1970s? Hitachi VT-8500A VCR found today
 

Hello everyone, today I dropped by my favorite computer store and I went through their freebie pile and sure enough I located a 1970s vintage Hitachi VT-8500A Top-Loader VCR which had a note in it saying "No Power: won't rewind or fast-forward" so I took it home and I figured that it might of just been a bad belt (because I know that these early VCRs had to have a belt for the counter which if the belt broke or was dry-rotted or turned to tar it would make it so that the VCR wouldn't do anything anymore because they usually had a sensor tied to the counter drive wheel that would keep the VCR going and if the counter drive wheel wan't working then the VCR wouldn't play anymore, it was much the same way as your audio cassette tape players were designed to work early on).

Anyways I took the unit apart and sure enough the counter drive belt was bad (it turned to goo) so I replaced it with a rubber band that was similarly sized as the original belt and put it back together and plugged it in and sure enough there was not juice getting to the unit (it wasn't powering on just like the note said) so I checked the fuse which was soldered in place with my multimeter's continuity check and it checked out normal.

So my question is, has anyone on here worked on one of these VCRs before and if so was there some sort of common part that failed in these old Hitachi VCRs that would cause this "no power" symptom that could be easily fixed or should I just take it to the electronics recycling center?
It would be kind of cool to get this going for watching old movies on or even to use with video games (as it has front and rear AV jacks on it which is unusual for this vintage of a machine).
Again any help would be appreciated.

Had the same exact unit growing up but it was a GE model 1VCR1012W. It's a 1981 model. iirc, the power supply and huge transformer were a completely separate assembly in the back corner of the unit.

I see, so is there anything in the power supply assembly that I should look out for that would be causing the "no power" issue that this VCR is having? If so would the issue be a simple fix?
I would love to get this going to play some of my older VHS videos on.

Look for bad lytics. I've had to use an ESR meter to ferret out bad caps get early 2000's VCRs going.

Definitely gotta be bad caps in the ps section. Dealing with that now on a 1986 Magnavox now. That looks more like an 80's unit. I have a 78 rca and its bulkier. Usually 70's models had the rotary knobs and simulated wood grain.

This does have simulated wood grain on the front and sides, and it has an early version of the veractor tuner in it (the one where you had to set each individual button which from my understanding that kind of tuner came out in the late 1970s).

Anyways the power supply in this unit consists of a giant power transformer (cold chassis not hot surprisingly enough) and a small circuit board with a large 1/4" fuse soldered to it and some capacitors and resistors, and that's it.
Not sure how I would go about servicing the power supply in this unit because the power supply board does come out but you have to remove the top and bottom panels and then remove the cover from the back that covers the power supply input (the place where the power plug goes into the cabinet), and then removing two screws from the power supply board and then lifting the power supply board out of the cabinet. Anyways which electrolytic capacitors are going to be the ones that will be bad? Any specific values to look out for that will be bad?

EDIT: I found the rest of the power supply circuit, the part of the power supply circuit I was seeing was only part of it, anyways there was a removeable 3A fuse in the other part of the power supply and it was blown so I replaced it with a 4A fuse and its working fine now. So yeah it seems that maybe a power surge must of taken out the fuse because there's no signs of any burn marks anywhere on the VCR.

OK so I got the "No Power" issue figured out, now I need to figure out the "no rewind or fast forward" issue, also it seems that when you hit play it acts like its trying to load the tape into the mechanism but the take-up and supply reels don't move thus not loading the tape into the mechanism for it to play, when I hit the Rew. and FF. buttons all I hear is a solenoid click and that's it, its for some reason its not activating the motor that drives the supply and take-up reels, it's almost as if the motor for the supply and take-up reels is seized up or dead... which I hope isn't the case because then that means this VCR is beyond repair because I'm guessing that the motor is NLA.

Good to hear! Another unit saved.:thmbsp:

Yeah, I just made a couple of corrections since you posted, its powering on fine, but the rewind and Fast-Forward functions are non-functioning, and the play function is also malfunctioning, and I'm not sure why. Its almost as if the motors are seized up or dead.

Is the bulb in the transport mechanism lighting up?

