They pulled a fast one on you. I looked at the diagram, they produce the bias voltage for "all" of the opamps on the internal mic preamp board. Take off the board and voila, no bias voltages for the external opamps. The funny thing is, is that they go through all of the trouble to put in dc switching fets for the opamps power source! Full diagram is here, elektrotanya.com/sony_nex-vg30e_eh_h_level3.pdf/download.html. The level 3 diagram is the full manual, the level 2 manual is the exploded views of the camcorder. Hope that helps. Sean

Planned obsolescence didn't account for Dave's persistence. xD

If all else fails just take the preamp board out of the mic head and mount it so its still connected where it broke off.

Note to self, don’t break microphone off... got it.

This obviously wasn't a design decision, it would've been a design requirement from management. If anything can break on the product, it has to be catastrophic and make the product no longer able to be used without either paying an extortionate price for repair, or paying for a complete replacement. My suggestion would be to find out what that top assembly is called and see if you can source a replacement from someone in your audience. Surely someone works for Sony or somewhere in the supply chain or an authorised repairer or something, and could send you a replacement part. It looks like the microphone head is detachable, and all your electronics are still working, so you'd only need the shell part that attaches to the camera body. Otherwise you could set up an eBay saved search and hope someone puts up a faulty unit for cheap to scavenge parts from.

aw, that metal cage around mics isnt even tied into frame of camera.

In an alternate universe where they actually DID design that mic section to be detachable, you'd be making this same video and pointing at it, going "look at this. they knew the mic was rubbish and it would break off, that's why they made it totally detachable and even the external audio still works without it."

love how there is a metal grid around the mic... it doesn't hang on anything but a plastic handle.

So your saying your camera went "BOOM". Excellent save captain! You're hired. 👍😎

Rip the mic-board out and glob it in the place of the microphone with hotglue

7:30 You could print a case for just that board and attach only that

Sounds like a car accident takes place in the background at 5:12. Caught me by surprise when you were testing the mic.

IC7601IC bBA4580RFVM-TR. in GP-1010 BOARD is the external preamplifier but want power from the internal mic board

You did a nice repair job. Is it easy to remove the viewfinder of the VG30 and will the cam work properly without it? I want to demount that protruding part because I don't need it and it is interfering with my gimbal. Thank's in advance for your valued reply.

the front fell off

Don't know if it's available in Australia but Rectoseal two-part EP-200 Epoxy Putty might be something to consider if the single screw doesn't work out; it's strong enough to machine once it sets up.

You could just take the little board out & shove it inside the camera.

Can DIY additional metal brackets to further tie metal parts together using existing screw locations. Can source metal from dumpster pc cases for example. Some accuracy required though, and I doubt Dave can achieve that.

On the other side of the propriety shoe was a metal bracket on the opposite side of where you put the screw. Just put a cable tie to the mic or a copper wire so that side is held fast.

Get yourself some industrial 2-part structural adhesive like 3M Scotchweld or Loctite EA9460 Hysol, and that mic module will NOT come off again.

What about JB weld? If you don't plan on using the internal mic anymore, could you remove the board from the heavy surround and epoxy it under where it broke or somewhere? It looks like the ribbon would be long enough. Try disconnecting the four small ribbons first and see if your rode will work that way. The camera's still pretty pricey so I think it's worth saving. Thanks Dave

I wouldn't know if it's available in Austraila or not, but you could try JB-Weld Original. Project Farm did a comparison of several different epxoies, and it kinda does live up to it's reputation in the US. One of those if that doesn't work, nothing is going to

why do people think epoxy is such a great adhesive? It is actually quite a poor adhesive as it mainly holds by mechanical locking, i.e. the surfaces have to be rough and irregular for epoxy to hold. Smooth surfaces and other low-activity materials won't stick.. You're far better off with toughened cyanoacrylates or urethane adhesives in most cases.

Use some 3M DP460 epoxy for those tough ass repairs. That stuff is the ducks guts but a bit pricey. Plus it is not conductive.

Why not just JB weld or epoxy a bracing bar or 2 to the BOTTOM of the Mic that extends all the way to the support arm (call it a leg that extends from the body of the camera on up)? Literally something on the bottom of the Mic assembly on back to prop/support it up. When I saw the original fix video, I knew it was only a matter of time before the repair failed.

How about lose the hot shoe complete with board, if the camera will operate without it, and then fold that mic board over into it's place, isolated with some kapton tape. That provided the shotgun mic will work off the back cold shoe, and then the front hole can be covered with some tape on the inside, and a thin black sheet stuck to it to cover the hole up. Likely the board in the mic is the opamps for the microphones in the head, and the 2 small chips are a matrix that allows the external mic to be selected or the front or rear pairs, or mix them all. 8 pins, 2 power and ground, then 3 audio inputs and one audio output and the remaining 2 are for some I2C control bus to drive them.

What if you use one of the mic that use the Sony hot shoe

I frankly see that you can save the original mic, regardless of the casing being something like magnesium, 1st get some common superglue this has to be the liquid type and NOT the gel type, forgo epoxy, as it wont provide same results, plus, epoxy can create on the user a allergy, so skip it by all means, soooo as I was saying you need superglue, I suggest looking for Kola Loca and then get some bicarbonate, yet if extra toughness is desired, later, you could get some cotton, ok so 1st step clean the surface, and remove the old epoxy junk, leave the metal or plastic as pristine as possible, then join the broken parts, where possible ad a little drop of the glue and before it dries and some bicarbonate, this mix will create a super hard mix that resembles hard plastic, if you want after you have finished closing all the gaps with the method suggested, then you could go the extra mile and rap the thing with strands of cotton or some similar fiber, then to that you add a few drops of glue with the bicarbonate, and you will end up with a thing that is probably better than the original, paint it black and forget about it....by the way add something like soft rubber foam, sort of like a car bumper so that when you drop it it is not metal hitting hard floor

He already fixed it, no point in globbing stuff on or printing whatever.

Use baking soda + super glue, it will be stone hard, those epoxies are garbage.

bugga!.. how many times has that thing been teared down now?!

I was going to say, havent you fixed that mic before.

The internal mic assembly does not score beauty points with me.

It's all about Greed. If they really wanted it to function without the built-in mic then they would have put that mystery chip on the main board.

Things arent built to use anymore theyre built to sell

You used the "B" word in the title, demonetized !

That design is really stupid. If it was an Apple product I would call it a malicious intent (so that people would have to go for repairs back to Apple) but it's a Sony, not known for such bullcrap... Strange

It's planned obsolescence. They figure if you break it, you either send it in for repair of buy a new camera. They make money either way. Unfortunately they don't really care to give you a back-up plan in case you break it.

3D Print a replacement case.

5 layer duck tape that crap on the cam and your done.

You should have used Sugru the first time. JK

Epoxy on metal and plastic is Crap.

Just glue & tape the shit out of it & she will be right.

Thats crap from #sony

Do you have some facts or just throwing theories?