Hey guys I have a Sony DAT Walkman TCD-D8. I assume from age the clock and date no longer hold when replacing batteries. Need to reset each time, kind of a PITA. Manual says will hold time and date for about 60min when the batteries are out, mine doesn't hold it at all. Is something I should live with, or is there a capacitor or internal battery to change, that doesn't require breaking it down into a hundred pieces? Cheers.
I don't have any of these cool little DAT players, I've been promised one for at least two years but it still hasn't shown up yet. It's most likely just what you said, HiFi Engine has the service manual, it's probably in there. https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/sony/tcd-d8.shtml Post photos when you get a chance, DAT is starting to get popular again. We didn't get much down here because the studios all sued and it was locked up in court forever. They were convinced that the copying ability would collapse the market.
Having had a similar problem with a Canon camera there was a Tiny rechargeable battery in a holder on a PCB inside it. I would try and find a service manual before dismantling.
I have no TCD-D8 but some TCD-D100. They have a tiny chargeable battery to save date/time settings. I have described this in another forum: http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=59483&highlight=Tcd-d100 Try to compare the service manuals of the D8 and D100 in order to find the location of the battery. Hope this helps.
old thread, sorry.. I recently bought used TCD-D8 and have the same problem. looking at the service-manual (elektrotanya), it seems the little battery is in 'AT-5 board' near the AA batteries. have you managed to replace it? thanks.
I repaired both TCD-D7 and TCD-D8 and I remember there was a supercapacitor, not a battery for the clock power. The service manual confirms it, it's on the board that has the backlight inverter on it. Never bothered to check that capacitor, but it is possible that these go bad (although unlikely). 0.22F should keep the clock powered for a significant amount of time (the 60 min stated in the first post seems reasonable). Just tried my TCD-D8: the display stays on for a couple of seconds after removing the battery, but the clock remains set even after the battery pack was removed for a couple of minutes (which is more than enough to change batteries). Might try it for more time, but seems to be working in my case.
If you compare the text in the service manuals you will see, that the D8 has a capacitor while the D100 has a battery to save the clock settings. Unfortunately, both lose their capacity over time . TCD-D8, page 4 setting the clock: The clock will return to its default settings if batteries are removed for one hour or more. TCD-D100, page 4, setting the clock: The clock will return to its default settings if the batteries are removed for a long time.
I've just tried it. The display goes faint and turns off after few seconds and time is lost. The AA batteries are rechargable so 1,2V if that matters. I also noticed slight buzzing noise when the light is on - perhaps its the transformer coils.
How did you conclude that the time is lost ? You need to press the TIME button a couple of times after re-powering on in order to see the clock. Or put the unit out of hold mode and put it back on hold. Have you tried this ? If indeed time is lost, it means you need to replace the supercapacitor with a new one. The slight buzzing noise is from the backlight inverter. Recommend not to keep the light on for longer than a couple of seconds, because the backlight transformer is a common problem on these devices and it's impossible to find a replacement.
there is no 'TIME' button, I presume you meant 'CLOCK', anyway its the same. I also just got Denon DTR-2000 for spdif and Sony TCD-D8 doesn't properly play Denon recording. its full of noise/errors. suppose some calibration is needed do you know what supercap should I look for? thanks for the transformer tip.
Yes, it's the CLOCK button I was talking about. About the second issue you mention, I have some questions before being able to answer: - is the speed of the playback correct or does it seem to jump from a high speed to a normal speed back and forth ? - what cassette are you using: a normal DAT one or DDS1/DDS2/DDS3/DDS4 ? The supercap is 0.2F @ 5.5V . Size is similar to LR44 battery, but don't know what are the exact dimensions. You need to desolder it and measure dimensions (please post here for reference when you do).
OK, I can't desolder at the moment. The speed seems ok, but there is a lot of some kind of background noise, glitches. Cassette is 'new-old-stock' SONY ProDATPlus. it plays fine on Denon.
Update the thread when you desolder, no need to do it now. Something that should be checked on these are the loading guides mounting points (circled in red in the picture). These often fall out partially or completely and need to be glued back. Try to record a tape on the D8. If the tape recorded on itself plays ok, then you either have a tape path misalignent or a DPG adjustement issue (which I do not recommend trying to adjust). You need a scope to adjust the tape path: RF output is marked TPRF on the board, picture attached. Triggering is done directly on the RF signal on this unit, as it has a pulse at the beginning of RF. You need to adjust so the RF waveform if flat: if it's low on the leading edge, you need to adjust the entry guide (left); if it's low on the trailing edge you need to adjust the exit guide (right). The cover needs to be removed to perform this adjustment, but needs to remain connected to the main PCB.
The dimensions of the super-capacitor battery C-612 are 11.4mm diameter 4.45mm thickness , 16mm total length with the pins The arrows indicate the negative terminal (on the back side in this picture) The transformer board has a + indication. Easiest way to change it is to first unsolder the positive battery pack leg.
