My cabinet shocked me!

[Wyluli]

That's gratitude for ya.  Plugged the thing in and I guess it has a short in the cord or something cuz zzzzaaap!  See if I refurbish you ya ingrat!!!

Any word on replacing the power cords on these things?

[SirPeale]

Yup!  You take the old one off, and put a new one on!

[Ken Layton]

Make sure the ground is 100% connected all the way thru your cabinet. Power cord ground goes to line filter frame (or power transformer frame) to coin door frame to control panel frame to monitor frame to light fixture frame. Nataurally this all assumes your wall outlet is wired correctly and properly grounded to begin with.

[ErikRuud]

Like Ken said, make sure all the grounds are connected properly.

Strange things can happen when you have faulty grounds.


Way back in 1979, I used to hang out an arcade near my high school.  They had a Warrior game sitting next to a pinball machine.  We discovered that you could get pretty good shock if you touched one of the joystick carriage bolts and and any metal part of the pinball game. 

This could happen quite a bit while playing the game, because Warrior and the pinball game were so closed together.

[Luxury]

I used to get shocked doing the same kind of thing ALL the time playing Overtop at a Ramada Inn.  Granted, it was by the pool, and I would usually play it while still wet, but I still remember getting shocked ALL the TIME whenever you touched the joystick carriage bolts like erik said above.  It was by some other game (don't remember what).

but thats what i thought this thread would be about when i opened it.  If it shocks you while you are messing with it - then its YOUR fault.  If it shocks you when your are just playing it, then unfortunately your cabinet is EVIL and must be exorcised of the demons.

[Thenasty]

I always get shocked when I turn my machine on see that I have tons of Arcade Games in it 

[lucindrea]

the 110V you get from the wall outlet is nothing .. i got a shock from a break in the anode wire on a monitor once ( thats the wire going to the thing that looks like a suckon cup on the tv tube ) .. i was literly thrown back a few feet , not to mention the nice burn hole in my hand.

really need to be carfull , people have died from stuff like that.

[danny_galaga]

see fredster, see? huh, huh?!?

[Wyluli]

Well, I was actually shocked through the power cord and not from the cabinet or any metal parts therein, so I think it is safe to assume the cord itself is the culprit.  Where the heck do you buy replacements at?  Home Depot or something?
yes, I'd much rather get shocked via the outlet than the monitor, I don't mess with it.
P.S. If you keep getting shocked over and over again, you must be nuts for going back for more! 

[Ken Layton]

Yeh it sounds like your cord is shot. Probably got abraded or smashed somehow. For replacement cords I just go buy a cheap extension cord (3 conductor of course!) in whatever length I desire and chop off the female end. Remember to add two feet to the length needed to allow for connecting/snaking thru the inside of the cabinet. Generally a 12 foot extension works out nicely. Check some of the closeout/discount places like Big Lots and Wal Mart if you want to save money.

[fredster]

Wyluli ,

If you can't figure out how to put a new cord on your machine my advice is to stop, and back away from it.  Call somebody who is allowed to use tools and can "work on stuff okay" and give the machine to them.

Danny,

that's from the HV 2nd Anode wire of a monitor.  The monitor stores a static charge of 20K + volts.  People who get killed doing that are grabbing the monitor and a ground so that the charge forms a circuit with their heart in the middle. 

I cannot tell you how many arcade machines I've seen with the ground prong cut off. It's just stupid to do that.   It causes all manner of strange electrical surges.  Likely the buildings weren't to code either and the grounds weren't right in the building.

I always put back the ground running along the machine. It's standard practice to do that for any device as far as I'm concerned.

It also protects the electronics of a monitor by allowing a path out of the frame for any strange surges in the system.

[Wyluli]

Yeh it sounds like your cord is shot. Probably got abraded or smashed somehow. For replacement cords I just go buy a cheap extension cord (3 conductor of course!) in whatever length I desire and chop off the female end. Remember to add two feet to the length needed to allow for connecting/snaking thru the inside of the cabinet. Generally a 12 foot extension works out nicely. Check some of the closeout/discount places like Big Lots and Wal Mart if you want to save money.

Thanks for the info.  I thought there might be a chance that they sold the 3 prong cords themselves to use specifically for replacing stuff like this.  I was hoping I would not have to chop something up and rewire.

[Ken Layton]

Hardware stores like Lowe's and Home Depot do sell replacement 3 conductor power cords, but often they cost more than just buying and extension cord and chopping the end off it.

[danny_galaga]

yep, there's always a really cheap extension cord on sale somewhere. $3.99 or whatever- can't go wrong!

[Jakobud]

At a roller rink I remember figuring out that after you skate around on the carpet you could use static electricity to shock "Joust" and then if you pressed all the buttons super fast the machine would make a funny "blurp" sound and reset itself!  It was classic!

[RayB]

One time, when I was maybe 8 or 9, I went down into the basement looking for something to do, and I saw that our fuse box door was open. Then I noticed there were some "open" fuse sockets with no fuses in them. So I decided it would be really smart to stick my finger in one just for the hell of it.

I only touched for a split second, but it was long enough to feel the juice travel up my arm and reach my shoulder!


But that isn't game related, so... one time there was this Ms Pac machine and I kept getting shocked by touching the coin slot.

[DrewKaree]

One time, when I was maybe 8 or 9, I went down into the basement looking for something to do, and I saw that our fuse box door was open. Then I noticed there were some "open" fuse sockets with no fuses in them. So I decided it would be really smart to stick my finger in one just for the hell of it.

I only touched for a split second, but it was long enough to feel the juice travel up my arm and reach my shoulder!

That explains A WHOLE LOT!

Also, with all those "this one time"s in there, I'm waiting for your band camp story.