Panasonic RC-7469 The Cameron and Manual

[Mackey]

Would you believe someone gave me a Panasonic RC-7469. Mailed it to me so that someone could get some use out of it. I insisted in paying at least postage, and I'll do that. After closer inspection, it seems the transformer is kaput. But I've got a few of these for parts downstairs so I'm pretty sure I can get it going.
As a bonus I got the user manual and warranty card as well. Can't beat this deal. I don't think the person ever joined the forum... but if you see this sir - Thanks.



The Manual



The Manual In PDF

RC-7469_manual.pdf

RC-7469_manual-compressed.pdf

Warranty Card

[Performa]

Mad props to the donor, that clock is definitely in the best of hands!

[flipoclock]

that is one cool clock and also cool that it was saved from the bin (I guess)!

[Guest]

Very nice condition. Not too shabby at all.

[cyb3rbyte]

Really cool. I consider this and the RC-7462 to be the coolest Panasonics of their day. Can't wait to see it working.

[Mackey]

Man!
I thought I was all over this clock. I was even making a video about how I was using a parts clock to get a new transformer. I swear it was testing dead when in the clock (probably had some oxidation on the leads). In any event, got it out and thought ... "let me double check" - stripped the leads and it's working (so I put it back). Should make a video about how to make a big mistake. Anyway, subsequently found out that the main switch was wired differently than my parts clock. So I moved a wire. Now the sleep function results in the radio playing, but otherwise no power gets to the circuit board. I took the switch apart but could not find an obvious problem. I'm going to soldier in the parts clock switch to see if that was it. If not, I've got to do some more snoopin around here.

[Mackey]

What a nightmare:
First, I thought it was the transformer ... but it wasn't - bad read due to oxidation on the points where it came into the board ... certainly not operator error
Then I knew it had to be the switch. Spent quite a bit of time re-soldering in all those connections to put in a known working switch.


Nope ...

Now, clearly power's not getting to the board with the switch is on, but it is when the sleep is on.
HAD to be the micro-switches (OMRON brand switches). Almost made the same mistake when testing their function. Had to scratch the surfaces to verify .... no... they're working.
Then made a simple continuity check and saw that a jumper from one "OMRON to another showed continuity only when I touched the wire then the second point, not when I touched the post on the OMRON switches.
No way. It was left unsoldered from the factory. Must have worked for a while until oxidation (or maybe Galvanic corrosion) caused the connection to fail.

It's not as glaringly obvious as you might thing. I think the take home is don't just jump to conclusions. This is not the first time I've seen this in a Panasonic. Probably happens in other makers I'm sure but it's strange that it's only found this many years later.



It's wasn't as clean as it looks here when I found it. This is after I repositioned it getting ready to solder. It definitely had some buildup of corrosion on it.

[cyb3rbyte]

Talk about forgetting something, wow! A couple years back when I worked at a car dealership, we had a brand new truck come onto our lot without ANY rear brake pads, but the discs were there. Sometimes things you would think are important are overlooked.

[Jumblejeff]

It was probably built on a Friday at the end of the shift before a holiday weekend by a new employee at Matsushita electric Co.

just guessing here......

[Mackey]

or disgruntled employee

[Guest]

Good troubleshooting.