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| The Sony ACL10 mains unit/charger has
been supplied with a great many models of Sony camcorder
from the late '90s onwards. It appears to be a reliable
piece of equipment, but recently Video Pages encountered
one which worked only intermittently. Shortly afterwards
it failed completely. While it was still functioning intermittently, it was established that it would work provided that one held the "figure of eight" mains connector firmly in it's socket and applied a bias to one side. As the mains cable worked perfectly well with other items of equipment, it seemed clear that there was a breakage of continuity either in the socket itself or on the PCB in the vicinity of the socket conductors. The means of getting into the unit was not immediately obvious, but applying finger pressure over the area of the label on the base determined that there were a couple of recesses hidden by the label. Careful lifting of one corner of the label with a craft knife followed by it's removal revealed 2 holes, with the head of a Torx (6-pointed star) screw visible in each. It was further noted that these were security screws as there was a "pip" or projection in the centre of the head recesses, which would necessitate the use of a Torx security screwdriver bit, ie one with the security hole in the tip. The head size was found to be T10. By using the correct screwdriver bit the screws were easily removed. Having removed the screws, the top of the casing would still not come off. It was found that squeezing the sides of the head disengaged the moulded plastic "catches" which were holding the top on. Removal was then easy. Both of the soldered joints holding the socket pins to the PCB had fractured. Resoldering them was a simple matter. Reassembly was the reverse of dismantling, except that it was not necessary to squeeze the sides of the top in order to replace it. After the screws were replaced in the base, the label was found to have retained enough of it's original adhesive to permit re-use, so it too was replaced. The unit then functioned correctly. Page last updated: 22 July, 2005 |
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