New Red Tent owner with a lame question

sean138

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Apologies in advance for being such a noob. Just bought a Red Tent the other day. The primary side monitor does not work. Per the previous owner, he said both sides had cap replacements within the past year, and all it needs is a tube replacement.

I'm wondering though if it is only the tube or perhaps something else? I ask because the one side appears completely dead, not even sound. If it was just the tube shouldn't I expect to at least still have sound?

I know I'm coming in to this electronically-retarded, but I can generally follow instructions and learn things. So if anybody has any ideas they can toss at me I would appreciate it.
 
Apologies in advance for being such a noob. Just bought a Red Tent the other day. The primary side monitor does not work. Per the previous owner, he said both sides had cap replacements within the past year, and all it needs is a tube replacement.

I'm wondering though if it is only the tube or perhaps something else? I ask because the one side appears completely dead, not even sound. If it was just the tube shouldn't I expect to at least still have sound?

I know I'm coming in to this electronically-retarded, but I can generally follow instructions and learn things. So if anybody has any ideas they can toss at me I would appreciate it.

Is it plugged into the 100V transformer in the bottom of the cab? If it is, pull the plug, unplug the other monitor and plug the 'bad' monitor into the other receptacle for fun. Do this while the machine is off, then try and power it up again. Are the video and audio cables hooked up to the monitor chassis?
 
Is it plugged into the 100V transformer in the bottom of the cab? If it is, pull the plug, unplug the other monitor and plug the 'bad' monitor into the other receptacle for fun. Do this while the machine is off, then try and power it up again. Are the video and audio cables hooked up to the monitor chassis?

Both of the sockets on the transformer are good. Everything else is connected correctly. I cannot visually see any damage to any of the components on the monitor assembly.

I physically switched the the two monitors and the good one continued to work on the opposite side but now no sound, and the bad one continued to not work in the opposite side, but still with no sound.
 
IIRC, being a Nintendo monitor the sound is ran through the monitor chassis. If that is the case then my understanding is that if the monitor doesn't work on the one side you are going to get any sound from that side. I don't have any advice to fix the issue I just want to put that technical fact out there.
 
IIRC, being a Nintendo monitor the sound is ran through the monitor chassis. If that is the case then my understanding is that if the monitor doesn't work on the one side you are going to get any sound from that side. I don't have any advice to fix the issue I just want to put that technical fact out there.

But the tube has nothing to do with the sound. If the chassis was rebuilt, usually the sound amp board is also recapped. That is what is responsible for the sound. I have a feeling the fuse on the monitor is blown, or the flyback is blown or both. A bad tube has nothing to do with the sound. A bad chassis/soundboard does. Did you have sound on the good monitor before you switched? It sounds like one side of the board has a bad sound output in addition to the one monitor not working. Sounds like 2 separate issues.
 
I agree wit PhetishBoy. I'm not saying that the tube is causing the issues but chassis boards aren't always fixed with a cap kit. Something else can be wrong on the board other than caps. high voltage, flyback, etc, etc.
 
At this point i have the working monitor plugged in to the working speaker on the opposite side.

So I can confirm one speaker is bad and one monitor does not work.

The fuse is good. I swapped them and no change to anything.
 
The speaker isnt bad, the audio amp is on the monitor. Dead monitor = no sound.

No the speaker is bad, separate from the monitor issue. I have plugged the good monitor in to both speakers; only one works.
 
Have you double checked the PCB and made sure the games work on both sets? I've had a couple of problems with blank monitors when I started out that were actually due to a bad PCB or faults CPU or game ROMs. That includes sound to.
 
Test the hot on the chassis. Are both fuses on the chassis still good?


ok, when i previously mentioned swapping the fuse and the fuse being good. i had only noticed one fuse. i previously swapped the 3A fuse and that was ok.

Just now i swapped the 2.5A fuse (it was absent from the bad monitor to start with) and got quite a show! The speaker popped with sound for just a second and then there was a small burst of flame and smoke coming from (I think) the mass of copper strands on the back of the tube. Then everything went dead again and the 2.5A fuse was burned out afterwards.
 
Sounds like a flyback to me. One of my red tent monitors had the same thing happen.

super thanks for all the advice. i think that is a bit too big of a project for me right now. there is a shop in town i'm going to try and take it to for that.
 
super thanks for all the advice. i think that is a bit too big of a project for me right now. there is a shop in town i'm going to try and take it to for that.

you should probably look into sending the monitor pcbs to chad @ arcadecup.com. he's the source for replacement flybacks and will make sure everything is tip-top shape before returning...in other words, you'll get more bang for your buck.

I also bet some local klover would be willing to help you dismantle the monitors...
 
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