[QuadList] got my VR 1200s

[Guy Spiller]

Great....more projects to follow here!
Park, did you check the ESR on all the caps before you first applied 
power...or after?
In the anecdotal evidence department, I did find that I got a lot less 
smoke on the TR-70 I brought up slowly on the Variac than the one I 
didn't.  Probably replaced 25% or less the number of caps in that one.
I first learned that trick from John Turner, I believe it was, on 
powering up an AVR-2 after a long nap.  He said it will blow an 
incredible number of caps with full line voltage at first.  I followed 
his recommendation on my first machine, and over a period of about three 
days, I had it up to full voltage and the signal system was passing nice 
video input to output with no smoke.
After I had done that, I noticed that I had no meter, lamp or button 
action on the transport.  Turns out one of the big transport 
interconnect cable connectors appeared to be seated fully, but was not.  
I seated it, turned it on, and smoke poured forth from the MDA 
assembly.  Something told me that I should bring it up again slowly on 
the Variac, but I was feeling bold that day.  Lesson learned.  I haven't 
yet peeked inside that unit, but I feel sure there are some shorted caps 
that caused that.
The second AVR-2, I brought up the same way, although this time, with 
power going to the transport assembly properly.  This one came up just 
fine with zero blown caps or smoke, and actually pulls tape, locks up 
and outputs video...although it appears to have some TBC issues.  I hope 
to be getting to that and the other AVR-2 over the winter.
Guy

-- 
Guy Spiller
email: quadruplex at verizon.net
phone: (804) 379-2050
website: www.GuySpiller.com
Midlothian, VA