Uh oh. I smell something electric-y and ozone-y...

pookdolie

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I'm having a lot of trouble tracking this down in my Elevator Action cabaret.

The game seems to be working well. Monitor image is steady, sharp, good color, and isn't deviating from any of those at all no matter how long the machine is on for. Game plays fine, sound fine, controls fine, coin door lights working, machine coining up, coin counter working, etc. Everything seems...well, fine. But there's a strong ozone / electrical smell coming from the cabinet. I've opened it up and cannot pinpoint it as coming from any one source - at least, not with my schnozz.

I did research in the forum and found various explanations for smells like these:

1. Bad HV. Physically, it looks fine. The monitor is more or less totally silent while it's running, and I don't see anything unusual going on in the back.

2. Bad electrical cord. Again, looks physically fine (as far as I can see), no smells there.

3. Dirty contacts. Should I go at stuff with contact spray?

4. "Old games smell like ozone; this comes with the hobby". Well, okay, but I'm concerned.

I'm posting some pictures of the monitor and HV unit just in case anyone can see something obvious...

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Any ideas?
 
Unplug the monitor power and run the game for a while. Do you still smell the bad smell? That'll help isolate your problem.
 
Unplug the monitor power and run the game for a while. Do you still smell the bad smell? That'll help isolate your problem.

I'll do that.

Do I need to unplug anything other than it's power source (any other connections)?
 
+1 on suspecting the monitor. Is is humid where you are?

If the flyback is arcing on humidity in the tube, that can smell a bit.
 
My Q*Bert's 4900 series monitor had a flyback that was not holding focus and I could smell the ozone from it. If the smell isn't there with the monitor unplugged, I would suspect the flyback. That looks like the smaller version of the 4600 in you cab and I don't think anyone has new flybacks available. You may have to get one from another chassis if that's the case.
 
If the flyback is arcing on humidity in the tube, that can smell a bit.

SoCal. Cab & insides are dry as a bone. (Thanks for the input, though.)

My Q*Bert's 4900 series monitor had a flyback that was not holding focus and I could smell the ozone from it.

Others seem to have had similar issues. But, in your case and theirs, the monitor had something wrong with the picture as well. My image is perfect and shows no signs of problems.

I'll def. try unplugging the monitor to see if the smell stops...
 
Okay; turned the game on with and without power to the monitor. I'm not positive, but the smell *seems* to be coming from the HV unit.

Great. :rolleyes:

So, let's assume it's the HV for the moment. What can I check? Anything to look for physically? To the untrained eye, it looks fine. And, again, the picture is fine.
 
Look for cold/cracked solder joints and check for burnt connectors. Dis-charge the monitor and disconnect and clean under the suction cup. Look for any cracks in the flyback housing. And last but not least, BE CAREFUL.
 
It's a K4600... they always smell a bit funny like that. :)

Fire it up and sniff around the flyback, if it doesn't jump out and bite ya call it good.
 
Look for cold/cracked solder joints and check for burnt connectors. Dis-charge the monitor and disconnect and clean under the suction cup. Look for any cracks in the flyback housing. And last but not least, BE CAREFUL.

Good advice, but my version of being careful - past looking for burnt connectors - is to get someone who's monitor-savvy to look at it. I'll take another gander at `em, though.

It's a K4600... they always smell a bit funny like that. :)

Fire it up and sniff around the flyback, if it doesn't jump out and bite ya call it good.

Ah, I see.

I don't see any sparks or electricity coming off of it at all. Or anything else. Maybe I'll fire it up in the dark and look, just to be sure...
 
heres a trick.

take your screwdriver and ground lead( prefer a skinny screwsriver or even better a pick for this job) and ground the ground lead to the frame like your doing to discharge.

Power up.

CAREFULLY run the screwdriver around the flyback, screen pot, red lead and anode cap(on top)

if you see anythingg acring to your screwdriver, whatever your next to is "leaking" hv and needs to be replaced.
 
heres a trick.

take your screwdriver and ground lead( prefer a skinny screwsriver or even better a pick for this job) and ground the ground lead to the frame like your doing to discharge.

Power up.

CAREFULLY run the screwdriver around the flyback, screen pot, red lead and anode cap(on top)

if you see anythingg acring to your screwdriver, whatever your next to is "leaking" hv and needs to be replaced.

That sounds like it would work. It also sounds like the sort of thing I don't have 1/8th of the balls necessary to try. :D
 
heres a trick.

take your screwdriver and ground lead( prefer a skinny screwsriver or even better a pick for this job) and ground the ground lead to the frame like your doing to discharge.

Power up.

CAREFULLY run the screwdriver around the flyback, screen pot, red lead and anode cap(on top)

if you see anythingg acring to your screwdriver, whatever your next to is "leaking" hv and needs to be replaced.

I would like to see a video tutorial on that.
 
It's pretty common to see some "leakage" from the anode wire when doing this....and yes, it is pretty cool to watch.
Sometimes I'll do it just because it is that cool. :)
 
If this flyback H.V. unit goes, what all could it take with it?
 
If you're lucky, the flyback will die all on its own.

If you're unlucky, it will die, taking out the horiztontal output transistor (HOT), and probably the AC fuse.

If you're REALLY unlucky, it will start on fire, and burn down your house.

See my buddy's flyback that toasted last year:

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If you're lucky, the flyback will die all on its own.

If you're unlucky, it will die, taking out the horiztontal output transistor (HOT), and probably the AC fuse.

If you're REALLY unlucky, it will start on fire, and burn down your house.

Well, I never leave my games unattended, always unplug them, and I have a fire extinguisher. So hopefully "REALLY unlucky" is extremely unlikely!
 
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