Sony Walkman WM-DD11

24. June 2021 ingmarsretro 4 Comments

The portable cassette player from the manufacturer SONY with the type designation WM-DD11 is the content of this article. Colloquially known as “Walkman”, I received this part for my collection. Of course with the comment “defective” – so again a little challenge and at the same time the hope that no mechanical, no longer available parts are affected. My request before the purchase whether there was any damage to the circuit board was also answered in the negative. The device is so far in order, the tape of an inserted cassette is moving – there is just no sound from the headphones. So ideal conditions for a restoration.

But unfortunately you cannot trust every statement and you cannot look “under the hood” beforehand and convince yourself whether the actual condition of a device corresponds to the description. When I held the part in my hands, the first impression was also very convincing. There were no noticeable scratches and dents. The area of the battery compartment that was visible from the outside was also clean. So batteries inserted, also an audio cassette and then pressed on play. Lo and behold, the tape transport runs as described. Even as described, the part does not make any sound. So perfect starting conditions for my mini repair / restoration project.

But before I start dismantling, I did a little research on the history of SONY’s DD Walkman series. The first model in the DD series was sold in 1982. The designation “DD” stands for “Disc Drive”, which means that the “Disk”, i.e. the flywheel disk, is also part of the capstan drive system (motor). The belt for the other drives (tape reels) is placed directly around the disk. There are / were two price brackets of the DD models – the DD series with one-digit numbering (DD-1, DD-2, etc.) and those with two-digit numbering (DD-11, …). The devices with the single-digit number belong to the “high-end rail”. The device restored here comes from the “cheap line”. The DD-11 is not so high-quality and is also more simply constructed, but defective devices are available for very little money and are also fairly easy to repair. (The DD-11, for example, does not have a center wheel, an often defective part of the high-end series that is broken due to weak material. What then usually remains are defects in the electronics or on the mechanical side – an aged belt The belt is the same as that already installed in the legendary TPS-L2 Walkman and has the component serial number: SN 3-499-042-99 (this source or number has not been verified) You can also find the belt if you go to “TPS -L2 belt “searches on various online portals.But now enough information on the general part. I experienced a sobering and grounding of my restoration euphoria immediately after unscrewing and opening the case. Unfortunately, the circuit board is not at all undamaged. Once again someone did not remove the 1.5Volt cells and left them in the device for a very, very long time.

The batteries that leaked, as it is, have left clear marks on the circuit board. This means that extensive cleaning of the circuit board is necessary before the search for corroded conductor tracks can begin.

After cleaning and removing the battery electrolyte residues, I was able to make out a few defective conductor tracks. Fortunately, these are pretty easy to fix. In most cases it is sufficient to remove the solder resist in the defective area and to tin the exposed copper tracks. Depending on the width of the track, the defective part of the track is then reconnected with individual strands or wires.

Now the time has come to carry out a first functional test after a provisional assembly. And as described, the capstan drive works, the tape is transported – but there is no noise whatsoever from the connected speakers. Now is the time to look at the number one source of failure – the old electrolytic capacitors. Eleven of these are installed on the board.

When I removed the first electrolytic capacitor for a capacity test, the well-known fishy smell rose again. As expected, the capacitance of the capacitor was also well below the nominal value. So I made a spontaneous decision to remove all eleven electrolytic capacitors in order to swap space. (In modern language it is called “recap”: D)

The following values must be renewed:
– 5 Stück 220 µF / 4V
– 1 Stück 100µF / 4V
– 3 Stück 47µF / 4V
– 1 Stück 10µF / 16V
– 1 Stück 4.7µF / 25V

I like to replace the SMD electrolytic capacitors with SMD multilayer capacitors, as these are now also available in very small designs in high capacities with suitable dielectric strength.

After the renewal, the board looks nice again. A repeated provisional commissioning shows that the effort was worth it. The music on the inserted tape sounds in the expected quality. The next step is to calibrate or adjust the belt speed. A reference tape is required for this. Years ago I recorded one with a very good tape recorder. The recording consists of a 1kHz and a 5kHz sine tone. This band is now used as a reference in the DD11. To do this, the output of the DD11 is connected to a frequency counter or oscilloscope and adjusted with the trimmer potentiometer during playback until the 1000 Hz or 5000 Hz can be seen exactly on the oscilloscope.