Yes the bulb in the transport mechanism is lighting up. I have noticed though that its missing a couple of belts at least if not more, the rubber band that I had put onto the counter drive wheels somehow came up missing out of the blue, and then there was a belt that was attached to a drive wheel and the take-up wheel that has pretty much disintigrated, which I don't know if those two belts being gone have anything to do with its current inoperablility issue but I'm guessing that's part of it anyways. I used to have some belts that were the size I needed for those two drive mechanisms but I seemed to of misplaced them, any idea where I might find some extra belts for this thing? I believe they're of the square variety (not flat belts), and they need to be at least 2" in diameter I think. I would think that a standard walkman drive belt would be sufficient enough.

I'd swap that fuse for a correct 3A version soon. If you replace with higher current fuses there is more probability of one failure taking out more than it should....Not to mention fire....

I was planning on replacing it with the proper size fuse I just had the 4A fuse in there for testing purposes just to see if it would power on once the fuse was replaced.

Anyways I still need to figure out why the unit isn't activating the rewind and fast-forward functions and why the play function isn't activating properly, and I'm not sure where to check first (normally a mode-switch would be responsible for that but this unit doesn't seem to have a mode-switch in it, at least not one like your later VCRs had in them, it seems to have several solenoids to activate the functions with rather than a mode-switch and the solenoids aren't bad because they are activating its just that the mechanism isn't responding in kind to the solenoid's signals.

You answered this in the post above - the belts are missing - get the proper belts and you can go from there. (there are no "standard" sized belts - each manufacturer used different sizes.)

PRB / russell industries is the company making belts - get the belt cross reference to find what belts you need. 4.1MB PDF download....

I got some temporary belts off of a couple of walkman tape players and installed those and even with those installed it still won't work right so apparently the lack of belts aren't the only thing causing the problems with this thing...:scratch2:

Where can a guy get a decent copy of the service manual for this VCR without having to pay for it? I would like to try and locate the service manual for this VCR so I can find the exact size of the belts I need for this thing because that website you told me about that had the belts there only shows sizes of the belts it doesn't go by make and model of the VCR.

Wow .Thats a classic.easy to work on.Big fat power transformer and maybe separate pc boards for each function like the classic Panasonic's have..

WARNING .Wear your steel toe work boots when moving this or any VCR from that era.Your toes would appreciate it.

Yeah, This thing is a Beast! It weighs at least 20# if not more.
I was able to get the left hand side reel to rotate again, I think now I just need to get those belts and I think the VCR should function again.
There's a motor and belt drive assembly in the very back of the VCR that's linked to something in the VCR but I'm not sure what it goes to, any ideas as to what it would of went to?

I have one in multipage TIFF format (how Hitachi provided manuals for their legacy stuff). It has no troubleshooting section - that would be in the service seminar manual, something I don't have. The manual is dated August 1980 and has a supplement for some changed Syscon boards.

The website I shared does have your VCR listed - you have to look it up.....in the cross reference, a PDF manual on the website as I mentioned. Page 173....

Oh, Ok I think I had just downloaded the parts catalog which is probably why it wasn't very helpful (the parts catalog was the same size as the cross-reference guide that you listed which is what kind of threw me for a loop).
Anyways so there's only 2 main belts that drive this entire VCR Mechanism, wow that's amazing, allthough that doesn't explain the third belt and motor drive mechanism I saw in the back of the VCR between the chroma board and the tape drive mechanism. What would of that been for? The belt on it is in perfect shape yet but it doesn't seem to have a purpose (it doesn't seem to work with the tape drive mechanism in any way when its rotated by hand).
So how could they get a 2-head VCR to perform some of the same functions as a 4-Head VCR back then? Did they even have 4-Head VCRs back then when this VCR was made?

EDIT: I looked up the cross-reference chart you were referring to and looked up the belts I needed and the only belt I could find in their parts catalog was the SCY6.0, but the SQX4.6 couldn't be found, was there maybe a typo in the cross-reference chart and maybe they meant SCY4.6?

OK, I didn't realize you actually had to call this company to make an order, I think I would rather see if there's another place to get my parts from because I'm not too keen on using my credit card over the phone seeing as I don't know who I'm dealing with and for all I know they could steal my credit card info.

