Power supply and Monitor Issues. Help!!!

ManiN

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First post ever... Dig this forum so far!

I recently acquired a Burgertime cab with a Big Event Golf conversion as my entry into arcade restoration.

Problem 1: The game had monitor issues when I first tested the unit. The screen showed mostly red and blue colors and not much else, so it was impossible to play though the screen looked centered and still. I started twisting and turning knobs on the monitor to see if I could adjust it, but quickly realized something had to be damaged or dead. The monitor looks as though it was found in an alley, but the rest of the cab looks great. I can tell someone put a cap kit on it not that long ago too. I discharged and removed the monitor, and repaired a sloppy info cable to the monitor (colors etc…). The colors are now mostly green and nothing else and extremely out of adjustment. I could barely get it to stay still in the middle of the screen without looking like an oscilloscope. It's a Wells 19k4500. Money is tight lately as there are threats of layoffs at work soon, so I'd like to repair it rather than drop a bunch of money on a new or used one. I downloaded the schematic, but nothing else seems to be available.

Problem 2: The switching power supply (Peter Chou) seems to come on when it pleases. It looks brand new, absolutely no sign of dust etc... It shows 115V across the two 115V terminals, and when it comes on it stays and works fine supplying power at the proper levels i.e. 5v, -5v, 12v and so on until I switch the unit off, then back on and it won't come on. It's hard to trouble shoot the monitor when this happens. Does it mean it's bad, or is there a fix? My first thought was that the PS may have an onboard breaker that resets when it cools down indicating a short, but I don't think this is the case when it will work sometimes and allow game play etc.

I'm thankful for any help you guys can provide!
 
The monitor needs to be recapped to start with, but the bigger problem is the power supply issue.

Chase down the wiring for the 115vac lines that are supplying power to the switcher, and verify that there isn't a flakey fuse inline someplace.
 
The monitor needs to be recapped to start with, but the bigger problem is the power supply issue.

Chase down the wiring for the 115vac lines that are supplying power to the switcher, and verify that there isn't a flakey fuse inline someplace.

I checked power on the terminals of the power supply and power seemed to be fine even though the supply LED was not illuminated. Is there a good way to bench test it? Does the power supply only require the two 115VAC lines to operate? A reading across those two terminals shows 115VAC, so it 'seems' fine, but maybe I'm not taking my reading properly i.e. one lead should be somewhere else and one on a 115VAC terminal?

So you think the monitor needs a cap kit? I'd love to share a pic of the defunked screen, but couldn't take one after the power supply shut down last. What's the likelyhood of needing to adjust more intense settings like convergence etc. ?
 
I'd be looking for Burgertime parts to convert the game back to original if the cab is in that good of shape.
 
I'd be looking for Burgertime parts to convert the game back to original if the cab is in that good of shape.

That is what I'd like to do eventually. I like Burgertime, is it pretty sought after? A local guy has an NOS CPO and want's like $25, sound fair? As of now it's mostly a cab if both the monitor and PS are gone...
 
The power supply requires a 5vdc load, or it will fail from what I recall. You are taking the input readings correctly.

The power supply has a fuse in it, and may have a flakey connection there. Open it up and change the fuse to see if it helps.

The adjustments that you are making to the monitor are useless at this point. I wouldn't adjust anything furhter until you recap the monitor.
 
The power supply requires a 5vdc load, or it will fail from what I recall. You are taking the input readings correctly.

The power supply has a fuse in it, and may have a flakey connection there. Open it up and change the fuse to see if it helps.

The adjustments that you are making to the monitor are useless at this point. I wouldn't adjust anything furhter until you recap the monitor.

Ok, so do you think I can put the coin door light circuit back on for a load a nothing else, and that may stand as a test? I'll look into the fuse issue, that'd be great if it were that simple.

As far as the monitor, I think I'll clean everything up with some electrical cleaner and do a cap kit at the same time. If that works, the only suck would be the Galaxian burn-in, but I'm fine with that for a working monitor.

I appreciate the quite replies!
 
If your power supply is a genuine "Peter Chou" late model with the screw terminal strip:

With power cord to the machine unplugged, carefully tag each wire on the terminal strip and disconnect the wires from the terminal strip. Now unbolt the power supply from the machine and bring it over to the workbench to inspect it under good strong light.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered directly to the board, you may simply have bad solder joints and you just need to resolder the terminal strip.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered to short lengths of wire and the ends of those wires are soldered to the board then you have an older model. The terminal strip of this version is ok.

In general, "intermittent operation" or "intermittent startup" of Peter Chou power supplies can be traced to any of these problems:

1) Bad solder joints at the two switching transistors and the big, main switching transformer.

2) Directly next to the two very large black main filter capacitors are a pair of 100k half watt resistors. These resistors are there to bleed off the full charge of those two main filter capacitors. Quite frequently one or both of these resistors will go "open" which leaves the main filter capacitors FULLY CHARGED (about 150 volts DC) even with the power input to the power supply disconnected! A common 60 watt incandescent house light bulb connected across the capacitor's terminals will safely discharge the capacitor

Here's a simple test you can do to see if these resistors are the problem. With the power supply circuit board removed from the case and setting on some kind of insulated material like a dry board/wood, cardboard, etc. carefully connect AC power to the AC power input terminals on the power supply. Apply power for just a few seconds and then remove power. Quickly take your multi meter (set to read up to 200 volts DC) and measure the voltage across the terminals of each of the two main filter capacitors. If the voltage drops to zero
in about 30 seconds, the 100k resistor across that capacitor is good. If the voltage stays at roughly 100 to 150 volts then the resistor is open and should be replaced. Radio Shack carries these resistors as part # 271-1131.