The Walkman can now be reassembled. All screws are properly tightened again and finally the function tested again and the beautiful piece can be put in the showcase …

miscellaneous and news, repair and restauration

HomeMatic smoke detector HM-SEC-SD quick repair

24. June 2021 ingmarsretro Leave a comment

This time again a quick article on the subject of “Aging and Homematic Smart Home”. It’s about the following device: The Homematic smoke detector HM-SEC-SD, i.e. the older version of the smoke detector from eq3.

First of all: This article only shows how I put this device back into operation. Since it is a safety-relevant device, an acceptance test by a certified testing company would have to take place after the repair in order to be allowed to continue using it. So the contribution only provides what has become broken in the device.

So what is it about? The radio smoke detector HM-SEC-SD showed the following symptom during the monthly test (yes, you should press the test button once a month):

A short press on the button and there was no acoustic signal – instead the red signal LED flashes several times at approx. 0.5s intervals. Replacing the batteries does not change anything, the behavior remains the same. The radio module of the detector behaves normally. It can be reset and taught again. In this case, a look at the operating instructions (under point 9.2 on page 24)

– If only the LED starts to flash after pressing the button, the smoke detector is defective and must be replaced

So time to open the detector and take a look. My first suspicion fell on the detector chamber and that there is contamination here or that an animal has settled in the chamber …

But after removing the lid of the detector chamber, no animal intruders were to be found. However, a strange pattern could be seen on the inside of the lid:

Streaks on the inside of the detector cover

These streaks, I thought at first, were created during the injection molding of the plastic component and must be like that. But on closer inspection and a “wipe” with your finger, they could be removed. In short, these streaks are dust particles. And when they are on the lid, then also in the entire measuring chamber. So blow it out with compressed air, put the cover back on and test it. -> same mistake as before. So again, put the lid down and take a closer look with a magnifying glass. The coarser dust, if you can speak of “rough”, was gone, but the surface of the photodiodes still had very fine and difficult to see streaks. So I cleaned the chamber and the diodes with a little alcohol on a cotton swab.

Another function test showed success – better partial success. After pressing the test button, the piezo squeaked – but only very, very quietly – and by that I mean barely audible and the LED flashed nine times at an interval of one second. So actually the way it should be. Just way too quiet. So something had to be broken. So I examined the circuit starting with the piezo and quickly found what I was looking for. The piezo is controlled by a 40106, a 6-fold Schmitt trigger. In order to get enough electricity, three “Schmitts” are connected in parallel. The output was low-resistance, which is actually not allowed to be. So unsoldered the 40106 and measured it again. Between pin 1, 2 and 7 (input and output of the first Schmitt trigger and the VSS pin) there was a full short circuit. That means the IC is defective.

After the IC was exchanged, the smoke detector could finally “scream” again as usual.

electronics hobbyist, Retro - Consoles

Selfmade ROM module for Vectrex

24. June 2021 ingmarsretro 2 Comments

edit Nov. 2024: I keep receiving requests to make the Gerber files for the circuit boards available for reproduction. The download is now possible with this link:

vectrex_rom27c1001

For the Vectrex game console a home arcade machine from 1982, there were, or there are a very limited number of game titles available. I will present the Vectrex itself, or the restoration of this darling, in a separate article.

The games were available in the form of ROM modules and had to be inserted into the side of the console. Today, like the console itself, they are pretty rare and difficult to find. In terms of price, they are usually not bargains either. There are also replicas, multiroms and some DIY projects that keep the game program or even several games saved on the basis of the old EPROMS and were thus playable via a “module”. Since I also have all sorts of Eproms with different sizes in the component store and also got a couple of 27C512 Eproms sponsored by a colleague (thank you Jürgen), I just had to try to tinker with a ROM module.

