Panasonic ES10 .. weird noises @ 4am each day

[lordsmurf]

Every day I am up at 4 a.m., this Panasonic ES10 starts to make weird noises. It almost sounds like springs are coming off something, or rubber bands slapping against a desk.

This thing is odd. I have no idea what it's doing. I hope it's not falling apart already.

[terster]

Hello,

I have 3 of these units and EACH ONE does the same thing... at 4am. It is really annoying because it wakes people up.

Anyone else?

Has anyone heard of a solution to fix this?

We really didn't notice this until about a month ago but it now seems to be getting louder each night.

Thanks!

[tdan]

I read somewhere else that these units wake up at 4am to do "maintenance". Is this a hard drive unit?

Maybe it's defragging itself.

[jlietz]

Every day I am up at 4 a.m., this Panasonic ES10 starts to make weird noises.

Has anyone heard of a solution to fix this?

Exorcsim?

[handyguy]

I'm surprised you bought a Panasonic LS....

I have one, but being Deaf, I just can't hear it.

[Marvingj]

It could be a D to a converter or an op amp IC, or even as simple as a filter cap. Good Luck

[usually_quiet]

The manual (pages 32 & 39) for the ES10 says the unit will turn itself on for a few minutes at 4:00 AM to do “maintenance” when set to “quick start” mode for RAM recordings (the default setting). That is likely to be what you hear. Why it’s noisier now, I can’t say. I don’t use RAM disks much or need “quick start”, so I turned it off to save power and hopefully reduce internal heating a little. Try changing that setting and see what happens.

However, i'ts possible that when it’s set to “auto time/date” the ES10 may also turn itself on to check the time, although the manual says nothing about this, and I am not in the same room with it at 4:00 AM to see/hear it happen.

One evening, a month ago, I went to bed with every clock in the house showing the correct time, and the next morning, the Panny and both VCR’s all had clocks reset to 5 hours earlier than the actual time. There was no sign of a power failure elsewhere, so I’m theorizing that they check the time and date every day during the wee hours. (The signal from my local PBS station is used to auto set time/date, and it was sending the wrong time for a day or so. I had to set the time/date function to “manual” to fix the problem, until the time in the signal was corrected.)

[terster]

Hello. You are correct. I called Panasonic and got someone who knew right away what the problem was... it was the "quickstart" which needs to be turned off. I also found it referenced on page 32 of the manual... said right there... at 4am it does a maintenance self check.

I'm glad i found this because i have 3 of these units and all 3 did this.

The only strange thing.. the unit never did "turn on". I've sat here at 4am watching.... the lights never came on, no indication that anything was happening other than the noises.

Thanks again for all your help!

[lordsmurf]

Hahaha.... almost two years later this thread gets a post.