Pioneer Laseractive Repair Info

[BlueBMW]

Hello all! New to this forum, but I've been on many other forums for a while. I've recently tackled some Laseractive repairs, and I haven't found a good place to share some of my findings. So here's what I've got!

Pioneer CLD-A100 Repair Info:

The problems I've seen with these units so far have been either jammed tray / laser mechanisms or faulty / damaged laser units.

Fixing jammed mechanisms is usually a matter of carefully taking the unit apart and freeing / lubricating the jammed mechanisms. Sometimes parts must be replaced. Information on sourcing those parts is below.

Laser issues can range from discs not reading at all or not reading properly. (bad video output, skipping etc) Fortunately, replacing a laser is a very straight forward process.

A complete factory service manual for the CLD-A100 is found HERE

Replacement parts can be ordered directly from Pioneer still! The part numbers can be found in the service manual above and searched for directly on Pioneer's replacement parts site.

http://parts.pioneerelectronics.com/

The laser pickup for the CLD-A100 is no longer available from Pioneer... however a compatible replacement IS still available.

Original Laser Pickup (no longer available)
"Compatible" Replacement Pickup

Alternately... used lasers can supposedly be found in the following Pioneer Laserdisc Players...

CLD-E2000
CLD-S201
CLD-S250
CLD-S303
CLD-V111
CLD-V121G
CLD-V2600
CLD-V350
CLD-V370
CLD-V730
CLD-V740
CLD-V750

I can confirm personally that the CLD-S201 has the same laser AND the tray / laser mechanism / disc clamp are also the same! Some of other LD players may share a lot of parts with the CLD-A100 also.

Laser Replacement Guide:

1. Turn unit on and eject the laserdisc tray. Turn unit off with tray open



2. Remove outer housing from unit. (5 Philips screws on the back and 4 on the sides)

3. Remove 4 screws holding the top PCB to the unit. (Red Arrows) and remove the 4 screws holding the disc clamp unit to the case. (Yellow Arrows)



4. Carefully lay the top PCB over the side of the unit.





5. Now we can easily access the laser assembly. First carefully release the ribbon cable lock tab with a screwdriver. Then pull out the ribbon cable carefully.




6. Release the screw holding down the laser track rod



7. Now carefully lift the laser with track rod out of the unit. Note that the rod slides out of the front carrier and also note that the other side of the laser slides along the metal frame of the laser carrier.



8. Slide the track rod out of the laser mechanism and onto the new laser mechanism. Before installing however, look closely at the side of the "tilt sensor" which looks like a little black bubble. There will be a colored mark on the corner of it. It will be either RED or BLUE or Blank. Depending on which it is you must set one of the adjustment pots on the main PCB in one of 3 positions.



9. Reassemble laser into unit and locate VR620 on the main PBC. If your tilt sensor was painted RED, then turn VR620 fully clockwise. Blank turn it to the middle position, and BLUE turn VR620 fully counter-clockwise.

Refer here for a diagram showing where exactly the POT is and some more information on some of the adjustments.



10. Reassemble the entire unit except maybe the outer shell and test! Also, while you have everything apart, its not a bad idea to inspect the various gears / mechanisms for anything that looks out of the ordinary.

That's all the information I have to offer right now. If I find more I'll update this post accordingly. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask!

All this information is offered AS IS! Use at your own risk! I'm not responsible for any damage you do to your system by using this information.

[BlueBMW]

Laseractive PAC Repairs:

Typically I've seen most faulty PACs are caused by leaking / corroded SMT capacitors. I recommend replacing the capacitors on ANY Laseractive PAC you've got, simply because they are all at the age now where the capacitors are likely failing and starting to leak. Left unchecked, they can cause permanent damage to the PAC.

Below are some Capacitor Diagrams I made for these PACs.

PAC N1 / N10



PAC S1 / S10




Note, on one PAC S10 I worked on, the little "add on" PCB was not present and there was an extra capacitor on the sub PCB.

[Cryomancer]

Nice info, thanks for sharing. I think my Sega PAC needs the cap replacement, I should look into getting it done someday.

[Contrabassoon86]

Thank you for providing this great information. My Sega PAC no longer reads Sega-CD's but reads laserdiscs and my NEC PAC works great. Now I have some leads. Anybody have a definitive solution?

[BlueBMW]

Thank you for providing this great information. My Sega PAC no longer reads Sega-CD's but reads laserdiscs and my NEC PAC works great. Now I have some leads. Anybody have a definitive solution?

I'd definitely start with replacing the caps in the units. I've had several units come to me with tons of corrosion and leakage on the capacitors. That can cause all sorts of malfunctions.

The Sega PACs take a while just because there are so many capacitors. And if theres a lot of corrosion it takes longer because you need to clean extra well.

NEC Pacs have a lot less caps and they're more spread out, so they're not as bad to deal with.

[TheClash603]

Who's crappy broken Laseractive is that?

...it's mine!

BlueBMW is a real pro when it comes to fixing stuff, and he's a swell fellow on top of that.

[FABombjoy]

I can add a few notes for your SSUB board map:

If the KOSUB board isn't added on to the SSUB, the same value cap (100uf 6v) is installed on SSUB, right where that blue wire is connected. Those SSUB boards seemed to have been changed but without incrementing the board revision, which not very Pioneer-like behavior. C110 is the new cap number.

Also on your map, C109 is the 1uf @ 50v, but to my eyes that still appears yellow.

Thanks for posting those, I've actually been working on maps of my own and hadn't confirmed the layout for DNP1550-A (B & C are identical layouts).