So what is the "Panasonic power supply issue"?

[starbond]

Originally Posted by djski

Your vintage did not have the "under spec'd" capacitors which plagued the industry years later.. If one failed, it's because it's nearly 40 years old, dried out and opened. That will not cause fuses to blow.You are looking in the correct area which would be with the circuitry on the primary side of the transformer for shorted components, Q4 and the associated diodes.
In the 30 years servicing consumer, industrial and broadcast VTR's, I have never seen a piece of recording tape find its way between the upper and lower drum. Most likely, the bearings are shot in the head motor. That being the case, the VTR is junk. That is the most expensive part in the unit and is long discontinued anyway.. If you attempt to remove the upper drum, make very sure you have the leads totally desoldered or you will break a pin and the head motor is ruined. The upper drum(heads) is pressed onto the lower unit, so it may take some patience wiggling it off. They can be difficult sometimes removing it.
I don't mean to be pessimistic but I can see this restoration being a money pit and you end up being very disapointed. I have bought working units from the Goodwill for $5-10 each. I have six spare decks from the Goodwill to ensure I have something to play the tapes in my very large library. I have seen it many times and for what you will invest in your 1984 vintage can amount to a lot.

The only reason I say may is because i found about a dozen pf these tiny strands of tape inside the transport area, its slightly possible one shredded into the gap on the video head while spinning, I really hope
its not a blown head. But i have only put $10 into this unit at this point so if it turns out the head it dead then at least it was a learning experience how to troubleshoot a power supply
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