Have two Sony Hi-end tuners: St-s444 esII and ST-S550-ES that lose stored station memory when turned off. Does anyone know which specific capacitor's must be replaced in these models to restore stored memory?
There is a lithium battery in the s444 and I replaced it but that didn't cure the problem. I don't think the s550 has any battery at all.
Thanks for the reply..
Thanks for the reply..
The site below does memory retention mods on a newer Sony and has links to others that do similar mods:
88–108 MHz
Sony XDR-F1HD
88–108 MHz
Sony XDR-F1HD
For ST-S550ES
There's a 0.1uF 5.5V super cap (also known as gold caps) used at C703 which can be found on the display / control PCB behind the front panel. I just replaced one with a 0.2uF 5.5V. Make sure of the correct polarity when installing.
They look like a squashed electrolytic..... like this:
SuperCap
There's a 0.1uF 5.5V super cap (also known as gold caps) used at C703 which can be found on the display / control PCB behind the front panel. I just replaced one with a 0.2uF 5.5V. Make sure of the correct polarity when installing.
They look like a squashed electrolytic..... like this:
SuperCap
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My STS-361 uses a supercap and still holds its memory for a month after >15years use.
Leakage has to be very low to last like that - your board must be clean with no conductive flux residue. If the charge goes very quickly, the ecap C701 in the above thumbnail is likely to have failed
Leakage has to be very low to last like that - your board must be clean with no conductive flux residue. If the charge goes very quickly, the ecap C701 in the above thumbnail is likely to have failed
Those "supercaps" have a habit of failing for sure.
Also... and be very very careful here, but I have had odd logic issues on equipment like this and the problem seems to be CMOS logic frozen in an invalid state causing strange behaviour. You can disconnect backup caps etc but it doesn't clear the fault. What does is first remove (disconnect) the backup caps and make 100% sure there is no stray voltage left anywhere and then press a piece of tinfoil over the PCB and short all the pins on all the IC's together. Leave for a while, then remove and power up.
Have fixed many faults that way over the years... there's no actual hardware fault... just an internal lockup within an IC.
Also... and be very very careful here, but I have had odd logic issues on equipment like this and the problem seems to be CMOS logic frozen in an invalid state causing strange behaviour. You can disconnect backup caps etc but it doesn't clear the fault. What does is first remove (disconnect) the backup caps and make 100% sure there is no stray voltage left anywhere and then press a piece of tinfoil over the PCB and short all the pins on all the IC's together. Leave for a while, then remove and power up.
Have fixed many faults that way over the years... there's no actual hardware fault... just an internal lockup within an IC.
The Philips I2C memory uses a normal cmos technology, with no wearout mechanism, unlike EEPROMs
I think that the (cheap) conventional electrolytic is more likely to fail the the supercap.
The supercap only stores power, the high esr and series resistors make them useless for supply decoupling. Faulty decoupling could cause logic lockups
I think that the (cheap) conventional electrolytic is more likely to fail the the supercap.
The supercap only stores power, the high esr and series resistors make them useless for supply decoupling. Faulty decoupling could cause logic lockups
I acquired an Sony ST-S444 ES II with the issue of no memory retention.
Meaning, whatever station the tuner is set to, and the stations that are programmed into the unit will be lost when power is cycled.
The memory loss is attributed to a "super cap" that is bad, there's a couple of mentions of this on the 'net, but this is the only thread I could find right now.
At any rate, I was prepared to replace this cap, but found there is a battery in the unit, an CR2025 (very common).
I replaced the battery and the memory works properly now. Note that the battery is soldered in and it's a bitch to get the old tabs soldered to the new battery.
I had to rough up the battery surfaces a bit to remove whatever, then fluxed, then used smaller wires to solder and connect, rather than the original larger tabs.
Meaning, whatever station the tuner is set to, and the stations that are programmed into the unit will be lost when power is cycled.
The memory loss is attributed to a "super cap" that is bad, there's a couple of mentions of this on the 'net, but this is the only thread I could find right now.
At any rate, I was prepared to replace this cap, but found there is a battery in the unit, an CR2025 (very common).
I replaced the battery and the memory works properly now. Note that the battery is soldered in and it's a bitch to get the old tabs soldered to the new battery.
I had to rough up the battery surfaces a bit to remove whatever, then fluxed, then used smaller wires to solder and connect, rather than the original larger tabs.
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