A810 Tips and Capstan Shut-off

[rockitman]

I found this article. They talk about the need to turn the machine on in order to trickle charge the MP Unit Bd. battery (Varta). Apparently in default factory setup, the capstan continuosly runs even if the tension roller arms are in the down (Tape off/out) position. There is a small plastic cap jumper that sits on two of 3 brass pins. The manual shows the location as does the article. My first deck from Ki already had this done, my other didn't. I just perfromed the operation w/o issue. Save your capstan motor bearings.

RAM Buffer Battery (BA1)
Studer Manual 2.7 and 2.7.1 (degraded operation), 3.1.2 (MP Unit), and Section 5 (MP Unit diagrams).

Check the accumulator occasionally and refresh if necessary, or replace it after a couple of years. Something very important: before you replace the accumulator make a backup of your recorder's audio parameters, which you can re-load to your recorder after you have replaced the accumulator! The accu-pack is soldered on the MP Unit. Concerning the accumulator type refer to the MP-Unit diagrams in Section 5 of your Studer Manual.
Should you use your recorder only once in a while it may be necessary that you leave it switched on for a day (or during the night) about once a week to charge the accumulator, in order to avoid complete loss of the audio parameters to which your tape recorder was calibrated. If you do this with a Studer A810 it will be a good idea to set the jumper JS2 on the Capstan Motor Control print to the position "Capstan Shut Off", which will protect the bearings of the capstan motor from unnecessary wear - for more details see also below.


Capstan Motor
Studer Manual 2.9, 3.2.9, 3.4.6, 4.2.9.12, and Section 6 (Tape Transport Diagrams)

In order to protect the bearings of the capstan motor from unnecessary wear, the jumper JS2 on the capstan motor control print (Capstan Motor Control PCB / GR26) can be set in the position CAPSTAN SHUT OFF as shown below. When JS2 is in position CAPSTAN SHUT OFF the capstan motor will switch off in case of „Tape Out“.

http://www.capstan.at/Reel2006/Essay 09.html#Capstanshutoff