Well, I was tinkering around with my ASR33 today, and
I must have supplied a little too much loop current to
it, because it stopped running open. Normally, if
nothing is connected to it, it rattles away, printing
nothing. I had found in the past that if I connected
the RX lines together, it stopped, and I was trying to
supply it with a current so I could interface it to
something, and it stopped rattling, and removing the
current didn't make it go back to rattling. When you
unplug it, it rattles a couple times as it loses
power.
I immediately assumed that I must have blown up one of
the probably two or thee transistors in the entire
device, so I pulled out the selector magnet driver
card to have a look. The diode at the bottom of the
card, CR2, is cracked apart! Also, I am noticing that
R7 at the top of the card has managed to unsolder
itself due to the heat it generates.
What is a suitable replacement for CR2? It's hard to
read seeming as though it is missing a chunk. CR1
looks to be the same - but I read it as a 1N4smudge3,
which is rather hard to cross reference. I found the
schematic in the manual, but not a parts list. I'll
keep looking, but I figured I would ask the experts
here.
Unless this was some kind of coincidence, I think I
need to double check my 20ma power supply.
Thanks!
-Ian