Someone here in the forum may have the belts - a lot of us have belts from our own repairs - I have several hundred, along with a bunch of idler tires and pinch rollers - mine came from a place I used to work at, but I don't have your belts. Your Hitachi is the same as a GE 1VCR1012W - made for GE by Hitachi. I have a Video cross-ref for parts that lists that model...

Search using Google - you'll find dealers that list the belt(s) and allow you to place an online order. Just ensure you have an https connection first...

Credit card fraud (was) more likely with "card present" transactions than over the phone or internet - fraudsters with a card could 100% clone a card and CVV, and charge up thousands before you even left the store. Now, with the chip cards, it's still easy to clone the magnetic strip, but in a year or so, all card readers will be chip-only, and eliminate the magnetic strip. In 2011, my parents used one of their cards in West Texas, while traveling, and it was cloned in the restaurant and maxed out the same night. Visa fraud detection called them and verified their only use at the restaurant - that had some previous fraud/cloning detected there. A year later, Dateline NBC featured the restaurant in a sting pulled off by an FBI task force - 11 people arrested, restaurant seized, and several hundred cloned cards recovered - but only after $16.5 million was transferred to Ukraine.

I remember chip credit cards and phone cards in Europe in the mid-90s, but then, European banks have been all over security, unlike the US, where laws favored the banks over the consumer...

OK, well do you have any suggestions of places online I might check that would have the belts I'm looking for that would do online orders instead of phone orders? Its not that I don't trust the people at the company you told be about its just that I don't like talking on the phone unless I have to (i'm very phone shy).

And yes I do have Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol on my web browser that's all I ever use when I browse any website after having an incident where I had ordered some parts online once with my credit card (before getting paypal) and then having someone run up over $500 in charges on my card at places like Lowes and Wal-Mart which then I had to get my card replaced (and this actually happened to me twice). Anyways since then I use Paypal linked to my bank account with any and all online transactions I make, its much safer that way (no credit cards for people to steal and run charges up on).

EDIT: I looked over at SMC Electronics and they had the belts I needed, although I'm going to wait until I get my next round of spending money from my mom to to get them because the belts are $4 a piece plus $4.95 flat rate shipping which brought it up to about $12.95 which I only have $10 and some change left in my account right now which isn't enough to cover the cost of the belts.
I did manage to get the left side reel to turn which it wasn't doing that before so I'm guessing that once I get those belts replaced it will start working again, more than likely what happened to this VCR was that the drive belts for the right hand side reel and the counter belt both disintigrated into goo and that's why whoever owned the VCR before decided to get rid of the VCR because they figured since nobody fixed them anymore it wasn't worth keeping it so they took it to the computer store for them to dispose of it, what's interesting is that the VCR was in its original box with its original manual and original unused channel tabs still in the original unopened celaphane bag but no sign of the original remote or cable for the remote (this had a wired remote with it originally).
What's interesting is that it looked like the VCR was stored in an outdoor storage shed as it had a lot of water damage on the bottom of the box and had a lot of outdoor debris in it (grass clippings and what not) in the box and the VCR itself was covered in a layer of dirt and grass clippings.

I've got the belts for this unit ordered so hopefully I can can finally get this VCR going and hopefully that's all that this VCR will need.

Should be getting the belts for this VCR today finally, after nearly a week of waiting for it to get shipped and delivered, (I had ordered the belts from SMC Electronics last Monday and they didn't even ship the belts out until last Thursday and the belts are just now arriving in the mail today supposedly, so has anyone else experienced this horrible of a turnover time as far as getting parts sent out and then getting them delivered (whether it be from SMC or some other parts supplier?)

I second that phone shy stuff. I'm the same way. I'll text all day but if I actually have to call, forget it.

OK Well apparently this VCR has more wrong with it than just belts because I just installed the new belts and the VCR still refuses to play (it will load the tape into the player but then it sits for a few seconds and then loads the tape back into the tape housing again) the supply reel turns just fine but the take up reel (which I thought that replacing the belts for it would fix it) absolutely refuses to budge which is why the VCR refuses to play, also the F.Forward and REW. functions still don't work all they do is make the solenoids for the functions click and that's it, it doesn't actually trigger the mechanism like it should, so there's clearly something else in this VCR that's gone bad or isn't functioning correctly that's causing this VCR not to work properly, but I'm not sure what it is.