3) Bad electrolytic capacitors.


Please note that genuine Peter Chou screw terminal power supplies do NOT need a load to test/operate. However, the Peter Chou XT computer style power supply DOES NEED A LOAD CONNECTED.
 
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If your power supply is a genuine "Peter Chou" late model with the screw terminal strip:

With power cord to the machine unplugged, carefully tag each wire on the terminal strip and disconnect the wires from the terminal strip. Now unbolt the power supply from the machine and bring it over to the workbench to inspect it under good strong light.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered directly to the board, you may simply have bad solder joints and you just need to resolder the terminal strip.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered to short lengths of wire and the ends of those wires are soldered to the board then you have an older model. The terminal strip of this version is ok.

In general, "intermittent operation" or "intermittent startup" of Peter Chou power supplies can be traced to any of these problems:

1) Bad solder joints at the two switching transistors and the big, main switching transformer.

2) Directly next to the two very large black main filter capacitors are a pair of 100k half watt resistors. These resistors are there to bleed off the full charge of those two main filter capacitors. Quite frequently one or both of these resistors will go "open" which leaves the main filter capacitors FULLY CHARGED (about 150 volts DC) even with the power input to the power supply disconnected! A common 60 watt incandescent house light bulb connected across the capacitor's terminals will safely discharge the capacitor

Here's a simple test you can do to see if these resistors are the problem. With the power supply circuit board removed from the case and setting on some kind of insulated material like a dry board/wood, cardboard, etc. carefully connect AC power to the AC power input terminals on the power supply. Apply power for just a few seconds and then remove power. Quickly take your multi meter (set to read up to 200 volts DC) and measure the voltage across the terminals of each of the two main filter capacitors. If the voltage drops to zero
in about 30 seconds, the 100k resistor across that capacitor is good. If the voltage stays at roughly 100 to 150 volts then the resistor is open and should be replaced. Radio Shack carries these resistors as part # 271-1131.

3) Bad electrolytic capacitors.


Please note that genuine Peter Chou screw terminal power supplies do NOT need a load to test/operate. However, the Peter Chou XT computer style power supply DOES NEED A LOAD CONNECTED.

Alright, I'll look into those possibilities. It's the Peter Chou screw terminal type by the way. Once I get the PS up and running I'll post pics of the screen to see any thoughts on what it may be. I am hesitant to put a ton of time into a garbage monitor...

Thanks again for the great responses!
 
If your power supply is a genuine "Peter Chou" late model with the screw terminal strip:

With power cord to the machine unplugged, carefully tag each wire on the terminal strip and disconnect the wires from the terminal strip. Now unbolt the power supply from the machine and bring it over to the workbench to inspect it under good strong light.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered directly to the board, you may simply have bad solder joints and you just need to resolder the terminal strip.

If yours has the terminal strip soldered to short lengths of wire and the ends of those wires are soldered to the board then you have an older model. The terminal strip of this version is ok.

In general, "intermittent operation" or "intermittent startup" of Peter Chou power supplies can be traced to any of these problems:

1) Bad solder joints at the two switching transistors and the big, main switching transformer.

2) Directly next to the two very large black main filter capacitors are a pair of 100k half watt resistors. These resistors are there to bleed off the full charge of those two main filter capacitors. Quite frequently one or both of these resistors will go "open" which leaves the main filter capacitors FULLY CHARGED (about 150 volts DC) even with the power input to the power supply disconnected! A common 60 watt incandescent house light bulb connected across the capacitor's terminals will safely discharge the capacitor

Here's a simple test you can do to see if these resistors are the problem. With the power supply circuit board removed from the case and setting on some kind of insulated material like a dry board/wood, cardboard, etc. carefully connect AC power to the AC power input terminals on the power supply. Apply power for just a few seconds and then remove power. Quickly take your multi meter (set to read up to 200 volts DC) and measure the voltage across the terminals of each of the two main filter capacitors. If the voltage drops to zero
in about 30 seconds, the 100k resistor across that capacitor is good. If the voltage stays at roughly 100 to 150 volts then the resistor is open and should be replaced. Radio Shack carries these resistors as part # 271-1131.

3) Bad electrolytic capacitors.


Please note that genuine Peter Chou screw terminal power supplies do NOT need a load to test/operate. However, the Peter Chou XT computer style power supply DOES NEED A LOAD CONNECTED.

I opened up the PS and looked at contacts and any other loose soldering. Everything looked fine, but I did see signs of water. There were water marks as though it got sprayed at some point by water and left to dry. Some rusting was seen in minor spots, but nothing crazy. I still looked into the resistors on the large capacitors. They both held a charge and discharged over roughly a minute to a minute and a half slowing way down at around 40V but still going down to zero eventually. I took a reading across both resistors to see what resistance they would read and found it difficult. By the color code, they should be 150K's, but were reading funny numbers that were very instable. I'll look at measuring them again. To test my meter I tested other resisters with a steady reading, but some were like the 150's were they seemed very unstable readings. Is this the case on an 'open' resistor?

Thanks.

Also, who's the better parts distributer to go with? Is it Bob Roberts?
 
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