So quickly thought about what I would need for this. Here is a small list:

old EPROMS (I use Eproms that can be erased with UV light)
an Eprom programmer (in the back corner of a box I found a ChipLab programmer with a parallel interface)
an old computer with a parallel interface and an older operating system (Windows XP). Fortunately, I once again did without disposal and brought an old laptop back to life.
software for the programmer (here I use “ChipLab” which can run on WindowsXP with the help of “porttalk22”)
the binary data or HEX files of the original ROM modules (you can use the internet search for this)
a layout tool (Autodesk Eagle)
a craft shop where you can etch circuit boards, or an account with
a Far Eastern PCB manufacturer
Soldering tools and small parts
and of course a Vectrex – otherwise none of this makes any sense

In order to determine the memory requirements of the Eproms, I first have to know the size of the games. Here is the list of titles and their size:

Games with a size of 4 kB (4 kilo bytes). This corresponds to an address range from hex 0000 to 0FFF

Armor Attack
Art Master
Bedlam
Berzerk
Clean-Sweep
Cosmic Chasm
Engine Analyzer
Hyperchase
Minestorm 2
Rip Off
Scramble
Solar Quest
Space Wars
Star Castle
Star Hawk
Star Trek

Games with a size of 8 kB (8 kilo bytes). This corresponds to an address range from hex 0000 to 1FFF

Animaction
Blitz
Fortess of Narzod
Heads Up
Melody Master
Pitchers Duel
Pole Position
Spike
Spinball
Tour de France
Web Wars

Games with a size of 12 kB (12 kilo bytes). This corresponds to an address range from hex 0000 to 2FFF

Dark Tower

Next, I’ll take a look at the Eproms for pinout and size. I have two sizes available for the number of pins. Eproms with 28pin and 32pin in DIL housing. The following types belong to those in the 28-pin housing:

27c64 8k x 8 bit so 64 kb (kilo Bit)
27c128 16k x 8 bit so 128 kb (kilo Bit)
27c256 32k x 8 bit so 256 kb (kilo Bit)
27c512 64k x 8 bit so 512 kb (kilo Bit)

The pinout is identical except for the different number of address lines. However, the 1Mbit variant 27C1001 (27C010) has a different pinout.

The next step is to look at the pinout of the Vectrex module bay. The pin numbers of the module are marked in the picture below.

The signals associated with the pin numbers can be found in the Vectrex circuit diagram of the mainboard. The picture below shows an extract from the circuit diagram with the area of the 36-pin cartridge connector. (Source: console5.com)

All the information you need to start with a circuit diagram and layout has now been collected. I looked for an eagle layout for the circuit board connector on the web. But nothing could be found straight away. So an original ROM module had to be used as a reference for the dimensions and spacing of the contact pads. With the dimensions removed in this way, it was quickly done and I had drawn a new Eagle component and saved it in the library.

I drew two variants of the module circuits. One for the EPROMs with 28 pins and one for the 1Mbit ROMs with 32 connection pins. (Since there is also space for more games here) In order to be able to distribute all possible sizes of games differently on the EPROM, I have made address bits 12, 13 and 14 switchable. In such a way that these three address lines can either be controlled by the Vectrex or selected externally by the operator using DIP switches (L / H). Bits 15 and 16 (can also be selected via DIP switches).

The following table shows a few examples of how the start addresses of the games can be selected.

bit 16	bit 15	bit 14	bit 13	bit 12	bit11-bit0 game adresses	adresses start – end (hex)
L	L	L	L	L	at 8k game	0000 – 1FFF
L	L	L	H	L	at 8k game	2000 – 3FFF
L	L	H	L	L	at 8k game	4000 – 5FFF
L	L	H	H	L	at 8k game	6000 – 7FFF
L	H	L	L	L	at 8k game	8000 – 9FFF
L	H	L	H	L	at 8k game	A000 – BFFF
L	H	H	L	L	at 8k game	C000 – DFFF
L	H	H	H	L	at 8k game	E000 – FFFF
H	L	L	L	L	at 4k game	10000-10FFF
…	…	…	…	…	and so on…	…

Provided, of course, that the game data was written to the EPROM in this way. To do this, I use one of the many freeware hex editors (HxD) and assemble a binary file from the individual game images. This “file” is then imported into the ChipLab software, the correct EPROM is selected from the database, then the chip is inserted into the programmer and off you go … (First, check again whether the chip is empty. Otherwise it has to ” topless “in the sun, or under the UV lamp (for about 15-20min)

Once the chip has been filled with bits and a layout has been made from the circuit diagram, a prototype can be etched. To do this, I was able to use our company’s etching system in a short lunch break and remove the unnecessary copper from the board using etching technology.

After exposing a double-sided board coated with photopositive lacquer and then developing it, the excess copper can be removed with EisenDreiChlorid. What remains is the desired structure.

Sometimes a selfie in between. It takes about 57 seconds to expose the circuit board to UV light. Enough time to take stupid photos with the phone: D

The next step is to drill the holes in the board. The vias (VIAs) from the top to the bottom layer are not implemented in the prototype by galvanic application of copper in the holes, but by hand by pushing a piece of silver wire through the hole and then soldering it on both sides.

Now all that’s missing is the assembly. But it is done very quickly. Because apart from the IC socket, a couple of pull-up resistors and the DIP switches, there isn’t much on the board. So solder the few parts, put the chip in the socket – and the ROM module is ready.

What the finished module looks like on the Vectrex and, above all, how it works, I’ll show you in a short video. I also embellished the board a bit and commissioned it as an industrially manufactured circuit board from a Far Eastern printed circuit board manufacturer …

(small update on October 20, 2020)
The circuit boards made in far east have come and, in my opinion, look quite acceptable. A board is quickly assembled … here is the result:

Retro - Consoles

Vectrex gameconsole

24. June 2021 ingmarsretro Leave a comment

It was some time ago that I edited and prepared this darling. Writing a post about it is a completely different topic. I have often thought to myself that one could film the repairs and preparations right away and then make a small film out of them and publish it on a video platform … Well, at least now, in the meanwhile second Corona Lock down and a sleepless night, I am sitting in front of the computer again and try to write a few lines about this piece of ingenious hardware. I have never owned this “ingenious piece of hardware” myself and found out about its existence late, but when I had read a little bit, I had to have one – but of course at an affordable price. As always, we searched for defective devices for a long time – and since they were only manufactured for a short time, they are also rare and difficult to find. But after a long search I was lucky and found a defective, but partly complete device. As already written above in the title, it is about the (or “the”) Vectrex.

The Vectrex is a home arcade machine, with a 24cm monochrome picture tube, a fold-out and also removable joystick. This slot machine is a complete “stand-alone” system that only needs a power supply from the socket and you can start right away. The game of the Vectrex is called “MINE STORM” and is a clone of the ASTEROID game. So at that time you bought an ASTEROIDS machine for your home. When I speak of “then”, it means from 1982 to 1984. Because the US company General Consumers Electronics (GCE) started selling the machine in 1982. At that time, however, Atari was already on the market with the 2600 and enjoyed great popularity. The sale of the C64 by Commodore was also imminent. These events reduced the chance of the Vectrex’s big breakthrough, especially since the starting price of $ 200 was not a bargain. The sales company GCE went bankrupt in 1984. In Europe, “MB” Milton Bradley was the rights holder from 1983 and sold the Vectrex (or which?). In order to not only have to play the integrated MINE STORM, there is an expansion port in which game modules in ROM form can be plugged. There was a manageable amount of game titles – by that I mean, there weren’t that many. I mentioned a few of them in the post “Homemade game module for the Vectrex”. But there is still a community today that deals with the hardware and software for the Vectrex and develops its own games (so-called homebrew games). On the website vectrex.de you can find a rich collection of information about the hardware. Youtubers like Zerobrain and Wolfgang Robel also deal with this topic and have published interesting articles on it.

Driver board for high voltage and deflection etc.

So – but now to the technology of the console. The Vectrex consists of a black plastic housing. Built into it is a CRT (in German a cathode ray tube, i.e. picture tube) in portrait format. A board for controlling the tube with the high voltage generation and drivers for the deflection coils. Then there’s a 50 Hz mains transformer that serves as a low-voltage supply for all of the electronics. It should be noted here that the primary side of the transformer is connected directly to the mains cable as the 240VAC side. The transformer ALWAYS consumes energy. The combined volume / mains switch is attached to the low-voltage side and only separates the electronics. The transformer always remains connected to the network. So if you are not using the device, you should also pull the power plug.

To continue with the list of innards: What is still missing is the, well, not entirely unimportant part – the mainboard with the “computer”. A 6809 CPU from Motorola works on it. This is an 8-bit CPU that is driven with a clock rate of 1.6MHz. The clock is generated by the on-chip oscillator, which only needs the quartz in the outside world. As always, the exact technical features can be found in the data sheet. A three-channel synthesizer sound chip, the AY-3-8910, is installed to generate the sound. Unfortunately, savings were made in further signal processing and the audio signal has to take along almost all of the radiated interference on the way to the audio amplifier that the power levels emit to control the picture tube. But that is a well-known phenomenon. The Vectrex is known for the “I call it” messy, noisy sound output. But this also shows the originality of the early consoles. Allegedly the last generations should not have this problem anymore before the end of the sale. So far I have only got to know the noisy Vectrexes.

From sound to picture. And that’s also one of the big differences from traditional video game consoles. A conventional game console as well as any television receiver rasterizes the image. The electron beam of the tube means that the image information is written line by line onto the luminous layer. Depending on the standard, there are differences here, such as field processes or the number of lines or the number of image changes. But the principle is the same for all raster writers. At the top left, you begin to write a line with the different brightness and color information. Then the beam reaches the right end of the picture edge and is switched to dark in order to start again very quickly in the next or (depending on the method) the next but one line. With the PAL system the time from left to right was 64µs and that with 625 lines. That means a complete picture was written in 0.04s. This in turn means that in one second you can achieve a number of 25 displayed images:

64µs per line * 625 lines = 0.04s per image * 25 images = 1 second

So far so good. The electron beam was deflected by means of magnetic fields via coils on the neck of the picture tube.

It works a little differently with the Vectrex. The name Vectrex, according to my approach, comes from the term “vector” by definition: size that is represented as an arrow running in a certain direction with a certain length and which can be determined by various information (direction, amount). In the data sheet of the Vectrex one reads with a screen resolution of 256×256 positions. This means that, starting from its zero position (i.e. both deflection coils do not generate a magnetic field), the electron beam can be deflected in 128 steps up, down, left and right. (both axes each have a resolution of 8 bits). How does it work now? Let us assume that a small triangle is to be displayed in the upper left area of the screen. We assume that the left edge of the image is at x = -128, the right at x = + 128, the upper at y = -128 and the lower at y = + 128.

For this purpose, the electron beam is deflected from its zero position to the top left, for example in x = -50 and y = -50. From there it drives to the next point of the triangle e.g. -40 / -60 and from there to the next (e.g. -30 / -50) and then back again to -50 / -50. While approaching these three points, the electron beam is switched to light. So he draws the triangle. From the last point and also the first point of the closed triangle, it goes back to the zero position and of course with the electron beam switched to dark. As long as the triangle is displayed on the screen, the process is repeated at maximum speed in order to see a nice, flicker-free triangle. Now you can imagine what happens if a lot of symbols are to be drawn at the same time. Of course that is not possible. The beam must approach and draw all symbols one after the other. This means, in turn, the more symbols, the longer it takes until the image is completely drawn and, conversely, the slower the refresh rate. So the more graphic symbols, the more flicker.

