Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

This was my grandparents VCR and my Grandfather still enjoys playing some old VHS's but its stopped being able to track.

Usually you would get some white dots shaped a little like comets flying across the screen but if I adjusted the tracking on the front panel, I could get rid of them.

I tried this today and it only made it worse so I decided to take a look. I have some background in electronics and audio tape so I thought I would take a cautious look.

I was surprised to see what looks to be a switching power supply - this thing has been switched on near its entire life so I'm surprised its still running!

I cleaned the tape path, heads and capstan which did all seem to have a film of dirt and then put it back together for a test and now I get a perfect picture but another problem appeared.

Now the capstan struggles to engage at play. I tracked this down to a slipping cracked belt on the loading motor so I'm looking for a belt kit to replace this with.

The final thing I found was the backup battery starting to leak. I've removed it for now but I'm not sure what to replace it with. It's marked "Varta 2/170 DK". I've seen some similar batteries for Videostars on the internet but I'm not sure on the voltage of this one and thought someone here might know what the voltage is.

Hopefully I can get this working reliably again soon!

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Hi,
I would not have thought that the backup battery would serve any useful purpose these days. It would have been to backup the preset channel memory which will not now be used. Those Varta batteries were leaking 20 plus years ago, I remember changing quite a few. In fact I found a brand new one recently in my old component drawers- it had rotted away!
Switch mode PSU's appeared fairly early on in VCR's and were generally very reliable. I don't remember having to repair that many unlike satellite receivers!
VHS was an amazing technology- good to see someone still using it!
All the best
Nick

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Ah, good to know that the battery is just for channel storage. I've unsoldered it for now but yes, probably no point in getting another. I did wonder when I switched it on afterwards and it had remembered the time!

Only thing left in that case is the slipping drive belt.

I've found a belt kit on a site marked as "THORN FV31R belt kit" Does that sound like the right one?

Found it interesting to see a hall effect motor on the capstan that doubles as the reel FF and REW motor. Nice to see some controlled rewinding of spools as it reaches the ends.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Hi. This VCR has the same chassis/mechanism as the JVC HR-D170. There are no belts except for one that drives the front loading mechanism, and another one on the main loading motor from the bottom. Everything else, including the capstan motor, uses direct-drive motors. The white commets are usually caused by a bad ground connection to the head drum. If it doesn't have a switching PSU, then it uses one of those STK regulator ICs which like to go bad sometimes.

Fivos

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Thanks for the information.

The belt kit I found was three belts and I think there are three in total in the deck. The two you mentioned, and a third one from the capstan motor to the tape spool spindles that drives them under play, FF and REW.

I'll check the ground connections on the head unit - my grand father always used to tap the top of the unit when it happened and it would stop all the comets. Since I've opened it and cleaned the heads, its not done it once. I always used to be able to remove them by adjusting the tracking +/-2 etc.

If I can get a belt for the main loading motor it should be quite reliable again. At the moment, it's just skidding when it tries to engage the pinch roller.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Hmm. The mechanism of the D170 doesn't even have a belt from the capstan motor to the reel clutch assembly. It's also direct drive. Can you take a picture of the mechanism? I can't find any info of this model, apart from a picture that looks like the D170-180 series.

Fivos

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Hi, from my limited memory of servicing VHS machines your comet shaped white dots sound characteristic of worn video heads. I'm sure that others may be able to confirm this for definite though.

Regards

Andrew

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

The FV31R (and FV32L long play version) were infact made by Thomson, not JVC. This info may help the OP find a belt set if the Thomson model/version can be figured out...
Alternatively if the original belt is still in one piece, take measurements of diameter and cross-section and order a slightly smaller one from CPC or Cricklewood electronics - might be the easier path :)

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

After some searching I had started to think that it was made by another company called Thompson, so your comment confirming that really helps. I've just ordered a belt kit - the photograph of the item had a label marked "Ferg FV31R" So I'm quite sure that's it. The listing also mentioned it was made by "Thorn" but maybe that was a typo as sometimes "rn" looks like "m".

I also bought a power supply repair kit from the same supplier for that deck, just in case. It's also interesting to see what they think would fail.

I'll take some pictures of the mechanism when I open it again when I get the belts.

