Dead DDR - Looking for tips

yugffuts

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So, I get my 'working' DDR home, and finally got a chance to fire it up, and of course, it doesn't. Throw the power, nothing at all. Hoping for a simple fix, I confirmed the rear on/off was in the ON position AND the power switch inside the coin door was also in the ON position. Still nothing. I looked at the interlock, and it was rigged by the previous owner, but the button was certainly pressed in. Still nothing.

I tried to look at the power supply, but it's not your standard block & fuses, so I'm not sure how to approach it. It did appear dusty, but how would I get inside it to clean? It's all encased in a silver box.

[EDIT] Then I focused on the Circuit Protector, which was popped up. I press the button back in, but it doesn't hold - just pops right back. Is this a replaceable component? Or is it popping back indicative of a different problem? Obviously, while playing with this switch all power was off. [/EDIT]

At this point, I'm looking at the power cord itself, the interlock switch, the Circuit Protector and the power supply as potential culprits (Circuit Protector the most likely). I'm looking for advice to rule any/all of them out as I proceed to bring this thing back to life.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
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Bump. Hoping for some advice before I call Betson for a service quote...
 
Dont bother with Betson.... No offense to them as I used to work for them but they will just hammer out some 10 hour excuse to get some labor billed.

I'd start by dissconecting EVERYTHING thats connected to 120VAC. Also depending on your cab you might have a step-up transformer in the machine that bumps the 110VAC to 220VAC for things like fans, power supplies, light fixtures, the monitor and so on...

Once you have all of that dsiconnected depress the breaker and see what it does. If it stays closed then power the machine down and plug ONE thing back in at a time and power it back up until it pops again. Thats going to be your place to start looking.

I'm sure we can get this thing working again.

FWIW, I had a Korean cab that had a bad 220VAC light fixture in it that would blow the 5AMP fuse after several days of being powered up.
 
Thanks. I unplugged everything from the power supply, and the circuit protector still would not hold closed. So, I pulled the PS out completely. I opened it up, and there are no caps obviously blown & no burnt connectors. Really no fuses to speak of, either. I saw 4, but they weren't in fuse holders; they were soldered directly to the boards. There was some dust, which I cleaned out, but not such that it should have caused a problem.

Anyway, I pulled the circuit protector completely, and it won't hold closed even by itself, so I plan to replace it. The question is, once replaced, should I hook everything up and go for it? Or would it be smarter to plug things in slowly? I guess the question is, "is it more likely that something failed and broke the CP, or that the CP just failed on it's own"?

Thanks.
 
If thats an overseas DDR then the cab is at least 15 years old. I suppose theres a chance that the breaker just failed and thats that. Still, I would plug one thing in at a time once I get the breaker installed just to make sure everything is good.
 
I've never heard of a breaker actually outright failing as a result of overload. Replace the CP and try it again; of course, make sure it's the same amperage rating and at least 120V. (Probably should go 240 to be safe.)

If you're really concerned, just wire up an equivalent fuse for testing, and swap in the new CP if it doesn't blow.
 
I've never heard of a breaker actually outright failing as a result of overload.

I have, lots of times. One of them was a breaker at an amusement park (I know totally different but still a breaker). It was an 800 AMP breaker that tripped because of moisture and couldnt be reset. Can you imagine an amusement park dead on a Saturday in the middle of summer?? Ugh...
 
I have, lots of times. One of them was a breaker at an amusement park (I know totally different but still a breaker). It was an 800 AMP breaker that tripped because of moisture and couldnt be reset. Can you imagine an amusement park dead on a Saturday in the middle of summer?? Ugh...

I said "outright failing as a result of overload". Breakers fail for plenty of reasons, but you can't blow a breaker by overloading it, i.e. if the breaker trips and won't reset even with power removed, it was bad before it popped.

I guess it's kinda semantics, but eh.
 
I've seen it happen. The example I used wasnt a good one but there have been times where I've seen breakers pop thanks to an overload and never work again.
 
I've seen it happen. The example I used wasnt a good one but there have been times where I've seen breakers pop thanks to an overload and never work again.

Thanks for keeping my thread going :)

I got my replacement CP today, popped it in, and still nothing. I swapped out the power cord (standard PC type), and it showed signs of life. I haven't fired it all the wayp up yet, tho...waiting for it to warm up a bit. Not sure if the CP was actually bad, or if it was the cord the whole time? But, I feel pretty stupid for not trying that earlier.
 
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