Just bought a new KSM-440 ADM

I trust those even less.

 

yeah my mistake was that i thought you were also taking about a 100X machine. :banghead:.

.richie

 

There is a guide here but I can't confirm it. http://dogbreath.de/PS1/LaserAlignment/Laser.html

But it's true that you may just need to properly calibrate it.

 

I think this won't work on my SCPH-5501...

 

Maybe not. According to some sources newer models, maybe the 5xxx series, should adjust automatically somewhat. But at the very least the laser assembly's ribbon has a pot on there which you could try boosting the power just a little bit, by lowering the resistance I believe. This might help, but you shouldn't go over board and you should use an ohms measuring device.

I'm not an expert on calibrating or fixing these lasers though. In my experience usually they work fine when I get them.

 

Thanks. I did change the resistance and it was a tiny bit better.

Are there suggested values?

 

I do not have any recommended values unfortunately. But be careful not to go too far. You can damage the laser permanently if you lower the resistance too much I believe. I wish I could find appropriate values but they might be out there somewhere. You could always trying adjusting it a little bit at a time and checking for improvement. If you move it and get no further improvement you should go back to higher resistance until you see a decrease in performance since you should want it to be "just enough" for solid performance.

Other things to keep in mind are the laser alignment relative to the disc surface, the laser should be level with it, hopefully that shouldn't be an issue though. There are some other adjustments that could be made but hopefully you'll get it working. Also it's a good idea to test retail discs and not just CD-Rs since the quality of CD-Rs varies wildly, but factory pressed PS1 discs are of high consistent quality.

 

the only value i know is 24mV for the laser-screw, but i dont know if that also works for a 5501 machine.

 

Maybe jinn knows?

Anyways, I haven't even gotten a response from richspsxparts.com :shrug:

 

Values vary, as no laser is the same.

Tweak until it works well.

 

I guess I'll do very very small decrements. The problem is that it's not as good as the original PSX (the potentiometer) and so it's harder to turn.

 

This isn't good... I haven't gotten a response from RichsPSXParts.com.

Tempted to do a charge-back since I sent him the drive.

 

I've sent him multiple emails about multiple parts he has, or more often doesn't, have in stock.

Never ONCE got a reply.

 

So does that mean I should just do a charge-back?

 

Do what you want, but my experience is that he isn't too interested in replying to a new potential customer - regardless of part status.

 

Done. I'm going to use this money to just buy a 5501. OH:

This is seriously a gamble because I really don't know what I'm going to really get.

 

Just looked at the ebay auctions it's pretty obvious they're all knockoffs- especially looking at the plastic on the grey decks.. somewhat curious how well these work as i'd rather stop butchering psone's for laser assemblies in my project cd changer psx's...

 

Yeah, I was fully aware that the drives were knockoffs. I had this idea in my head that they were just as good, if not better than the original ones.

 

The trim-potentiometer is located on the mainboard. The ribbon cable connects to CN702 and the pot is at RV703. It should not need adjusting though.

 

I managed to fit a laser from out of a 9002 unit into my 5502 (same as 5501), if you can find a donor PlayStation it's probably better to do it that way. The unit I grafted it from wasn't used that often and it's reading discs perfectly now as the spindle has no damage and the pots haven't been messed with.

I've had one bad experience after another trying to get them online, the three I bought were all defective due to it being an older system (no new parts), so the best bet is to just shop around local shops/car boot sales where they might have some PSXs and check out the laser assembly by eye.

Or get yourself a BAM laser assembly out of the PSOne, I believe with a little case trimming, they can be installed in the 550x series stations and work a lot better than the older 'Gray Station' lenses. This is what I plan on doing when my current lens starts showing signs of age, should be a good while before I have to consider this though at this rate.

EDIT: Just seen this pop up on the forum as well, might be of interest:
http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37121

Same model as yours, acquire the unit(s) and begin surgery...