barryg@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Lee Gold) (05/13/85)
We have had a VCR for five years now and needed emergency repairs twice. We finally found out that for RCA old-style piano-key VCRs (and possibly newer electronic ones ones), you should leave the VCR habitually switched to TIMER rather than just leaving it ON in order to minimize wear and tear on the machine. (There's this little light bulb which is lit when the machine is on. The VCR uses it to decide it's got power. If it burns out, nothing works. Nothing! And it's very non-trivial to replace. Among other things it gets soldered in.) Once we figured that out, we went years without needing emergency service. This was years of bundling the machine up into the car, putting it on 2" thick foam rubber padding, and driving it over the pass and down the other side to my parents-in-law to record stuff on cable. However, we also got it cleaned and tuned up every year. That includes replacing all the parts that can wear out. It takes a day (plus a few extra days if the sho was busy) and cost cost an hour's service and perhaps $10 in parts. We have friends who neglected this simple precaution. Their VCRs don't work very well any more. We just got a new VCR and are following the same guidelines. No service contract, but we will give it an annual tune up. --Lee Gold
ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (05/20/85)
> (There's this little light bulb which is lit when the >machine is on. The VCR uses it to decide it's got power. If it burns out, >nothing works. Nothing! And it's very non-trivial to replace. Among >other things it gets soldered in.) I just had this lamp (the end of tape sensing lamp) burn out too, and it seems to me incredibly poor design to make a part with a high failure rate (like an ordinary filimant light bulb) so difficult to replace. Someone ought to tell the engineers about LEDs and bayonet mount light bulbs. However, if you know how to use a soldering iron, you can change the bulb yourself. The little piece of circuit board that holds the lamp comes off with one screw, then you just un-solder the old bulb and solder on the new. Under 15 minutes work and $6.20 for the new bulb (RCA parts are overpriced) and you are back in business, vs $35 labor and $6.20 parts. Or more, if you bought the service contract. Ben Broder ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben