Panasonic rq s35 - high wow & flutter and speed is higher

It was working fine, then yesterday it started to have high w&f, even when stationary, but very high when I moved it to side(s). Playing speed is higher that it should be (after changing tape side).
Anything I could check?

 

I seriosly don't know, I've changed battery for fully charged and it seems that problem is mostly gone. One side (as it were) has slight w&f, probably because of the roller.
Do you recomend some roller treatmemt that works, at least till I change it?

 

some of these problems are down to the tapes them selves and why i mostly don't use tapes anymore, also i have tried fixing rollers many times and you simply can't just replace the rollers if possible

 

Sure, some tape could add a lot to w&f, but after changing battery same tape sounds alot better. And I cannot understand

 

The battery maybe old and not putting out the optimum voltage causing the walkman to struggle playing tapes, hope this clarifies things a little

 

Could be, I will observe if it will happen again.
Thank you

 

It's not about battery. Strange thing is that happens almost always on autoreverse on end of one side and almost never when I reverse tape pressing play again. I used fully charged gum batteries, which works nicely in other Walkmans.
And this is happening in the first minute or two, it plays faster and seems like tape was sliding on the roller, but it slows down to normal speed and plays ok (still not as good as the other side but with pop/rock it's not that annoying).
It's a mystery, I will change rollers, but I'm sure that this isn't a problem that makes it plays so much faster at the beginig of the tape.

 

Ok, so I tested some tapes and:
TDK SA from 87 and 93 - plays beatifully even on autoreverse.
TDK SF 87 (same exact shell as AR 87 below) plays ok.
TDK AR from 87, prerecorded normal tape and Maxell UDII (I thought maybe that was problem with type I tapes but no), TDK SA-X (98), HF Pro (late 80?) have this problem.
Axia PS Metal have the same problem.
Tape lenght doesn't matter, I tested tapes from 46 to 90 minutes.

Could it be pressure pad problem?

 

Ok, checked SA again and it's the same. So it's not tape, it's more like randomly works ok

 

@Raul Although this is not a solution to your problem, I would be curious to know what high wow&flutter means in terms of actual figure.
WFGUI can be downloaded here (first link): http://www.ant-audio.co.uk/index.php?cat=post&qry=library
As for test tape, any that is recorded on a decent deck with 3kHz tone will work for measuring a ballpark figure.

In regard to the problem itself, random fluctuations of speed/wow&flutter can be caused by many things, but I would start with 2 in particular:
- oily residue on the pinch rollers and capstans; this is not always visible so just cleaning them with IPA (prefferably while unit is running) will eliminate it as a potential issue;
- servo issues, like a film capacitor failing intermittently; I'm not familiar with particular implementation of the servo circuit in this walkman, so a service manual would be helpful;

The servo issue can get better after unit has been playing for some time and be worse at the beginning of usage after storing the device for a day or just a couple of hours.

Even the motor itself can be a suspect, but I would check the other 2 first.

EDIT: Another aspect to be checked is battery contacts: if they are clean and making firm contact.
As for pinch roller themselves, if they're deformed that can cause a higher wow&flutter, but it won't be an intermittent symptom as you describe.

 

I will try to check w&f but that was for me a secondary problem, as it's not the problem for most of the time.
I cleaned rollers and capstans with IPA, I don't see any improvement.
I don't have service manual for this model, but for S35V - radio version, so except for radio it should be simmilar.
It's too big to upload here, I will put it on my server and add a link.

www.kasumi.pl/files/rq-s35v.pdf

 

And what is your main problem ? The fact that speed is higher ? Isn't that adjustable by a trimpot ?

 

Speed is ok, for the other side and 90% of bad side. I wouldn't call this problem w&f only, that's why. And w&f as I understand is not a problem that goes away after a minute or two. It seems that speed stabilizes after that amount of time.
More and more I think it's the problem of something that controls speed of a motor after autoreverse (it rarely kicks when I reverse sides with play too).

 

That is why it's better to measure the wow&flutter. That way we can make a clear assesment if that is a problem or not.

This may or may not be true, depending on what is the cause of high wow&flutter. If the cause is purely mechanical (as in most cases), the problem won't be intermittent.
But if the problem is electronic and caused by a malfunctioning servo circuit, it can be intermittent. It is something I have seen before, but this will be harder to track down.

I will start by measuring the voltages at the motor governor IC (AN6628), see if they corrrespond to what is on the schematic. Expect voltages to be a little lower, because battery voltage will be lower, especially when using recharghables.
The speed trimmer may also be cleaned with contact cleaner and turned all the way on both directions for a couple of times for assuring good contact. Then re-adjust tape speed.
Speed of the motor is controller by the above mentioned IC, both in forward and reverse directions.

 

if some tapes work and others not it's more than likely the tapes, there just to old now ad to that there are tiny motors on these walkmans....it's the main reason i don't use tapes much any more

the most stable walkman you can get is the d6c but again there selling for silly money now and most of them are not working these days

 

I'v got the same model and same mistery issue... only side two at the begining, after 3 minutes or so, everyting is ok again . I use the AA battery with the adapter, no the gumstitck.I changed the pinch roller, no differences. I bought as non working unit, with many signs of use, I thougt that maybe the head set or tape guidance was desaligned caused by a shock that deforms the case. However I desoldered the pcb in order to clean it, and to reinstall the belt. Since that, the issue almost disappears, only a minimum w&f at the beginnig of side two. I didn´t found an scientis and satisfactoy answer nevertheless...

 

Sell them be honest in you're descriptions and buy something that works

 

Given what you say, it is likely that this is a common problem. The fact that it's only at the beginning of reverse indicates a mechanical problem, possibly grease that had gone hard on some gears.
The issue you describe is identical to the one @Raul is describing, so I must draw the conclusion it's either a common problem or a design fault (less likely).

 

Which version do you have, the one with Silent Mechanism on the door or Twin Rotor Motor?
Did you clean pcb and how?
Maybe it was a bad solder, that would be really strange but I will try.

 

I can't. I would rather not sell something that not work at least to my satisfactory level (that would mean close to correct speed, minimal w&f that I can achieve with the model, with no noise because of capacitors etc).