Any ideas as to what else could of failed in this VCR to be causing the no play issue and the no F. Forward and Rew. Function issues? I know it can't be the idler assembly as the idler tire on this VCR has no rubber tire on it (its just a piece of round ribbed plastic) and I don't think its the solenoids because they all are functional (they all click like they're supposed to when they're triggered letting you know that they're getting juice/signal from the buttons). Is there some sort of component that was known to go bad in this VCR that would cause these symptoms and if so would it be a simple repair?

UPDATE: I finally got the rewind and Fast Forward to activate like its supposed to, but its still doesn't want to play the tape though, it'll load the tape no problem but that's about as far as it gets before the mechanism gives up and reloads the tape back into the cassette.
The other issue I've noticed now that I've got the Rewind and Fast Forward going is that the fast forward goes at its proper speed, but when you go to rewind the tape barely moves and I'm not sure what's causing that issue.
Also I had noticed previously that a winged worm-gear had fallen out of the cabinet (like one of those winged worm-gears that is used to govern music box mechanisms) and anywas at first I thought it was something that didn't belong in there but then after closer inspection of the VCR Mechanism I noticed a small gearbox assembly on the bottom of the VCR mechanism that had small clockwork style gears in it that I saw an area in the mechanism that was where that little winged worm-gear went into the mechanism so I reinstalled the gear but of course it seems that the little clockwork mechanism doesn't seem to do anything for the VCR that's super obvious (although after I repaired that clockwork mechanism that was when the rewind and fast forward functions started to work again).

So does anyone know what the little clockwork mechanism does in this VCR?
Also does anyone know why the Rewind function would move super slow while the Fast Forward function works perfectly fine, and why the VCR still wont play a tape?

EDIT: I figured out why it isn't playing tapes, there seems to be an idler tire that goes between this large Drum style motor on the underside of the VCR Mechanism that is supposed to then go and drive a brass "tire" that in turn would drive the take-up reel (See attached photos) but that idler tire under the VCR Mehanism seems to be broken around the inside diameter and because of that the idler tire can't drive the take-up reel properly. Where might I find the aforementioned idler tire? Would some place like SMC Electronics have it? and if so how much? Also I noticed that the large brass capstan roller inside the VCR Mechanism (see pictures) has a small round plastic ring on the top of it that seems to of broken off or something and I was wondering how critical to this VCR's functionality that piece is, if its not would it be ok to remove that piece of plastic out of there so it doesn't disturb the playing of the VCR?

Do you get google on your computer? First hit:

Stock #: VCRIW41 5 bux...

I see there is still a lot of the black goo from the old rubber in the pulley. That needs to be cleaned with naphtha or lighter fluid will do nicely, otherwise the new belt will stick to it.

http://www.videokarma.org/attachment...0&d=1444783112

That plastic ring- cut it off. It breaks off that smoothing roller. Or take it apart like I used to do. I used to take the arm off, add a layer of tape to the plastic where the brass roller fits to take up the loose play. Sometimes the bottom would break off instead, allowing the brass part to fall down actually drag on the tape since it couldn't turn.

Those were not particularly reliable machines even back in the day.

I was using 70% Isopropyl Rubbing Alcohol to take the goo off of the pulleys which works as well, I don't have access to lighter fluid or that Naptha stuff you're talking about, anyways that idler tire definitely seems to be what's wrong with it because it doesn't engage properly with the capstan pincher motor (which is also supposed to drive the take-up reel) and anyways I wonder if a regular O-Ring from the Hardware store of the appropriate diameter would work to replace the old rubber on the idler tire in question... :scratch2:

That Idler by the way is a pain in the butt to get out of there because you have to remove the capstan pincher motor which is held into place with 4 screws of which 2 of the screws are only accessible only after removing the pincher roller assembly and then you can get that darned blasted idler tire out! :sigh:

But anyways I would think that once that idler tire (or at least the rubber on it anyways) is replaced I think then it should start working again. :yes:

Yes I have access to google, and I guess I'll go see if I can look that part up.
I wonder though if just a regular old O-Ring from the hardware store of the appropriate size would work to replace the old rubber on the idler tire assembly on this VCR?

