Is it possible I ruined my record player by hooking it up to a 15 volt source?

March 17, 2007 9:40 PM

Is it possible that I've permanently destroyed my record player by accidentally hooking up to a 15 volt power adapter, instead of a 12?

Please say no.

posted by matkline to Technology (12 answers total)

I take it that it is no longer working or you wouldn't be asking, in which case, yes you likely fried the circuitry. I am curious though, what record player works on 12 volts?
posted by caddis at 9:52 PM on March 17, 2007

Response by poster: Is fried the circuitry reparable? (It's a Technics SL-10)
posted by matkline at 9:53 PM on March 17, 2007

Fried circuitry is replaceable. Unless you're a DIY, risk-taking type, your best bet is an appropriate repair shop.
posted by Krrrlson at 9:56 PM on March 17, 2007

Perhaps. You can find a service manual with schematic here. The problem will be finding replacement parts. It would probably be easiest to find one that has a mechanical problem and salvage it for parts.
posted by caddis at 10:01 PM on March 17, 2007

You should be able to fix it - record players aren't that complicated to figure out. This is the advice I gave someone in a similar situation.
posted by bigmusic at 10:17 PM on March 17, 2007

From a cursory view of the schematic, you've blown things up. A replacement one goes on ebay for $50. If I had one that had a busted motor and good circuit boards like caddis says, I'd use the good circuit boards, otherwise, I'd just get a new one. Finding out exactly what you blew up is worth more than $50, unless maybe this is a rare turntable cherished and hoarded by audiophiles, you know a guy who has dealt with exactly this problem before, or something like that.

It's a lot worse than a busted connection to an RCA jack - without spending hours researching the components used, you could have blown all the electronics or just a few, and honestly, unless you feel like undertaking an electronics repair challenge, it's probably not worth your time tracking down what's broken and what will replace it.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:45 PM on March 17, 2007

I can't believe I skipped this - you may have just blown a fuse! Check the unit's fuse - if it's not blown, everything I said above applies.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 10:58 PM on March 17, 2007

I think it's unlikely you've destroyed it. Check to see if the 15 volt adapter is a/c or d/c and compare with the original.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:06 AM on March 18, 2007

The output voltage, that is.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 12:07 AM on March 18, 2007

Did you check the polarity of the power adapter and compare it to the one on the player? Plugging in an adapter with the wrong polarity is much more likely to cause damage, even if the voltage is the same.

Regardless of what happened in this case, keep that in mind for the future!
posted by helios at 7:41 PM on March 18, 2007

Is the unit completely dead? You should be able to find a way to stimulate the stylus enough that it would produce some kind of sound, if the audio section is functioning (I wouldn't tell you to pluck it :P, but maybe bumping the tone arm would work).

There is no fuse on the schematic, but if the unit is completely dead, that is the most likely problem. However, if the 15 volt adapter also had a much higher power rating, you may well have destroyed the electronics. If the power rating was similar to the 12V one, it seems much less likely.

There is a switch to select AC input, according to the schematic. Are you sure you didn't unintentionally flip it? Do you have an AC power cord to try on the unit? I looked at the schematic days ago, but I remember thinking it looked like a very standard replaceable power cord.
posted by Chuckles at 8:39 AM on March 19, 2007

It doesn't seem likely that you burned it. First make sure that you're testing it with the right voltage and the AC/DC-and power switches set to what they should be.

If it still doesn't work, check the fuse "F1 1A". If that one is ok and you can handle a multimeter, test if 12V shorts to ground (TP4 to TP5) with no power connected and the switch set to DC. With no such short, the three LEDs D203-D205 should light up when you turn on the power. Otherwise it's a bad connector or power switch.
posted by springload at 6:13 PM on March 19, 2007