Pioneer LC-V300 LaserKaraoke Autochanger

[MIPS]

Good news!
A CO-V50 surfaced in Guam for the low price of $8.50 CDN, plus shipping (which was not that bad, suprisingly) - https://www.ebay.ca/itm/323348617061
This is the Japanese version of the Autochanger Commander and supports two autochangers. There is good reason to believe it will support the North American unit at the protocol level which is what I'm ultimately after.
It should arrive in a few weeks.

[MIPS]

At last! It's here!


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8066.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8067.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8065.jpg

A bit of translating will be necessary but it's as I suspected inside: Ignoring the green PCB which is mainly handling audio and video there is a fairly normal power supply and a PCB that contained a microcontroller and an EPROM. Otherwise it's pretty empty inside and rather lightweight. Hookups on the back are for the audio effects mixer and optional coin acceptor.

I had a hunch that it would work no problem with these two seemingly North American autochangers and sure enough, plug them in and press the power button you get lights and the MAKE A SELECTION light blinks.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8063.jpg

Curiously though if you make a selection and try to proceed it does nothing. Some of the clear plastic inserts on the buttons have fallen out and may be jamming the buttons. The front will have to be removed so they can be reglued.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8064.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/IMG_1059.jpg

Unfortunately both autochangers have problems. Errors are indicated by a set of LED's inside the front cover. There's a guide on the cover indicating what the errors are and how to enter a simple service/test mode. One machine is complaining about no 24v. There's a fuse on the PSU that's melted so presumably there was an overload and it gracefully opened.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8061.jpg


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8062.jpg

The other one is a bit more interesting. You power it up and it immediately faults because the disc clamp in the player timed out. The test mode lets me manually actuate it and while it runs it's REALLY noisy. May need a bit of oil but my assumption is there's a bad switch somewhere. Edited: Nope. MAnual mode also tests the sensor and it's good, so it must of been stuck.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/CGS_8068.jpg

Edited: Hmm. perhaps it's got a tiny amount of memory that retains the last fault and shuts the unit down until it's cleared? Once the fuse was replaced and 24v was found to be good it still complained it was bad. Replaced the power supply with the one from the other and the fault did not move. Put the cabinets in manual control and didn't see any issues.

Edited Edited: Right, so the commander responds to the following key sequence [DISC NUMBER; DISC SIDE; CHAPTER NUMBER]
So now I can get the commander to move to a disc and load it but playback is still weird. On one cabinet it will spin one side (and abort as soon as it's up to speed) but not the other. The other machine simply loads the disc and then does nothing. More research is required. Perhaps a cleaning?