There have been a number, a very high number, of people who have reported having problems with their ILO DVDR05 DVD RECORDERS. I was also having these same problems and could not figure out what was wrong until I took the cover off of the recorder. I had a JENPO 400v 47uf capacitor that had leaked. I replaced this capacitor and it is working like new. I found the following info (from as far back as 2003) on the internet that I think answers why so many of these recorders have failed- The author of the Toronto Star article* stated that, the faulty capacitors are suspected to have been rooted in the theft of an aqueous electrolyte formula which was not copied correctly. If you were to open up a capacitor you would find thin sheets of paper and metal rolled up together. The entire assembly is then wetted with an aqueous electrolyte solution. However, if the formula is not correctly mixed up, hydrogen gas can apparently build up in the aluminum can with time. The gas causes the hermetically sealed aluminum cans to burst, or partially blow out the rubber end cap. If electrolytic capacitors "dry out" they won't work properly, and that can cause problems with the computer which can be very difficult to figure out. I found this article at: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195 Luckily for most of us it is just an inexpensive recorder. This article was directed at PC owners who were having problems. But, capacitors are in just about every electronic device and evidently these faulty capacitors are showing up in more and more electronic equipment. (There are other articles on this that I have come across and also lawsuits that have been tried or are going to trial to have these capacitors replaced and equipment repaired at the very least.)
where can i get one of those? radio shack? do i just plug it in or have someone soder it? my ilo dvdr5 won't power up and has been boxed up for 8 months.
You may be able to find the capacitors at Radio Shack, but I didn't have any luck in my area. They carry capacitors, but just didn't have the right size. You state that you are having a power problem? Have you taken the back off of your DVD player to see if you have a leaking or bloated capacitor? If you are not getting power you may have a different problem. Sometimes the capacitor problem will generate a high pitched whine, but if you aren't getting any juice there are other things that you may want to isolate first. Let's take this one step at a time and maybe we can figure it out. Take the back off of your recorder and get back to me. I will be looking for you post.
thank you and sorry about the late response. my ilo 5 worked for 4 months, then would not power up. Sometimes i held a button for 10 seconds and it would turn on but even that does not work. i spend many months trying to contact ilo support but they would not answer the phone, eventually it was disconnected. Frankly, i have spent a thousand dollars worth of energy dealing with this piece of junk and am ready to move on and write it up to experience...never buy cheap stuff from unkown companies. i have a panasonic es15 that works perfect. i also got a digital cable dvr and record onto the panasonic. i bought a phillips hdd and a rca hdd last week but am returning them both, the rca has awful quality, the phillips is very user unfriendly. i did not open the ilo unit cause it said it would void the warranty and at that time i was still hoping of getting it fixed. i will open it up and look at it and see if anything looks funny, but unless it is a quick fix i don't want to spend anymore energy on this. i am gonna write a letter to walmart headquarters and take it and the ilo to walmart and give it to the manager and tell him it has been a nightmare and he can have the piece of junk and use it as a paperweight.
You couldn't get ahold of the manufacturer because they are no longer in business. As for contacting Walmart, good luck with that. If you would have done so immediately after the four months (to a year I have heard in some instances) you may have gotten some satisfaction. Walmart is well aware of the problems and issues. Believe me you and I are not even close to being the only ones with issues with this machine. I just got lucky and was able to resolve the problems that I had. I too bought a Panasonic DVD recorder that I have connected to our entertainment center set up in our family room, the ILO is now resigned to my bedroom. It just kept me from having to buy another DVD recorder to record on when my daugthers and grandchildren take over the family room equipment. From what you have said in the last response it may not be an issue with a capacitor. Either way there will be more work involved and if you don't feel like dealing with it, then it may not be worth it. I just enjoy working with my hands and fixing electronics (when I can), because I make a living working from home sitting at a computer all day long and it is just a nice change of pace. If it is a capacitor and you would like to learn something new give me a holler, I walked my daughter through this with mine, but she enjoys this kind of thing. The cost of equipment to do this will be around 20-25.00. Then the cost of the capacitor, which if you can find it at a Radio Shack will only be a 1.00 or 2. (Yeah, all of the hassle for a 2.00 part.)
