Technical
 Rear view |
Fault and repair guideThe SL-T50ME has the same three video head arrangement as the SL-C9 for noiseless pause and slow motion forward play.Late model Beta machines made of the black plastic tend to go brittle and shatter. The front of the SLT-50ME machine can crumble, so we suggest at the least keeping it out of direct sunlight. On these later models, the power supply design and layout has also been changed. |
 Pendulum assembly |
Stops in play or recordThe first thing to check is that there is adequate torque on the take up spool. If there isn't much then the cause is usually down to two contributing factors.The first is the drive pendulum which can cease up and the second, and the second more serious factor, is wear on the reel motor bottom bearing. The pendulum is simple to replace but the bearing is moulded into the chassis and replacement necessitates that the entire chassis be replaced. One possible compromise is to fit a small piece of plastic into the bottom bearing to raise the rotor and allow it to move freely. Sony supply a repair kit for this purpose. |
 Hall effect sensor attached with glue |
No head drum rotationYou may find that the head drum fails to rotate. This is due to a problem with the Hall effect device on the head drum motor which is secured by a blob of glue. Full details on how to fix this can be found on the head motor page.Deck goes into rewindThis can be caused by failure of the tape end sensor. You can check this by unplugging the sensor at its socket on the PCB.Failure to load a tapeThe cassette carriage can fail to operate. This is caused by breakage of the plastic gears in the side of the mechanism. When this happens they have to be replaced. |
 Head / capstan magnet plastic cover
|
Plastic coverInternally, the head and capstan magnets are protected by a unique plastic cover not seen on other models. |
Quick fault guide
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| Fault | Solution |
|---|---|
| explosion and thick white smoke in PSU, the VCR still work perfectly | just remove, or replace the two 0,068�f 250V capacitors, near the L1 in the power supply.
You can just remove them without replacing, they are not absolutely necessary, they are here only for a basic filtering of the main AC. |
| Audio or Video input jacks not working | Re-solder the connectors on the board. |
| No picture and sound on playback | Bad solder joints on the black connector of the head amp board (RF-14). |
| Loading motor stops before threading cycle is complete | Clean the loading-end microswitch which is located at the top-left hand side of the mechanism. |
| Tape stuck and won't eject | The left small gear that's mounted on a metal shaft on the front loading mechanism is cracked. Replace it or try super gluing it. Be careful on the timing of the gears when putting it back together. |