19" 19K4675 WELL GARDNER trouble

[merdman]

The monitor I have is a 19K4675, or so it says on the tube (i.e. Model #). The problem I'm having is when I turn it on I see a light grayish screen with white zig-zag lines going left to right top to bottom in the order. They seem to span farther apart father down the screen. I was told by some friends that it might need some capacitors replaced in it. That's not to bad $10 compared to $179+ for new monitor. I was hoping I could get some professional or experienced advice from some of you. I'm wanting to discharge and rip (bad choice of words) the boards off so I can see what is wrong with lots of testing and things. But I'm not to familiar with CRTs. I'm just a google certified electrician (haha).

[Ken Layton]

That monitor is 25 years old and it certainly needs new electrolytic capacitors (capkit). However, it sounds like your "gray' issue is due to the "Black Level Adjust" pot (a.k.a. brightness) located on the video interface card is set (or has drifted over the years) too high and needs to be turned down just a tad bit. Be advised that this pot often goes bad over the years too and is always included in the capkits from Zanen Electronics. You want kit # 201A and their phone number is (806) 829-2780.

Manual for this series monitor (known as the 4600 series) is at www.arcarc.xmission.com under PDF Monitors category.

You've picked a difficult (mostly time consuming) monitor to work on. You need to remove the complete monitor from the game cabinet to properly service it.

[merdman]

Yeah, I'm not to worried about soldering or anything like that. I have an anti-static pad with wristband that I purchased for use with my ATmegas. I also have a really nice pin-point soldering iron from radioshack with really small solder for stuff like this.

By the way, the link you provided doesn't work. Sorry, but I "Page cannot be Loaded" error. So maybe you know of a different place to purchase the cap kit? Which ones would most likely be bad? Can you tell with the description I have you? How do you test if caps are bad? My father has this meter thing, maybe it can be used for such things. Also, my father will discharge the monitor for me because he knows how to (Done it tons of times, he says).

If I can say, buy an assortment of caps and maybe 2 or 3 of th bigger ones I seen, that would be the equivalent of a cap kit right? - the pot; I can find one of these.

Thank you for you help though! I'm glad you responded. Probably a common issue/error huh?

[merdman]

Well Mr. Layton, I just called Zanen and ordered a cap kit. Thanks, you rock!!! It cost be like $11 total, including shipping. Finally I can discharge and take the thing out.

[Ken Layton]

Try taking the www off and now this should work:

http://arcarc.xmission.com

On this chassis watch out for the width coil. It's mounted to the right of the main circuit board and is very delicate. It sometimes will twist in it's holder and short circuit one of it's wires to frame ground (which cooks some parts!).

Bad solder joints are in particular at the header pins for the two daughter cards.

[merdman]

While looking at the back of the monitor I notice that the game using it (Dessert Assault) doesn't all the way connect to it. The red, green, blue, ground and two other wires which are suppose to be video sync. My monitor has connections for red, green, blue, ground, +V Sync, +H Sync then ground (again), -V Sync and -H Sync. The -V Sync and the positive syncs are not connected. Could this cause the monitor to flip out or display the mess it's displaying? 

[merdman]

can I connect the video ground to both grounds on my monitor? How to I properly wire the syncs when I have -/+ for both H & V? The monitor FAQ I got doesn't specify that. The manual doesn't describe much or help me out with this kind of stuff.

[merdman]

PS : The monitor didn't discharge as expected. No snap or pop. I know the screwdriver touched the metal thing on the tube under the rubber boot. But it didn't do anything...

[Ken Layton]

Sync connections are explained here:

www.homearcade.org/BBBB/sync.html

[merdman]

All right, I just got the cap kit in the mail. I'm hoping things will go smoothly when I'm fixing the monitor. Should I replace all caps with what the kit comes with?

[off topic]
I ripped everything out of the cabinet. I'm hoping to modernize it a bit. I bought some new handles for things that reseed into the wood. So it should look smooth and very professional. Also, I bought some wood filler paint & primer. I'm going to fill all the little screw holes and things, then sand it plush and remake new mounts for things. I'm going to use wood nuts from the other side and try to hide them with filler. Eventually, I will have a much better looking cabinet with better parts that allow for easier maintenance. I got some work for me to do...

[FrizzleFried]

Yes...always replace ALL the caps that come with the kit.