For now, the comets are gone. I remember this getting used way back when I was a kid with the same problem so I'd be surprised if the heads had been worn and working for all these years, but I'm no expert on head wear.

Interesting about the FV32L. I was trying to find out if the FV31R could record and output stereo... somehow I doubt it but maybe you know?

I might lookup the FV32L. Are both of these decks good in terms of quality of picture output?

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

AFAIK, Thorn was a company in the UK that rebadged Ferguson's and JVC's VCRs for the rental market. I've seen lots of them in this forum and other places on the web. The JVC HR-3xxx and 7xxx series had many rebadges by these companies.

Fivos

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Ah I see, I hadn't found anything online as of yet but that also makes sense, thanks!

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

The Ferguson FV31 is nothing like the JVC HRD170, the Ferguson was the first of the Thomson made video's

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

The confusion is understandable - to clarify the good old Ferguson badged JVC machines are 3VXX (not including the very first 3292) and the (not so good IMHO) Thomson machines are prefixed FV. Luckily they soon realised the confusion and numbered from FV100 upwards as the 3V series stopped below that number.
The last FV31 I had here exploded when I plugged it in. I didn't bother investigating, though I think that fitting the power supply repair kit is a very good idea.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

In the UK, Thorn Electrical Industries and (from 1980) Thorn EMI owned "Ferguson" - for the great majority of the time Ferguson existed in the UK (mid-1930s).

Ferguson Radio Corporation, since the early 1960s, was actually called British Radio Corporation, then Thorn Consumer Electronics, later Thorn EMI Ferguson (from 1980) and then back to Ferguson Limited (after Thorn sold Ferguson to Thomson of France in 1987).

Thorn also owned several UK TV and video recorder rental companies: Radio Rentals, DER and Multibroadcast. Thorn owned a UK retail chain of shops called Rumbelows, until they closed it down. The Thorn rental businesses sold their own branded version of the Ferguson models (some models had slightly different features). For example, Radio Rentals used the "Baird" brand.

When Ferguson/Thorn started selling VHS VCRs in the UK, they were sourced from JVC of Japan.

Later, in the 1980s, Thorn joined a consortium of Thorn, JVC and Telefunken, called J2T, who made what were essentially JVC VCRs, but in Berlin (Germany) and Newhaven (UK).

For a short while, Thorn EMI Ferguson actually designed parts of the electronic circuitry in what were basic JVC mechanisms and designs, such as making their own UHF tuner and IF panels and adding various operational features. This soon stopped and the Newhaven factory was closed.

When Thorn sold Ferguson to Thomson, the J2T venture ceased and Thomson started selling Ferguson branded VCRs of their own manufacture. Later, I believe they formed some sort of alliance with Toshiba of Japan and Ferguson/Thomson VCRs used Toshiba mechanisms.

Ferguson (which also made TV, radio and audio sets branded HMV, Ultra and Marconiphone).

I'm fairly sure that the early FV series still used JVC mechs and electronics, until Thomson had geared up to market their own VCR range in the UK.Looking at the service manuals, that seems to be the case. I have an FV26D (with digital video frame store and effects), which is equivalent to the JVC HR-D700EK.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Thanks for this helpful info! I've seen a youtube video on an FV22L and the mechanism was definitely JVC. I have the HR-D750 service manual and the mechanism appears to be the same as the HR-D170. I will try to find manuals for these Thompson machines.

Fivos

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

That's all great info - nice to know a bit more of the back history about the companies and the decks.

The supplier for the belt and power supply kit has got back to me and says that the PSU repair kit is no longer available... so are there any common things to look out for? I'd rather keep on top of it then let it one day eventually explode!

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

If it is a switching power supply then replace all the caps on the secondary side.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

Yes - I meant to say that from FV30 onwards they were Thomson machines. The FV11 was a disguised JVC.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

I finally got the belts this weekend so I set to work putting the in. I carefully removed what I imagine is the tuner/video board and removed the video tape mechanism and took some pictures too. Changed all the belts and put it back together and now its working well again.

It's really interesting to see how the mechanism works and all the small catches and sensors that work together to insert and eject the tape.

Looking towards re-capping the power supply, which side is which and does anyone have a schematic showing the capacitor values? I probably have most but I'd like to be sure before I take it apart and get half way through.

Re: Ferguson Videostar FV31R Repairs
 

A few more pictures of the unit.