AIWA HS-P202 MkIII Restoration

full efforts described at Square-2, here I want to put a few key restoration photos in case I get tired of my own site and take it down. Here is the beauty: AIWA HS-P202 MkIII


Bottom plate is held by two screws and also a latch going under the "faceplate":

changing a belt is a 5-sec job because of the cutout in the main board:

here we have the original belt next to the belt I bought from @mihokm for MkII Aiwa:


This model has two 330uF/2V electrolytic capacitors. Two Volt rating was not enough, both caps died and leaked. For a recap you have to desolder 5 wires plus one flexboard:


old electrolytics removed, board cleaned:

with all fresh Rubycon caps, except for two 330uF which are no longer available in such a small size:

This is how you turn 330uF/6.3V SMD into a "through hole" cap:

Flattened pins have to be shaved a bit to fit thru the holes, I used Dremel with a diamond burr.
The end result:



Very powerful sound for such a tiny player, measures pretty good too:


This particular Aiwa had a missing door latch, it had to be made from scratch. Big THANK YOU!!! to my friend @Boodokhan for providing a photo of the piece.
Here is a set of tools I used to construct this tiny latch, the final (third attempt!) piece is in the center-right:

 

great info and amazing effort to to fix this walkman.
I can give you my walkman to dismantle the door latch and make the exact size. or i can dismantle it and send you more info and pictures.
Just let me know and i can get you the walkman this friday.

 

Thank you! One photo, just to see how different it is, would be enough.
This one is finished, here is the photo of a new latch:

I do not think anyone will ever have this same problem: MkIII are pretty rare, totally worthless without gondolas (somehow usually misplaced), and the chance that anything "fixable" will miss this same latch is zero.

 

Great work.

 

Congrats. It's a true goldsmith work.

 

Great idea. I have just re-belted a 1990s Sony and took some photos as I was doing it. I have a Panasonic in front of me waiting for the same thing to be done.

 

Separate Step-by-Step folder would be niice!!! The one by @mihokm on how to deal with Panasonic walkmans (reposted here from the old site) helped me A Lot. Without it I was doubtful if so many points must be desoldered just to get inside.

 

Excellent work and thanks for sharing - I have a couple of these machines and one needs the door latch piece as it gradually worked loose and vanished. Seeing a strip down / disassemble is so helpful
CHEERS!

 

Just digged my old HS-P202 out, googled repair and found this thread.

Nice.

If in any way possible could you reveal the list of capacitors you used/ordered?

The first to the left on your mainboard photo is - as far as I can see a 1.6V 22uF. I’m unable to find any shops in Europe with such low voltage. But I guess a 2V volt would do just a well.

Thanks
Cheers
Per

 

Per, welcome to the Club!

You can use any 22uF electrolytic which fits, I used Rubycon 22uF/16V
It is much safer to open your Walkman first and list all the caps before ordering, since this model has MkI, MkII and MkIII variants. Any cap with same or higher voltage rating will be an exact substitute, I have soft spot for Rubycons but Nichicon UMW range is a safe choice for "audio-grade" electrolytics. Use DigiKey or Mouser to order, they have them all. But it is 330uF which failed in mine, I recapped them all just to be on the safe side: even if not leaked/bulged/failed these tiny things dry out after decades of storage. Check Diameter/Height when ordering!

 

Excellent work! By the book. I often convert SMD caps to through hole using the same method. It's not the 2V that causes the caps to fail, rather poor sealing that fails over time.
I too have some step by step re-capping tutorials for Walkmans (and SMD cap work) in the making, as well as a tutorial to build a PBS3 alternative. I would like to see a tutorial and resources section!

On 330uf: The UMW version is much larger than SMD equivalents, but should fit in this model. The Panasonic FT version is a better fit. Otherwise I use UMW series mostly now.

Also, nice to see another ESW9 connoisseur. Good match for Walkmans.
Here are some previews on my PC202 tutorial for through hole cap work, and the PBS3 battery.






List of caps for PC202:

4x 220 UMW0G221MDD
2x100 UMW0G101MDD
2x47 UMW0G470MDD
1x22 UMW0J220MDD
1x4.7 ECE-A1VKS4R7

P202:

2x330 EEE-FT0J331AP
4x220 UMW0G221MDD
1x100UMW0G101MDD
3x47 UMW0G470MDD
1x22 UMW0J220MDD
1x4.7 ECE-A1VKS4R7

If you cant find UMW from your supplier, substitute with Panasonic KS series from my capacitor list.

 

Thanks, ordered at Mouser.

Checked the date inside - 1989! 30th Anniversary next Year!

The original pinch rollers seems okay, but the belt is too lose.

Here are some photos of the outside.

IMG_0113 by donpedro34 posted Mar 15, 2018 at 11:07 PM

IMG_0114 by donpedro34 posted Mar 15, 2018 at 11:07 PM

IMG_0115 by donpedro34 posted Mar 15, 2018 at 11:07 PM

IMG_0116 by donpedro34 posted Mar 15, 2018 at 11:07 PM

And yes, unfortunately, the unit lost a screw from the lid in the mid 1990's. The replacement does the job, but its ugly.

It seems to be a general problem with this unit, i just tightened all the screws, some of them were very loose.

Anybody know where to get replacements?

Cheers
Per

 

So, got the parts fast from mouser. It took 4 days from Texas to Vienna, Austria. Respect!

I boiled the loose belt for 15 minutes. It helped a little, but I need a replacement.

The pinch rollers - I don’t know - they seem fine. But I guess new ones would be better.

Anyway, replaced all the caps, took about two hours. I didn’t expect much of a difference - but wow, what a surprise!! It really Sounds good now.

Here’s a picture with old caps.



Cheers
Per

 

Good job! This model is one of the easiest to re-cap I've ever seen. Can be done in minutes if there is no major leakage.

 

New belts from @mihokm is a Must! Use Naphta to rejuvenate pinchrollers, this stuff is Magical!!!!!!!!!

 

@Jorge I know @mihokm, i just recently bought belts from him. He is not far from where i am. ;-)

@bub - i checked the caps with my ESR meter. Most of them were below Ohm Worst-case. Two had some minor leakage, but nothing on the board.

A bit of luck i guess

 

No real need to test with ESR meter at this point- just replace all electrolytics if you suspect an issue. But leakage damage depends on luck and model, yes.

 

Is there any guide or experiences available on how to rejuvenate pinch rollers?

1. I would like to know how much Naphtha i need to buy - 100ml enough?
2. How to apply it to the rollers - like completely submerge them in Naphtha - for how long time - or just apply on the surface with a cloth and wait for it to dry.
3. Any safety precausions?

Thanks
Cheers
Per