I found this mini CRT inside a JVC GR-AX11E camera I bought at a flea market.
Was a little reluctant to buy it (since I already have many other JVC GR-AX cameras that I either took apart, or that I will). Since the seller had a decent small price on it, I decided to buy it anyway.
Camera
Camera was working fine (when powered with an external power supply), thus, I was able to also eject the tape that it came with. Sometimes screws are covered by the tape cover, and it is hard to dismantle the camera without Ejecting the tape first.
Given that the CRT was working, the frustrating news is the flat cable connector – it makes it hard to test the Electronic View Finder unit. I do prefer not to solder on the EVF board if possible – for the sake of preserving it as pristine as possible.
Camera board was clean – I could not see any bodges. The date codes on the plastic panels of the body indicate June 1998 as date. I was also able to salvage a flat cable connector – not the one where it was actually plugged, but a vertically connected one – that would be a little easier for me to solder wires to. You will see below.
mini CRT
The CRT was tiny (and a little dirty). EVF unit is driven by BA7149F IC and finding the signal pins was easy – GND is connected to the external shield of the Flyback Transformer, VCC is connected directly to some Flyback transformer pins – and a little bit of trial and error for the Video IN signal.
The most difficult was soldering at this level since I do not have a microscope that I could use for micro soldering. But with enough patience …
A fun camera – easy to open, easy to test – and except the micro soldering without microscope, everything turned up alright.
Leave a Reply