Well I've got the rewind and f. forward working perfectly, but still no dice on the play function, the capstan pincher roller assembly I've noticed isn't engaging properly, when it engages with the tape, it only engages part of the way in instead of all the way in, because when I put a little force onto the pincher roller assembly and the tape starts moving in play mode but then the VCR kicks the tape back out of the mechanism.

So what should I look into now? I was able to get the idler tire to work again (apparently the idler tire mechanism and the solenoid mechanism was out of whack which is why the idler tire wasn't engaging with the capstan motor) so now I just need to figure out why the pincher roller isn't engaging with the tape which is what's causing the no play issue (the pincher roller mechanism also engages the top side of the idler tire mechanism with the take-up reel and since that's not engaging properly its not playing). Also I noticed that when I try to rewind a tape that's longer than an hour the rewind mechanism poops out once it gets towards the beginning of the tape, the fast forward part works fine but the rewind just can't rewind completely a tape that's longer than an hour (90+ minute tapes).

any ideas folks?

Well went back to the computer store where I picked up this VCR at in their freebie pile and I looked back over their freebie pile (technically it was a bin but either way) and to my amazement on the very bottom of the freebie pile bin was sitting the original remote for this VCR so I reached down in there and pulled it out and sure enough the remote showed signs that it had been chewed on by a dog (the 15' cable was taped up in a couple of spots presumably to cover up some spots where the original owner's dog had chewed the cord and then the actual control interface of the remote (where the buttons are at) had bite marks and scuff marks from where a dog had apparently chewed on the remote. Anyways I got the remote home plugged the VCR in, and plugged in the remote to it to test if it still worked or not after all these years and sure enough every function that was testable in the VCR's current running condition (rewind, fast forward and the play button) seem to work fine (not sure about the special effects, pause, record and audio dub functions as the VCR still can't play a tape properly yet) and the channel button doesn't seem to work right, as when I tried to change the channel with it it would randomly activate either the rewind, fast forward, or play functions instead or it would just shut the VCR off period (which I don't think its supposed to do those things which tells me that the circuit board probably needs cleaning from sitting for so long unused).

I need an idler tire not an idler wheel. The idler wheel assembly is just fine as there's no rubber on it to go bad. The part I'm worried about is the idler tire that works with the take-up reel, that part (which was highlighed in one of the pictures I had previously posted on here) is dried out to the point that its not allowing the take-up reel to move.
So which idler tire would I need to get? I have already identified one or two parts that may or may not be the part that I need but I need someone else's insight to let me know for sure if this idler tire part would indeed work for what I need.
I had identified VCRIT41 over at SMC Electronics as being a possibility but I would like to know for sure if that's actually the part I need to rebuild the ider for the take-up reel.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Levi

An Update on this VCR: I finally got it going! :thmbsp: :banana: :D

There was actually nothing wrong with the idler tire or anything, it turns out it was the back belt (the third belt that wasn't mentioned in the cross-reference material for this VCR) that was bad, it was part of the tape loading mechanism and it was dragging causing the mechanism to not fully engage for playback, so I removed the belt subbed in a rubber band for the belt and sure enough the VCR started working, so now to order a proper belt for the VCR and I should be up and running again with this VCR! :thmbsp:

Thanks for all the help everyone gave me with this VCR! :yes: :thmbsp:

OK So I got the playback mechanism working like its supposed to, but for some reason I'm not getting any video output of any sort out of this VCR, I have it hooked up to my Flat Panel TV and all I get is a Blue Screen out of the TV with the VCR playing and I don't even get any white noise/snow from the tuner section, and I'm not sure what's going on with it. I was thinking at first that maybe the RF Modulator inside the VCR might of been bad so I tried hooking it up through the A/V output jacks and even that wasn't giving any video output so I'm wondering what's going on or what I should look at next.

EDIT: I hooked the VCR to my old Sony Trinitron TV in my basement and the VCR seems to be functioning like it should except I don't get any video feed from the tape when I hit play all I get is a blank black screen which its almost like the A/V mute function which kicks in when the tape is initially being loaded doesn't kick itself off (because I know that when most VCRs go to play tape initially the screen is blank at first for a split second before the video from the tape kicks in) but its almost as if that initial video and audio blanking doesn't stop like its supposed to.

Any ideas as to what might of happened with the VCR, and where I should look next?