Star Castle monitor issue?, where to start

Bullwinkle

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I just picked up a Star Castle, which coins up and plays, but the screen looks as though it's been compressed into a 1 millimeter horizontal line in the center of the screen. What's the best place to start troubleshooting? (ie: should I get a cap kit or is this issue outside something a cap kit would fix?)

Thanks in advance.

Tom
 
BTW - you should check the deflection transistors (bottlecaps) for shorts or cold solder at the connectors...
 
ArcRevival, I checked the breakers and they seem to be working properly. That being said, after pulling the board, I "think" the main problems are apparent...

my "no picture" may be cause by the following disconnected black wire

sc_broken_wire.jpg


And my previous issue prior to no picture, was a vertical collapse... I think the resistor at R118 may have something to do with that :rolleyes: (see pic below)

sc_resistor.jpg


I intend to reflow solder to avoid cold joints on the board, but is there anything I should be concerned as to why the resistor fried? (i suppose if I put another in and it fries again, I've only lost a resistor... just dont want to damage anything else on the board if I can help it).
 
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You need to replace the two transistors that are at the end of that connector next to the resistor. One or both of the transistors being bad is the most common reason that the resistor burns up.


Also take a look at the tantalum caps and make sure that they arent shorted too.
Did you power it up without them connected?
 
No, the only time it was powered was when everything was connected. This is of course since it's been in my possession, prior to that who knows what happened. It did fire up when I was picking it up...but had vertical collapse. Are you referring to transistors inside the huge heat sink mounted to the outside of the frame? (where the cable that connects to the connector you mentioned comes from)
 
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Yes, if you follow the connector next to the resistor, it will go to the heat sink that has the two transistors that control that channel. You can test them with a meter and find out if only one is shorted. But it's easy just to replace them both and not risk having the one that you didn't replace die.

If you power it up without them connected, you usually take out a lot more parts.
 
I resoldered the wire and got my horizontal line back.(actually its about 1 cm thick and you can see the ship fire and move..just VERY compressed). I have a bunch of the resistors for 118, so I replaced it and could smell her burning, so I'll replace it again and replace those transistors before powering her up again. Are those referred to as the deflection transistors? (the manual modessitt posted earlier in the thread says I dont need to solder..just unscrew and replace... does this sound right?)

Thank you, I greatly appreciate the help. This is my first Vector and I dont know why, but I don't feel as confident messing with these as I do the raster monitors.
 
Also, when I had that same resistor burn up, I also found the .18-ohm resistor directly above it to also be shorted...
 
The Cinematronics monitor FAQ reccomends replacing the R118, R119 resistors with 47ohm 5watt resistors mounted under the board. I suggest reading the Cinematronics monitor FAQ and looking into some of the recommended upgrades.
 
hatrick, those upgrades are mentioned in the pdf modessitt provided and I've already got those parts as well as many of the recommended upgrades in hand. thanks,

Wish there were a better component diagram of the monitor boards (not design schematic, actual component /board layout) The manual available on KLOV has the diagram but it's a bit difficult to read.
 
Here's the component layout from my Armor Attack manual. Hopefully it's better than what you have.
 

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Thanks for all the help... got it up and running tonight. Only issue remaining is when I first start it up, there is a bright dot in the center of the screen that goes away after 30 seconds or so. Other than that... it looks great!

starcastle.jpg
 
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