I have an old Bose Wave Radio with the built in CD player. Model
AWRC-1P. It is starting to have trouble playing certain CDs. It will
search and search, you can hear the mechanism, and then, depending on
the CD, will play or not. Once it plays one CD it will usually play
others until it has been off for several hours. I have cleaned the
lens several times but it only seemed to work once, so I don't know if
it was a fluke. So I think the laser is failing and I should buy a new
one. The assmebly is about 40 bucks delivered so I don't wanna just
keep buying parts to see if they are the problem. The CD player has
hundreds of hours of time on it so it seems to me a failing laser is
probable. Opinions?
Thanks,
Eric

Most lasers are adjustable. Not sure where the pot(s) is(are) on a Bose device, but it will be there. Usually they are on the back of the device. I would state that probably 80% of lasers that are replaced could have been adjusted and been just fine.

Best of luck with it.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 12:21:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I have an old Bose Wave Radio with the built in CD player. Model
AWRC-1P. It is starting to have trouble playing certain CDs. It will
search and search, you can hear the mechanism, and then, depending on
the CD, will play or not. Once it plays one CD it will usually play
others until it has been off for several hours. I have cleaned the
lens several times but it only seemed to work once, so I don't know if
it was a fluke. So I think the laser is failing and I should buy a new
one. The assmebly is about 40 bucks delivered so I don't wanna just
keep buying parts to see if they are the problem. The CD player has
hundreds of hours of time on it so it seems to me a failing laser is
probable. Opinions?
Thanks,
Eric

Look for any markings on the assembly. Some of the Bose units used Sony optics which are still available.

Dan

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 10:32:57 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 12:21:55 PM UTC-5, wrote:
I have an old Bose Wave Radio with the built in CD player. Model
AWRC-1P. It is starting to have trouble playing certain CDs. It will
search and search, you can hear the mechanism, and then, depending on
the CD, will play or not. Once it plays one CD it will usually play
others until it has been off for several hours. I have cleaned the
lens several times but it only seemed to work once, so I don't know if
it was a fluke. So I think the laser is failing and I should buy a new
one. The assmebly is about 40 bucks delivered so I don't wanna just
keep buying parts to see if they are the problem. The CD player has
hundreds of hours of time on it so it seems to me a failing laser is
probable. Opinions?
Thanks,
Eric

Look for any markings on the assembly. Some of the Bose units used Sony optics which are still available.

Dan
I found the assembly already. Sanyo makes it. At least it has sanyo
molded into the plastic.
Thanks,
Eric

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:40:08 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Most lasers are adjustable. Not sure where the pot(s) is(are) on a Bose device, but it will be there. Usually they are on the back of the device. I would state that probably 80% of lasers that are replaced could have been adjusted and been just fine.

Best of luck with it.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!
How do I identify these pots and how do I determine which one(s) to
turn?
Eric

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 1:46:45 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:40:08 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Most lasers are adjustable. Not sure where the pot(s) is(are) on a Bose device, but it will be there. Usually they are on the back of the device. I would state that probably 80% of lasers that are replaced could have been adjusted and been just fine.

Best of luck with it.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!
How do I identify these pots and how do I determine which one(s) to
turn?
Eric

The pots that should be adjusted are on the board NOT the optics assembly. The optics have an adjustment for laser power that rarely resolves any problem. The should be focus and tracking adjustments on the board. You need to see a trace on a scope though to properly "align" the optics.

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 1:46:45 PM UTC-5, wrote:

How do I identify these pots and how do I determine which one(s) to
turn?
Eric

https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/cdfaq.htm

https://www.repairfaq.org/sam/k38n.gif

is one of many for Sanyo. But, once you are in there and identify the exact part number, google that.

Typically clockwise is "More" and counter-clockwise is "Less". As with many things, lasers dim with age.

Note that there is also a distance/focus adjust.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 2:03:18 PM UTC-5,
The pots that should be adjusted are on the board NOT the optics assembly.. The optics have an adjustment for laser power that rarely resolves any problem. The should be focus and tracking adjustments on the board. You need to see a trace on a scope though to properly "align" the optics.