The X / Y data are generated digitally as 8-bit values and converted into an analog voltage via two 8-bit DA converters (digital / analog). This voltage is adapted to the non-linear behavior of the deflection electronics (using OP-amp integrators) and fed to a two-channel amplifier stage, which also creates frequencies in the higher kilohertz range and is able to drive the deflection coils, i.e. inductive loads. And what is available here: An audio output stage from an audio amplifier. And that’s exactly how it was solved here. Under the heat sink is a LM379 dual 6W audio amplifier IC from National Semiconductor. A nice detail on the side: The high-voltage transformer is IC-clocked by an NE555 …

In order to be able to operate the games on the Vectrex, a removable controller – i.e. joystick – is integrated with four buttons in the form of the lower front cover. The two-axis stick consists of two potentiometers with which a fine, “quasi stepless” control of the game objects is possible.

Well, and such a console, or Home Arcade, or just such a treasure, I found cheap after an endless search. With a few problems, of course. First and foremost, it was important to me that everything was complete and that no parts were missing if possible. From the outside, everything was there, except for a cut power cord. The controller was complete – the spiral connection cable was not missing either and was in good condition. Unfortunately, someone had already tinkered with the controller housing and tried to pry the two housing halves apart with a screwdriver, but apparently had not considered that there are a number of screws under the upper sticker that hold everything together. The case looks accordingly today. – Unfortunately-

Housing shell of the controller damaged by screwdriver levers

Due to the accumulation of dust and the musty smell, the Vectrex had apparently spent the past 35 years in a cellar or attic. So my plan was to completely dismantle the whole device and check for completeness at the same time. As soon as I opened the case screws, I noticed that a couple of screws were missing. So there was already someone inside. After the complete dismantling, intensive cleaning was required. More precisely, it was more of a washing. So everything from the picture tube, the deflection unit to the boards had to go into the soap bath. After drying, the result can also be seen. The parts look like new again. Repairs could now begin.

In the end it turned out that apart from a few small things there were no major problems. At first the power switch was so resinous on the contacts that no closed contacts could be reached at both poles. Then there was no high voltage on the tube – here the transistor BU407 was defective and only switched through very tired or not at all. The various pots needed a little affection and one or the other capacitor still had to be replaced. But that’s about it. Below I upload a few pictures of the cleaning and repair work.

miscellaneous and news, repair and restauration

Homematic actuator quick repair (dimming actuator RS485)

11. June 2021 ingmarsretro Leave a comment

I have another small contribution to make on the subject of “Aging and Homematic Smart Home”. Many thanks to Fritz for the preparation and analysis.

As in the last post “Homematic actuator quick repair”, this time it is again about a device from the Smart Home series. It is the dimmer actuator with the designation “HMW-LC-Dim1L-DR”. This is a phase control dimmer actuator for incandescent lamps and low-voltage halogen lamps with conventional transformers. Many modern LED lamps can also be controlled with this dimmer. The actuator belongs to the “wired” series, which means that it is not connected to the CCU via the BidCos radio protocol, but via the RS485 bus. The actuator receives the power supply for data communication from a 24V power supply unit. This also supplies the µC in the actuator. The network side is supplied with control data from the low-voltage side via an optocoupler. This ensures galvanic isolation. On the network side there is a dimmer controller module, which in turn controls the triac. This controller must be supplied with a voltage of approx. 15V. To generate this, the manufacturer has built in a capacitive voltage divider. And this is where the aging problems begin …

The error pattern manifests itself as follows: The connected light source cannot be dimmed or switched on. However, the dimmer is communicating correctly with the bus. The red function LED lights up correctly. The commands for “Off” and “On” via buttons are also displayed in the CCU.

Circuit diagram of the mains side on the “main board”

The cause: According to the data sheet, the IC U2008, a dimmer control module, is supplied with a voltage of DC 15V. In this case, the supply voltage was significantly lower (at approx. 5.8V). This supply voltage is made the 330nF / 275V X2 capacitor C4. The capacitor is optically in perfect condition, but a simple capacitance measurement quickly shows that nothing fits here. The capacitor C4 only had a capacity of approx. 30-40nF. So it’s like so often -> It was the capacitor: D

After the replacement, the voltage on the U2008 was ok again and the dimmer is doing its job again. As a preventive measure, the two other X2 capacitors on the board (C1 47nF / 275V and C2 100nF / 275) were replaced.