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LP12 Valhalla Board

S

samz

pfm Member
Are there any tell tale signs that the Valhalla Board may need servicing or replacing. I have had my LP12 for about 28yrs now and it is the original electronics.
Has anyone ever found that over time their LP12 performance was being compromised by an aging Valhalla board. I am not one for dismantling my LP12 to visually inspect so are there any tell tale signs other than the obvious which can be noticed.
Typically how long with the Valhalla Board work, I estimate that my LP12 has been in use for in excess of 10 thousand hours.
Thanks
 
Thanks David. I will consider getting the Valhalla board serviced or replaced with something better.
 
Many helpful posts so far.

I had one and it started showing signs of age by taking ages to get the platter up to speed.
 
Has it been switched off at the wall every time when not in use? if not then its been on for 28 years so will be on its last legs.
 
I knew when mine stopped working, it went with an bang and flash and that horrible burnt electrics smell. That was in mid 90's, I'd forgotten about it until I replaced the baseboard with a tramp2 recently and the old base still had the charred marks on it!
 
Mine, quite literally, went "BANG!!" - I took that as a convincing argument that it needed serviced.......
 
david ellwood said:
Don't wait for it to stop working
Click to expand...

+1 get it done now before it goes pop and possibly takes something else with it, this board operates at 240V in parts so switch or motor could get damaged or could cause a fire.
I did mine a while back the 3 main Electrolytic showed signs of leaking and are only rated for 250v so replace with 450v versions, the bridge rectifier pops and takes R1 with it so replace that with at least a 1000v version, replace all the small caps on the board like for like. Change any resistors that look burned, replace varistors. There are a couple of mods listed in the LP12 build manual depending on your version of the board. then test it before reconnecting

Alan
 
hp1 said:
Has it been switched off at the wall every time when not in use? if not then its been on for 28 years so will be on its last legs.
Click to expand...

Mine has been plugged in the wall since 1981 and works perfectly. Linn told me ( and they should know...) that the board was designed to be powered up, as are many electronic items, especially in broadcasting.
'Last legs ' is somewhat over the top...
 
Does anyone know if there have been any cases of death-by-Valhalla?

j7 said to me that I had a near-death experience with a badly wired one.

I didn't see God.
 
Oneandtwo said:
I knew when mine stopped working, it went with an bang and flash and that horrible burnt electrics smell. That was in mid 90's, I'd forgotten about it until I replaced the baseboard with a tramp2 recently and the old base still had the charred marks on it!
Click to expand...

That was a common fault back then and had nothing to do with age. It was a diode and resistor burning out, which took ten minutes to replace.
 
The caps start leaking, you'll see salt deposits around the ends of the cans. A 30 year old electrolytic could fail at any time. Just because one has survived, it doesn't mean much, nor does a failure of one mean a similarly aged example will necessarily fail in the next 12 months. As a guideline though, IME electrolytic caps made in the 70s/80s will generally fail after about 25 years. Maybe less, maybe more, but they won't last for ever. Whether you choose to fix it as a precaution or wait for it to go pop, which could be next week or in another 5+ years is up to you.
 
Do they die through use or just age ? The caps in my my Sugden A48II (1976) show no signs of swelling or anything like that. It works fine though it ´s total use is probably more like about 10 years in all but it´s age is considerably more.
 
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