Topic: any hope for a Radio shack PRO-82 that has vol problems? (JUNK)

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

I used to stream weather radio from my Radio Shack PRO-82 but now it seem like its volume is broken. I can have the volume max out and I can only just hear it ever so lightly. I am just about ready to junk it and give up on weather radios but I thought I would try here once before its a goner.

[corwyyn]

So the volume is low on both the headphone and the main speaker? Sounds like the potentiometer on the volume control is shot, if that's the case it's repairable just need a new part and a soldering iron.

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

So the volume is low on both the headphone and the main speaker? Sounds like the potentiometer on the volume control is shot, if that's the case it's repairable just need a new part and a soldering iron.

Yes it is low on the headphone and the main speaker.. Thanks. I will look into that part.

[corwyyn]

Ok to qualify I say it should be repairable but it's been a while since I opened up a RS scanner, but even if the potentiometer is a surface mount device it should be big enough that you can manually solder in a replacement. If you open it up and can post a pic it will help, meanwhile I'll do some 'net digging to see how common the failure is.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Sometime on pots it only takes a squirt of control cleaner and a few twists of the knob to restore operation,.. if corrosion, dirt is the issue...

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

ok lets see if I can post a pic.... https://www.dropbox.com/s/l85mgnof4zy9vtv/2014-06-29%2006.53.19.jpg

pic is too big for the forum so I left it on dropbox. If it don't load for anyone I will make it smaller and upload it here.

[azkiwi]

Anthony, that looks to be repairable.  Painstaking, but do-able.   It looks to be surface mounted with the 3 prongs going down into the circuit board.

Repair would mean carefully taking out the circuit board and flipping it over.  This should show the solder spots of the prongs.  Using a small soldering iron and a small solder vacuum (to suck up the molten stuff) it should be do-able.

If it was me, I'd try cutty sark's approach first.  Get a can of electronic cleaner from a Radio Shack and liberally squirt it down the shaft to the potentiometer  proper and rotate it back and forth a dozen times or so.  Might work.  For a while, anyway.

Ken

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

that is the strange thing. there is no play in it at all. I have had a few old radio were the vol started going and I could make them work by moveing that vol to the left or right.....I have not gave up yet on it.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Anthony, that looks to be repairable.  Painstaking, but do-able.   It looks to be surface mounted with the 3 prongs going down into the circuit board.

Repair would mean carefully taking out the circuit board and flipping it over.  This should show the solder spots of the prongs.  Using a small soldering iron and a small solder vacuum (to suck up the molten stuff) it should be do-able.

If it was me, I'd try cutty sark's approach first.  Get a can of electronic cleaner from a Radio Shack and liberally squirt it down the shaft to the potentiometer  proper and rotate it back and forth a dozen times or so.  Might work.  For a while, anyway.

Ken

Assuming it's the pot... that looks like a so-called sealed pot... cleaner likely will NOT pass the shaft seal... if so, the pot's housing may have a tiny vent hole.  The cleaner needs to get inside the pot, onto the wiper(s) and resistive material. We'd use a syringe needle. If it's a 'graphite' resistive arc, cleaning may not help.  If the shaft wiggles a lot, it may be shot.. or the pot may be just loose in the board. Can of cleaner is good to have around anyway... there could be other reasons for low volume. even including a bad earphone jack!
BTW.. have you checked the battery terminals for corrosion, as well as any AC adapter jacks?  EDIT./// overlapping posts... I see you've eliminated shaft play... check it for 'axial' play, not horizontal...

[corwyyn]

In addition to the above suggestions (all good by the way) one more thing you could do is just reflow the connections from the volume potentiometer to the circuit board - it may be as simple as a solder joint that's gotten weak over the years. 

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

ok....today I tired to make it work again.....and it died...made a little bit of a smoke signal and the display went out..I did not even have time to take the vol off of it

Thank you all for the help.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

ok....today I tired to make it work again.....and it died...made a little bit of a smoke signal and the display went out..I did not even have time to take the vol off of it

Thank you all for the help.

You didn't use something with high alcohol content, did you?

[Fox_Of_The_Wind]

ok....today I tired to make it work again.....and it died...made a little bit of a smoke signal and the display went out..I did not even have time to take the vol off of it

Thank you all for the help.

You didn't use something with high alcohol content, did you?

I did not even have time to warm up my solder gun. At least it could have done for me was let me break it the right way.....now I have no clue what happened to it