Pioneer SX-450... Unboxing?

[NavLinear]

Yes, this is what I meant with moving to another thread.
I ordered the bulbs, but the company selling them failed processing the order and I have to contact them. Couldn't do it today because it was a national holiday.
Though I can't really vouch for a company that can't process a simple order of two bulbs. They did take the money off of my account, so they better get their heads together.

Good luck with the bulb purchase. You'll have to update us when you get it all working. That was a really nice score. So what was the national holiday you just celebrated?

She's married? Bummer.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

"Pinksteren", or Whitsun/Pentecost as it would be called in English. This year it was from last week Thursday to this week Monday (though our school also left Tuesday for what it was).
I actually got those bulbs from a Radio Repair site, and these were 8V 50mA bulbs. Though if they can't get their shit together I'll just go for the 60mA ones.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

Got the bulbs today, and here are the results: Power works fine now, but Stereo won't go on at any time. Reversing polarity (as the Third Doctor would do) didn't work, so I was afraid the bulb wouldn't work. But when I accidently held one of the wires, which was supposed to go to ground, to the metal chassis, it went on! But it stayed on all the time. What's going on here? Is the stereo just broken?

 

[TheDutchOwner]

Oh dear, I think I have the uncurable problem, the silence is saying so! Would there be a way I could make it so that when the Mono button is not pressed, STEREO will light up, and when it is pressed, it will not light up? Maybe it won't show if the FM station is in STEREO, but atleast it's doing something...

 

[NavLinear]

Do you have the service manual? I just downloaded it to take a quick gander to understand what the lamp indicates when illuminated. When illuminated the lamp indicates the tuner is locked on an FM station and it is producing a two channel (stereo) output. Otherwise it should not light.

 

[NavLinear]

Got the bulbs today, and here are the results: Power works fine now, but Stereo won't go on at any time. Reversing polarity (as the Third Doctor would do) didn't work, so I was afraid the bulb wouldn't work. But when I accidently held one of the wires, which was supposed to go to ground, to the metal chassis, it went on! But it stayed on all the time. What's going on here? Is the stereo just broken?

There's no polarity to worry about with these bulbs. Holding one of the wires to ground and having the lamp illuminate does makes sense based on the schematic. One leg of the bulb has +6 VAC tied to it and the other leg is switched to ground via a transistor on the tuner board. I suspect that you took the leg that would normally attach to pin one of the AWE-008 board (tuner board) and attached it to the chassis. When you are listening to a FM station do you hear two distinct channels? If so you could have a problem with the last transistor before the lamp - the one that provides the ground path.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

I tuned in on several channels to the point where the needle is dead-set in the centre, on none of them did the bulb go on. All of the FM stations here are Stereo, and the Mono button was not pressed.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

Yes, but I'm not making a whole lot of sense from it. What transistor should be replaced if faulty?

 

[Web Police]

I tuned in on several channels to the point where the needle is dead-set in the centre, on none of them did the bulb go on. All of the FM stations here are Stereo, and the Mono button was not pressed.

Are you using an antenna? What is the signal meter reading at its peak? I have had quite a few recievers where they would not lock into the stereo signal unless the signal was 4 out of 5 or better. Anything less the 4 out of 5 the stereo lamp would not light and the tuner would poly in mono.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

Are you using an antenna? What is the signal meter reading at its peak? I have had quite a few recievers where they would not lock into the stereo signal unless the signal was 4 out of 5 or better. Anything less the 4 out of 5 the stereo lamp would not light and the tuner would poly in mono.

I am using a bit of wire as antenna. Also, I tuned it to a local radio station (in this small town), which comes in stereo on my SA-104 without anything as an antenna, making sure the needle is dead-centre in the middle of the FM part, and there's absolutely nothing. I tried swapping cables, but 3 combinations would always make the light burn, and 1 would just produce hum... This is weird.

 

[TheDutchOwner]

So I just figured to wire the bulbs up so that they would just both burn at the same time. Wired one bulb up, turned on the SX-450, and after a couple of seconds it went out completely. No boom, no smoke, no burning smell, everything just went out. And I just wanted to get done with it by wiring the bulbs up! Dammit.

 

[Miracle Mile]

So I just figured to wire the bulbs up so that they would just both burn at the same time. Wired one bulb up, turned on the SX-450, and after a couple of seconds it went out completely. No boom, no smoke, no burning smell, everything just went out. And I just wanted to get done with it by wiring the bulbs up! Dammit.

You probably blew the main fuse and maybe it's wise to have a look here before you go on:

http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/pioneer/sx-450.shtml