VPI SDS capacitor question


I saw the following statement from Stringreen in another thread:
"If however, you do decide to get the Classic, be sure you tell VPI you have and want to use your SDS. There is a capacitor in the motor circuit that has to be changed."

Can Stringreen, or anyone else, address this? I have the SDS and the Classic and this is news to me.
actusreus

Showing 3 responses by jerico

This is true. I have a Classic and got an SDS a couple of months go. VPI said there's a capacitor inside the Classic that "fools" the SDS into not "seeing" the Classic properly (I can't explain the technicals of that). Basically it causes the SDS not to give the motor enough juice to start up. I usually had to give the platter a little push on SDS startup because of this.

VPI, or your dealer, can send you the cap. It's really easy to swap, and then the SDS will work properly.
This is the message I got from Mike at VPI about the cap:

"Your Classic has a 600 RPM motor that  uses a .5 microfarad capacitor to start, when using the SDS you really need to change that cap to a .68 otherwise the SDS is fooled into thinking there is nothing there."

To the OP - you wrote that you have the Classic and SDS already. Do you not have that startup issue (where sometimes the motor doesn't run at the higher initial voltage long enough to get the platter moving before it drops to the lower voltage)?
It was bugging the heck out of me so I did the swap, but I don't think lack of that cap alters performance otherwise.