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Vintage Audio (record players, hi-fi etc) Amplifiers, speakers, gramophones and other audio equipment.

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Old 22nd May 2018, 2:14 am   #1
PWH
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Default Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Years ago, I 'recapped' the PSU and it worked beautifully. When I took it out of 2 years storage recently it no longer works properly.

Powering on, the 15 LED's below the disc light up, the drawer opens and closes as it should but the disc won't spin. The track selector buttons activate the lower LED range. The timer/clock LED's do not come on but IIRC it doesn't until it has read the CD. When I power off, the CD 'kicks' round for 1/4 turn or so. There is a definite low level hum in the audio also. I have checked the voltage outputs at the connector and they are all within spec +/- 0.1V or so with the connector in place.

Is there any disc detector switch? Any clues on where to look?

Thanks
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Old 22nd May 2018, 2:32 am   #2
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Update: I cleaned the lens and now the disc starts to spin and I can hear the characteristic 'screeching' but it does not get up to speed so stops tries again and then stops completely.

The swing arm seems to be near the middle when at rest. is this normal or should it be at the start end/dosen't matter?

Last edited by PWH; 22nd May 2018 at 2:33 am. Reason: forgot something
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Old 22nd May 2018, 7:25 am   #3
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

How free is the spindle motor? The bearings can go 'gummy' on these with age. A new motor used to be the only permanent answer for these.

HTH

Tim
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Old 22nd May 2018, 9:53 am   #4
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

If left unused the spindle motors get lazy in these. If you keep pressing 'play' eventually it will turn slowly, the more you try the better it will get until it eventually gives in and works.

This is tedious, but the machine will try for longer if you programme in a sequence of tracks first. You will still have to do this a few times, but not as many as with the other way. Accessing the spindle motor in this model is difficult, but this method works in most cases so you don't have to.

All these comments apply to early CD303s with the CDM0 mechanism in them (gold coloured sheet metal, DC brush type spindle motor). A few of the later ones came with CDM1s (grey die cast, brushless hall effect spindle motor), but you don't really get these problems with these newer ones.

There is no disc detector switch; the presence of the disc is sensed by lock being achieved by the focus servo.

I'm assuming that the two capacitors in the power supply voltage doubler circuit have been changed. They are both 100uF, one is rated at around 40V, the other 25V. One or other (or both!) is almost always open circuit by now, I use the Matsushita "FC" series ones from RS to replace them (low ESR, high ripple). The 100uF 63V type does for both. There are also a few small 33uF ones on the same panel which always measure low on test so I replace those too, not that it ever seems to make any difference to things. Similar observations apply to the CD100, CD101, CD200, CD202, CD300 and their Marantz equivalents. The CD104 on the other hand does not have this circuit in it.
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Old 23rd May 2018, 12:05 am   #5
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Thank you gentlemen!!
After lots of starting and stopping the machine is now playing again althogh it does take a while to lock up and get going. So the motor was lazy. I shall leave it playing for some hours to free it up.
There still remains a constant small hum on audio which is increased if I touch the lower metal part of the disc tray. Should there be an earth strap somewhere? Anything else which would cause this hum? Thanks
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Old 24th May 2018, 5:13 am   #6
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Since when is a CD player "vintage" audio?
Shouldn't this be in "modern technology" ?
Joe
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Old 24th May 2018, 1:45 pm   #7
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

The unit is more than 30 years old and has no wi-fi, so I'm sure it qualifies as "vintage" in many people's eyes!
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Old 24th May 2018, 1:45 pm   #8
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

We consider anything more than 20 to 25 years old to be vintage.

There are a couple of exceptions in that all CRT TV's and all tape recorders are considered to be vintage.
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Old 25th May 2018, 2:27 am   #9
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

I recently repaired a CD303, many of the electrolytic caps throughout unit had out of spec ESR, the blue Philips ones were the worst offenders. I completely replaced all the electrolytic caps. The power supply also had numerous cracked solder joints on the regulators. There were also cracked solder joints on some of the other boards, especially to the connectors on the small riser board.
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Old 25th May 2018, 7:29 am   #10
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

I have a 304 that plays and sounds divine however I am now tempted to have a quick look inside.
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Old 25th May 2018, 11:41 am   #11
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

The CD304 is based on the CD104 and has a different spindle motor and no voltage doubler. Other than those mentioned, capacitors are not an issue with these machines and are best left alone. I've seen too many ruined that way. I don't recall ever having to change a capacitor in a CD104.

The issue with the CD104 / 304 is the rivets between the ground plane one side of the PCB and the trackwork on the other. Check that each has had a little piece of wire soldered through it. That's as much as one usually has to do.
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Old 20th Sep 2018, 4:24 pm   #12
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Studio263 View Post
If left unused the spindle motors get lazy in these. If you keep pressing 'play' eventually it will turn slowly, the more you try the better it will get until it eventually gives in and works.

This is tedious, but the machine will try for longer if you programme in a sequence of tracks first. You will still have to do this a few times, but not as many as with the other way. Accessing the spindle motor in this model is difficult, but this method works in most cases so you don't have to.

All these comments apply to early CD303s with the CDM0 mechanism in them (gold coloured sheet metal, DC brush type spindle motor). A few of the later ones came with CDM1s (grey die cast, brushless hall effect spindle motor), but you don't really get these problems with these newer ones.
Hi Tim,

Is there a way to lubricate the motor (spindle/bearing) so that this will never pose any problems in the future?

Just a thought.
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Old 22nd Sep 2018, 2:56 pm   #13
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Default Re: Philips CD 303 won't spin up.

Hi!

S.M:-

https://elektrotanya.com/philips_cd3.../download.html

Obtain a small bottle of light sewing-machine oil (please, do NOT squirt WD40 down it!) and instil a couple of tiny drops between the motor-spindle and it's bearing at both the front and rear of the motor.

If you have a variable bench power-supply and can get at the spindle-motor connection terminals, disconnect one of the leads to prent feeding voltage back, or disconnect the deck from the electronics, connect 5V DC from your power supply and dribble in the oil whilst the motor is spinning, this will help distribute the oil to the bearings more quickly.

Chris Williams
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Last edited by Chris55000; 22nd Sep 2018 at 3:01 pm.
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