Not gonna argue, as this also could be true. But with age comes dimming - I have a Revox B225 with an internal date-stamp of 1982. I have had to adjust the laser level (power) once in the last 20 years I have had it. Focus and tracking are fine.

Also, about 12 caps. Frakus, as usual, and grease the rails.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:22:05 -0800, wrote:

It will
search and search, you can hear the mechanism, and then, depending on
the CD, will play or not.

I have done a repair on a CD player with very similar symptoms. In my
case, however, it did not follow a particular CD. If one CD played,
the other one did too, and when one failed to play, the other one did
too.

Once it plays one CD it will usually play
others until it has been off for several hours.

First you say that it is depending on the CD and then you are saying
it does not?

In my case, it was a sticky sled motor. When I put the scope across it
at super slow sweep, I could see the voltage across the motor, while
playing normally, following roughly a sawtooth pattern. When it
stopped playing, the voltage would increase and increase until
saturation.
--
RoRo

On Sat, 23 Dec 2017 22:44:20 +0100, Robert Roland
wrote:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:22:05 -0800, wrote:

It will
search and search, you can hear the mechanism, and then, depending on
the CD, will play or not.

I have done a repair on a CD player with very similar symptoms. In my
case, however, it did not follow a particular CD. If one CD played,
the other one did too, and when one failed to play, the other one did
too.

Once it plays one CD it will usually play
others until it has been off for several hours.

First you say that it is depending on the CD and then you are saying
it does not?

In my case, it was a sticky sled motor. When I put the scope across it
at super slow sweep, I could see the voltage across the motor, while
playing normally, following roughly a sawtooth pattern. When it
stopped playing, the voltage would increase and increase until
saturation.
It will not start with certain CDs but then once playing would
sometimes play the CD it wouldn't to begin with. Now though it seems
like it will not play certain CDs no matter how long it has been on.
I'm gonna try oiling the laser sled. I have some of the proper oil.
Thanks,
Eric

Once upon a time on usenet wrote:
On Friday, December 22, 2017 at 2:03:18 PM UTC-5,
The pots that should be adjusted are on the board NOT the optics
assembly. The optics have an adjustment for laser power that rarely
resolves any problem. The should be focus and tracking adjustments
on the board. You need to see a trace on a scope though to properly
"align" the optics.

Not gonna argue, as this also could be true. But with age comes
dimming - I have a Revox B225 with an internal date-stamp of 1982. I
have had to adjust the laser level (power) once in the last 20 years
I have had it. Focus and tracking are fine.

Also, about 12 caps. Frakus, as usual, and grease the rails.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Frakus? (I have a Philips CD player that's a bit fussy that I want to
'refurbish'.)
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

Frakus being a German brand of electrolytic capacitor with a rapidly increasing failure rate starting at around age 10.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Once upon a time on usenet wrote:
Frakus being a German brand of electrolytic capacitor with a rapidly
increasing failure rate starting at around age 10.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Thanks Peter, that's what I though made the most sense (though there was a
full stop between 'caps' and 'Frakus' which made me wonder) but even
googling 'Frakus capacitor' didn't confirm my suspicions.

Cheers,
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)

On Sun, 24 Dec 2017 04:53:09 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Frakus being a German brand of electrolytic capacitor with a rapidly increasing failure rate starting at around age 10.

I Googled for "Frakus capacitors" and found nothing. Google refered
me to Frako capacitors at:
http://www.frako.com/en/products/power-capacitors/
which is a German company but which makes big power factor correction
capacitors for industrial applications that are unlikely to be found
inside a Bose Wave CD player. Are you sure about the "Frakus" name?


--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Once upon a time on usenet Jeff Liebermann wrote:
On Sun, 24 Dec 2017 04:53:09 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

Frakus being a German brand of electrolytic capacitor with a rapidly
increasing failure rate starting at around age 10.

I Googled for "Frakus capacitors" and found nothing. Google refered
me to Frako capacitors at:
http://www.frako.com/en/products/power-capacitors/
which is a German company but which makes big power factor correction
capacitors for industrial applications that are unlikely to be found
inside a Bose Wave CD player. Are you sure about the "Frakus" name?

Google did the same with me.
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)