Roadblasters blowing fuses

K3587

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Donor 5 years: 2013-2017
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Mar 27, 2013
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Odessa, Texas
Bought a Roadblasters completely missing its ARIII. Bought an untested replacement and installed it, to find the power brick was completely dead. I swapped it with the brick from a Crystal Castles I had scrapped, and fired it up. Success! Game came up and the monitor looked great! I shut it off and secured the ARIII to the side (I had just plugged it in to test) and fired it back up to test controls, but it wouldn't come on. Checked all my connections and everything, and nothing. Decided to rebuild the ARIII. Now it blows the two 4 amp fuses on the brick.

I've checked and rechecked and triple checked every component I replaced. Every cap is in correctly. Transistors are installed correctly, as well as the 3055's. I've checked every trace, reflowed the solder on the connectors. They blow even when the ARIII is not connected to the main PCB. HALP
 
Power off and unplug game. Now take a ohm meter and ohm out AC wiring (white to black) should not see anything but OL or infinite resistance ance. If resistance is there try the interlock switch and any other switch. Post pics of wiring from line filter destribution block. You may have a piece of metal under a board/fuses at bottom of cab. Think about what was moved/changed from working to non working.


Bought a Roadblasters completely missing its ARIII. Bought an untested replacement and installed it, to find the power brick was completely dead. I swapped it with the brick from a Crystal Castles I had scrapped, and fired it up. Success! Game came up and the monitor looked great! I shut it off and secured the ARIII to the side (I had just plugged it in to test) and fired it back up to test controls, but it wouldn't come on. Checked all my connections and everything, and nothing. Decided to rebuild the ARIII. Now it blows the two 4 amp fuses on the brick.

I've checked and rechecked and triple checked every component I replaced. Every cap is in correctly. Transistors are installed correctly, as well as the 3055's. I've checked every trace, reflowed the solder on the connectors. They blow even when the ARIII is not connected to the main PCB. HALP
 
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Power off and unplug game. Now take a ohm meter and ohm out AC wiring (white to black) should not see anything but OL or infinite resistance ance. If resistance is there try the interlock switch and any other switch. Post pics of wiring from line filter destribution block. You may have a piece of metal under a board/fuses at bottom of cab. Think about what was moved/changed from working to non working.

That's the thing. I didn't move the brick at any point between working and non. Only the AR3. There must be an error in my rebuild, but even after hours of searching I can't find it.
 
When fuses blow like that, I almost always suspect the Bridge rectifier. A simple diode test will verify if it is good or bad.
 
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