Hello.

My newly bought Beomaster 7000 is working otherwise well, but the remote control range seems to be very short and intermittent. I have to point the remote exactly to the direction of the BM and it won't work anywhere further than 2 meters. I have a BL7000 but the problem is the same with BL1000 and Beo 4. Few times I have had two-way control from the next room but some times it needs very close contact.

I remember seeing a mention of electrolytic in the BM boards but can't find that now. Could be the problem?

Yes, I had one of those cases as well. I replaced all the small electrolytics in the power supply (located mostly between the transformer and the rear panel), all electrolytics on / inside the CPU module and there are some on the IR transceiver / front panel board as well. The latter had bad solders too, I guess it flexes a bit with the buttons.

Use the 6500 service manual; there's no need to go inside the RDS module and otherwise they are 99.5% identical. Try not to kill the CPU with ESD...

... and some more things: broken solders on the cpu board connectors. Resolder them.

If the BM was used in a link system: Replace also the 80C32 cpu chip.

DO NOT USE: ATMEL or compatible 80C32x2 and NXP cpu's, they cause exactly this ir receiver symptom.

I can only recommend Philips and Intel cpu's. These are verified.

Thanks for quick replies.

tournedos:

Try not to kill the CPU with ESD...

That's what I was afraid of. I have absolutely no experience in ESD protection. 

Mika: how many caps you'd approx there were? As you have done this repair once, could you think doing it for my BM7000 (if paid enough, of course!). I wouldn't like to kill it right away!

Can't remember exactly... not more than 15 anyway, if you only want to take care of this problem and skip other recapping.

I can do it for you if you're not in a hurry! I probably won't have time to concentrate on anything until next month or so.

It would be great if you can have a look on it.

It's really nothing to hurry about, I have it but I can manage with the other three B&O setups for a while Only problem is making space to store everything (and in this case to keep it visible even during storage as it looks nice anyway!). 

I'll stack the 7000 to my workbench-audio setup for now. I could use the BM+BL7000 there as my workbench area is very small - could the fault get any worse (ie. should I not use the BM)?

lausvi:

I'll stack the 7000 to my workbench-audio setup for now. I could use the BM+BL7000 there as my workbench area is very small - could the fault get any worse (ie. should I not use the BM)?

No, I don't think so... mine was a bit more urgent since the bad solders made the relays rattle when you walked past it, and it generally did what it wanted

I'll try and remember to contact you when I have better time, but please remind me if I don't...

I have now been using the BM+CD 7000 comb. almost daily for several hours a day. Usually just after connecting mains (I have the audio setup on an extension cord with master switch) the remote range is very bad and it needs several tries to get a command thrue. Especially adjusting volume is a pain; pressing up on BL7000 steps up the reading on the BL but the BM is usually several steps lower as it won't receive all of the commands. Or the BL loses all contact with the BM.

After some half an hour or so it usually gets better and fe. as I am typing this (BM being connected to mains for several hours and being on for about two) there is no trouble at all. 

Of course there is a chance of having problems with the BL7000 (the famous "No contact" issue), too but the problem seems to be almost surely the BM (as the range problem remains with BL1000) I will not worry about that yet.

Mika; indeed, please do contact me when you are getting better time. I might forget as well!  We can discuss about this then. Of course I am interested to see your collections, too, and if possible, be present watching the repair (always the best chance to learn something).

Needing a "warm up" period is rather typical for failing caps (this is often seen with computers that have been running for years - take a backup just prior to shutdown, as they may not start any more! Sometimes a hair dryer helps...).

Have you heard about car technicians that charge double if you want to watch over? Seriously speaking, I need to do it at work and that's a no visitors area. Meanwhile, I'll need to sort out small things like where my collection (and I) will be living in the future...

And when someone is watching over the repair it will take much longer as it has to be a presentation, not just a repair!

At work I have a Windows 2000 server that has been running almost ten years 24/7... it's anyway in a state that I prefer not to even breath that way! And yes, backups are being made semi-regularily.

Ah, someone else does B&O repairs at work, too!

Absolutely no problem - we can discuss this later when you have time. As the setup seems to be working better now it's really nothing to hurry about. I could even let it run without re-caps but having seen the problem I'd prefer having it checked some day. But really, take your time - I have just sorted out (for the second time) getting a storage for my 1976 vintage car project, and that sort of thing (or any other storage thing) can be very stressful!

The reason I ask for watching over is that some years ago a friend of mine fixed my Tandberg 1200X and that was about the most educative session in electronics I have ever had. (And in my case there is still a lot to learn!)

Mika got my BM7000 last thursday for repairs. I got it back today and it's working extremely well! Remotes work, no matter where I point them, it just works. Before I had to point directly to the BM and even then it didn't always work.

Using a Beolink 7000 is pure joy, it always makes contact with the BM, responses from the set are much faster and adjusting volume up and down keeps up the pace (before I might have been lowering the volume quickly, remote showing fe. 10 while the set was still around 16 as it didn't get all the "vol. down" commands). 

Great work - highly appreciated

Glad you're happy

For the record: in addition to new caps and resoldering mentioned above (all the way to the actual IR receiver diode), I had to resolder some of the tuner board around the hinged edge. Something in there developed an intermittent connection after having been disturbed and the tuner didn't work. It's a large board and not too well supported, so I guess this might happen in transit as well.