanyo 620 before I rebelted it.. If this is the case sometimes just spinning the big flywheel on the back of the cassette deck will manually drop the head back into resting position and kick the box out of sleep mode.

Just be sure not to press any cassette buttons after you do this in case it gets jammed on again and you have to open the box back up to reset it again.
 
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