Purchased on eBay and upon arrival it was able to power on and the radio worked for a few minutes but power was really low and now not much registers on the battery meter and the power light is dim. Does this with ac power, dc power, and batteries. Maybe a capacitor or something fizzled out or something as I assume this unit hasn’t been powered on in years. I’m no electronics guru but I have used a solder iron before but that was something simple like a relay replacement. I was able to remove the pcb and spray electrical cleaner on the pots and switches but unsure of their effectiveness. I would be glad to take it to a bench tech but none can be found these days. I always wanted this particular boombox since I was 12 years old and I actually had a 5258 when I was a teenager and literally wore it out. Wish I would have kept it lol.
GE 5259a blockbuster power issue.
- Thread starter jasonj8470
- Start date
Someone will answer you - great knowledgeable people here. I love the Blockbuster so much I have 3 and a parts box. Don’t give up it’s probably an easy fix.
Maybe power switch or the ac/dc switch (the mini switch inside the ac socket) is dirty and needs cleaning.
I just did some testing of the capacitors around where the power enters the board. There is a 2200 microfarad/25v capacitor that's not giving any kind of reading at all. There is another cap of the same value on the power supply board and it reads around 20 volts with a slow decrease. I will replace soon and update, thanks for the responses and soon have more questions later.
I'll throw my $.02 in.
My guesses are either a dirty power switch or R164 (4.7 fusible resistor).
I'd check the resistor first since it's easier.
It's right next to the heat sink by the large capacitors.
I've had to remove, disassemble and manually clean the switch contacts on several of these boxes (SCR-8s & GE 5259).
My guesses are either a dirty power switch or R164 (4.7 fusible resistor).
I'd check the resistor first since it's easier.
It's right next to the heat sink by the large capacitors.
I've had to remove, disassemble and manually clean the switch contacts on several of these boxes (SCR-8s & GE 5259).
I will definitely check this out. I have sprayed contact cleaner around the power switch. Unsure of how effective spraying the outside affects the actual contacts but nevertheless it didn’t seem to have changed anything at all.
You can try spraying into the front where the button enters the body of the switch and work it on and off a bunch of times.
I wouldn't power it up again until the cleaner has dried up inside.
Like I said, I've had to dismantle several of those to get them fully working.
The last SCR-8 I refurbished had very little volume, no FM stereo and the power light was very dim.
It ended up being that resistor I mentioned above.
Btw, testing a capacitor in circuit isn't reliable.
I wouldn't power it up again until the cleaner has dried up inside.
Like I said, I've had to dismantle several of those to get them fully working.
The last SCR-8 I refurbished had very little volume, no FM stereo and the power light was very dim.
It ended up being that resistor I mentioned above.
Btw, testing a capacitor in circuit isn't reliable.
Thanks for the advice. Again I’m not an electrical guru so all the advice is very appreciated. I am however proud to say that after some poking around (literally) I determined the power switch was indeed the issue. I started working it dozens of times and then started flicking it sort of like flicking a mosquito off your skin as I watching the power meter and then I saw it starting to come back to life. I kept on and sprayed a lot of cleaner into it and now seems to be working. At least if the problem comes back I will know where to look. Now on to the issue of the cassette player. I have ordered the part from shapeways to get me going in the right direction but now I’m a happy camper.
When you say the capacitor isn’t giving any kind of reading whatsoever, what “exactly” does that mean and what exactly did you test and how did you test it. Oh and btw, a multimeter “always” has a reading. Even an OL or “0” reading is meaningful. And were you testing for voltage, or resistance or capacitance or ESR and how was the meter connected and was this powered up or out of circuit or……
Good question. I’m not good with pcb’s but I know how to follow power. My “best guess” diagnosis was that I was testing the residual voltage from the capacitors when no power to the board and that particular one just kept reading zero when others seemed to be showing some voltage. So I assumed that was an issue but clearly that wasn’t the correct way to troubleshoot. But as I learned from further research I also learned how to use the resistance side of the vom to get a reading. I tested that cap in question and it showed good. Also tested a couple resistors and they were in spec. That’s when I started to consider something else as the issue. That’s when I started testing voltage from the power supply and tracked it to the power switch and it tested bad. I shorted the power switch contacts and voila all power restored. I gave that switch a workout and sprayed the hell out of it and all is good now.