Philips NMS1515 tape recorder

Supporter (16)

11-06-2016, 19:58

Hey guys,

I'm wondering if my datarecorder is broken. Hope this is not a stupid question, but here goes. The official 9Volt DC adapter that came with it got lost somewhere at my parents house (Im still superglad they saved all the other MSX stuff) so I bought two 9 volt DC adapters to try my tape recorder.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong here but it doesn't do anything, no fast forwarding rewinding. When I type RUN"CAS:"and press play also nothing happens. tape recorder cable (the DIN) from msx to the tape recorder should work properly cause I can plug the White pin in my laptop and play a WAV file and it gets recognized.

Anyone has any clue what to do about this or do you think its just dead. I can make pics/video or whatever if it helps.

By enribar

Paragon (1224)

11-06-2016, 20:41

9V DC is ok, but you have to check the polarity.
So buy a universal power adapter, it allows to select polarity +/-.

By MickAri

Supporter (16)

11-06-2016, 20:49

hmm is it possible i've ruined the tape recorder if it didn't have the right polarity? I know the polarity is shown on one of the adapters (it says - C + so that would mean it's a plus one).
So I also found this other adapter which has the "C" open to the -, is it safe just to try different ones out?
Thanks for your help

By Louthrax

Prophet (2496)

12-06-2016, 00:23

Hi MickAri, and welcome here
Does the tape recorder work when only the power cable is plugged ?

By MickAri

Supporter (16)

12-06-2016, 00:39

Hey Louthrax thank you I feel welcome (kinda like why didn't I get back into MSX earlier haha)

well the power cables i tried have a + polarity it seems (sorry im a complete N00b in this)

Those above didn't do a single thing. No control of the tape recorder whether it be fast forward rewind play etc (also without connecting to my MSX).

I did not try this one yet:

I'm just afraid I break it or have broken it

PS sorry for the large images

By Louthrax

Prophet (2496)

12-06-2016, 00:43

I have the same NMs 1515 recorder here, let me check the polarity before trying something !

By Louthrax

Prophet (2496)

12-06-2016, 00:57

Just check with a voltmeter: the positive is on the outer shell. So you should use the NA-720 adapter !

By MickAri

Supporter (16)

12-06-2016, 11:58

Thanks a lot Louthrax!I will try it with the NA-720 when I'm back home tonight and let you know

By Wild_Penguin

Hero (644)

12-06-2016, 12:38

It is very probable that using a wrong polarity voltage will blow up a regulator (or something else)!

Been there, done that ... also replaced the regulator afterwards (although it was not an MSX tape recorder).

Lesson learned: always check the needed polarity somehow. Don't guess!

By MickAri

Supporter (16)

12-06-2016, 22:52

Louthrax wrote:

Just check with a voltmeter: the positive is on the outer shell. So you should use the NA-720 adapter !

Louthrax thank you so much! The tape recorder works perfectly (thank god, I was so afriad I already broke it.
So thank you guys for checking for me and helping me out

By Louthrax

Prophet (2496)

12-06-2016, 23:09

You're welcome. I already inverted polarity several times on different devices but only fried a single one (a capacitor exploded with lots of smoke!), guess I've been lucky.